Story

Welcome to Urban Pera
My name is Selin. I am the founder of Urban Pera. I live in New Jersey, the US with my husband Mustafa, and our cat Limon. I was born and raised in the home of Turkish towels, Turkey. I started selling Turkish bath and beach towels made in Turkey in 2021. Before I begin to tell you about my company’s story, let me give you a brief info on what Urban Pera offers. 

Tested for harmful substances
Urban Pera is a textile company with a focus on Turkish cotton towels. All Urban Pera products are made in Turkey from premium quality Turkish cotton and are Oeko-Tex certified. In other words, Turkish cotton towels are tested for harmful substances and guaranteed to be safe for users. I guarantee that my products are free of any synthetic substance.

Minimalist pieces
Urban Pera started life with the goal of offering minimalist and stylish pieces that go with every budget. My aim in Urban Pera is to provide Turkish bath and beach towels with high-quality cotton that differs from other stores in certain ways. My Turkish bath and beach towels do not only offer more than a user expects from a towel but also bring elegance and style to anywhere you need them. 

Who am I anyway?
My profession is journalism. I worked at newspapers as a journalist for quite a long time back in my hometown, Istanbul. I always loved exploring new things and sharing them via writing. Just like journalism, I see Urban Pera as a way of expressing myself. Urban Pera is like my roots in Istanbul where I spent my younger years and my new life in The States where I am spending my current years.  That is to say, past and today come together like the history of Turkish towels. 



Brief history of Turkish towels
During Ottoman Empire years, people were going to public Turkish baths (Hammam) to have a bath as most of the houses did not have bathrooms. We know that men and women were using Turkish towels to cover their nudity in public Turkish baths. Over the years, people had bathrooms in their houses. So, as you can guess, Turkish baths lost their popularity. Turkish towels shared the same fate with Turkish baths. The good news is, Turkish towels made a big comeback in recent years. 

What brought me to Turkish towels?
Two things: Travelling and laundry. Let me tell you how. I used to travel a lot. Other than business trips, I preferred staying at humble places. Sightseeing and exploring the culture was way more important to me. So, I had to take those thick and heavy towels with me every time I traveled. As a traveler who wanted to be light as much as possible, believe me, those towels were like a nightmare. They were occupying so much space in the luggage and making it heavy. Unfortunately, regular towels were the only choice back then.

Towel pile
To get to the second reason, I do the laundry very often at home. Especially the towels. Why? Because I believe that towels should be one of the most hygienic things at home. After all, you dry your body, hand, and face with it. It should be clean at all times. But what happens when you have those thick and heavy towels at home? Huge towels pile every week. Hard to handle.

Goodbye to regular towel nightmare
Shortly after I discovered Turkish towels, I realized that they were great for on-the-go and everyday use. However, I had a hard time finding soft, silky, and ultra-light ones. Besides, most of the Turkish towels had similar designs. In the same vein, those Turkish towels did not go along well with the minimalist style of my house. The choices were limited. I had to settle for the existing ones. 

Life changing holiday
We took a trip to our home country in the summer of 2019. The hotel we were staying, had classic-style Turkish beach towels for its customers’ use on the beach. I remember looking at those Turkish beach towels and asking myself: “Why do these towels have to be very similar everywhere? Why not be different, more stylish designs?’ and I started imagining soft, silky Turkish bath and beach towels with elegant patterns, chic designs in my home, on the go. That visualization was the birth story of Urban Pera. Shortly after I came back to the US, I started working to turn this dream into a reality. 
I fill a gap
In Urban Pera, I believe that I fill a gap with my products. I worked hard to find Turkish cotton towels that people like me who have similar issues would love to purchase. The premium cotton of my Turkish bath and beach towels provides high absorbency and fast drying. On the contrary to thick and heavy regular towels, my products are thin and light. I offer affordable elegance with exclusive designs. Look no further than Urban Pera products if you are searching high-quality and different design Turkish towels at the same time.