Children's Clothes in Colorado from Ankara, Turkey

Vail Collection


My wife’s sister was an executive for a large distributor. The founder of the company depended on her. As the company spread out, the profits rose. My wife’s sister was so busy that she stopped taking care of her health. She worked weekends. She came home after late night meetings. Instead of resting, she worked harder. The company president sold the business to his competitor. My wife’s sister was overwhelmed. Where was she going to go when the company doors closed? Our son was born. We visited her often. As she thought about her future she knit. The meandering loops thread in different directions. Bright purple paralleled with the hue of baby blue. Crimson red ran the length of a garment with elastic weaves of white. The comparisons were impressive to other parents. I have to admit, I am no fashion giant, so I didn’t notice the yarn knitting patterns until parents stopped me in the shopping mall to ask about the texture within the design. 



My wife’s father had two professions. Before he grew his dairy business into a large cheese manufacturing operation, my father in law tailored fine men’s suits. His town was famous for the sheep’s milk used for fermenting the finest feta cheese. The sheep yarn had dark shades, flecks of color, and the craftsmen learned to use natural dye to twist the colors together. Orange was a combination of golden yellow and crimson red. Purple colors made the Turkish town of Thyatira famous. Two the seven churches in the chronicles of St. John were famous for the wool trade: Laodicea and Thyatira. The archaeologists are quick to point out the importance of Thyatira across the Mediterranean. In the ruins, shells were found. The dyes made with these creatures created a purple worn by kings. 
Thyatira indigo was controlled by the Guild of Dyers of Asia Minor responsible for protecting the secret of the purple hue for garments, leather smiths, and painters that made pottery. Laodicea had sheep with a natural dark hue. The city of Laodicea was know for selling black wool across the Mediterranean. Historians insist that the origin of cheese came from domesticate Turkish sheep after far back in the past as 8000 BC. Egyptian Pharaohs traded favors for the Turkish cheese. Cleopatra married Marc Anthony in Turkey. To this day, the best dishes served to Alexander the Great in Turkey still carry Alexander’s name. 






Turkey has quality sheep wool. The farmers perfecting the craft have the admiration of archaeologists and historians worldwide. Shearing the sheep kept the animals cool. The wool was woven into ropes, yarn, and eventually clothing. The sheep milk turned into the best cheese. Nothing was wasted. The crimp wool was taken from the fleece. The fibers were spun into yarn. The natural dyes have been cleansed for millennium with ideas originating from Asia to the Atlantic Ocean as Turks traded from what is now Portugal to the China cities at the end of the Silk Road where Marco Polo’s adventures stop at the Pacific Ocean. When scientists studying ancient routes examine a map, they admit, “All roads lead to Rome.” 

The Rome the map makers admire is not Rome, Italy, but Constantinople. The Roman Capital under Constantine known as Byzantium. If craftsmen were weaving wool with colors made from red roots in India, the fashion found its way to Constantinople. When the Chinese learned to dye silk with tree barks, fruit berries, and tea leaves, the lessons learned mixing the natural dye made their way to Constantinople. All the secrets taken from the earth’s sources of saffron, Tyrian purple, and even fungus, all these secrets passed along the Silk Road into Constantinople. Nothing escape the junction of the East and the West now known as Istanbul, Turkey. The best colors from the brightest cloth has come from the border where East meets West: Istanbul is now what Constantinople was before Mehmet the Conquer kicked out the Romans on May 29, 1453. The siege lasted from April 6 to that fateful day in May. The Fall of Rome changed the navigation surround the globe forever, but trade flourished in Turkey, especially knit fashions. 



At our wedding in Ankara, Turkey, the guests presented us with lace knitting. All the silverware and fine dining tables are decorated with lace throughout Turkey. Faroese lace shawls are made by my wife’s friends. Her sisters flat knit as they watch TV. The women form groups that knit for children. Knitting Clubs exist in every country, but the Turkish culture embraces the manufacturing of children’s clothes with a special love that I have seen nowhere else. I have watched mother knit clothes for their kids on boats sailing to Aswan from Luxor on the Nile River. Europe offers a Eurail pass to travelers. For 30 days, tourists can enter and exit the trains from Budapest to London. During one summer, my friends and I left school Friday in France to sleep on a train that arrived in Venice, Italy at 8:00 am. The women traveling with us were knitting clothes for their children.