Press Kit

Welcome to the Belgin Francis press resources page. Below are brand bios at three lengths, founder information, and downloadable high-resolution imagery for editorial use. For interview requests, custom shoot enquiries, or anything not covered here, contact the atelier directly.

Media contact

Press enquiries: press@belginfrancis.com
General contact: hello@belginfrancis.com
Phone: +1 (917) 476-0949

Brand bio — 50 words

Belgin Francis is a luxury leather atelier founded in New York in October 2001. Every piece is handcrafted in Turkey from premium lambskin and finished with the house's signature laser-cut and hand-cut leaf motif. The atelier is recognized for its small, considered collections and twenty-five-year continuity of craft.

Brand bio — 100 words

Belgin Francis is a luxury Turkish leather atelier founded in New York in October 2001 by designer Belgin Francis. The house is recognized for its signature Leaf motif — a botanical pattern cut into premium lambskin by laser on shorter silhouettes and by hand on longer pieces. Every garment is handcrafted in the atelier's Turkish workshop and curated in New York, with production volumes kept deliberately small. The collection covers jackets, vests, tunics, ponchos, cropped silhouettes, and blouses in sizes 3XS through 8XL. The atelier is approaching its twenty-fifth year, with continuity of craft and supply maintained throughout.

Brand bio — 250 words

Belgin Francis is a luxury leather atelier founded in New York in October 2001 by Turkish-trained designer Belgin Francis. The house opened in lower Manhattan with a first collection of twelve hand-cut leather jackets and has grown, over twenty-five years, into a small luxury house recognized internationally for its signature botanical cutwork.

The brand's signature is the Leaf — a botanical motif first drawn by Belgin Francis in the atelier's founding year and cut into Turkish lambskin in both laser-cut and hand-cut variants. The motif now appears across every silhouette the house produces, with the laser-cut work reserved for shorter, more architectural pieces and the hand-cut work for longer tunics, ponchos, and statement silhouettes.

Production has lived in the same workshop in Turkey since the atelier's first year, with roughly twelve full-time artisans contributing to each season. Leather is sourced exclusively from two long-term tannery partners in Tuzla, on the Asian side of Istanbul — both tanneries part of the centuries-old Turkish leather tradition that continues to supply much of the world's luxury leather market.

The Belgin Francis collection covers jackets, vests, tunics, ponchos, cropped silhouettes, and blouses in sizes 3XS through 8XL. Production volumes are kept deliberately small. The house ships internationally from its New York atelier and accepts repair work on all atelier pieces indefinitely. Belgin Francis is not stocked at large department stores or marketplaces — it is available directly from the atelier and at a small number of specialty retailers worldwide.

Founder

Belgin Francis trained in fashion design in Istanbul in the 1990s before moving to New York at the end of the decade. She founded the Belgin Francis atelier in October 2001. She continues to lead the design direction of the house and personally oversees hide selection at the Tuzla tanneries several times each year. The signature Leaf motif that defines the brand is her work; the patterns that appear in each new collection are drawn first by hand in her New York studio.

Imagery

High-resolution editorial imagery is available on request. Available formats:

Founder portrait (studio and workshop)
Product photography — laydown and on-model — for the full current catalog
Workshop and atelier process imagery (hand-cutting, laser-cutting, finishing)
Archival imagery from past collections (2001 onward)
Tannery and supply chain imagery (Tuzla)

To request specific imagery, email press@belginfrancis.com with publication name, intended use, and image requirements. Usage rights are typically granted for editorial use with credit (photo credit format: "Courtesy of Belgin Francis New York").

Key facts

Founded: October 2001, New York, NY
Founder: Belgin Francis
Production: Workshop in Turkey, continuous since 2001
Materials: Premium Grade A Turkish lambskin, sourced from Tuzla
Signature: Laser-cut and hand-cut Leaf motif across jackets, vests, tunics, ponchos, crops, and blouses
Size range: 3XS through 8XL across most silhouettes
Distribution: Direct-to-consumer via belginfrancis.com, plus select specialty retailers
Headquarters: New York, NY, USA

For everything else: press@belginfrancis.com.