5 high-end Ukrainian trend manufacturers you need to know

Editor’s be aware: This text is a part of a collection of profiles highlighting profitable Ukrainian startups and companies. The collection is funded by the regional funding fund Ukraine-Moldova American Enterprise Fund (UMAEF) and created in partnership with Spend With Ukraine, a non-profit group that launched a platform to showcase companies with Ukrainian roots and supply another significant method to assist Ukraine – by selecting to spend with Ukraine. The collection’ sponsors aren’t concerned within the editorial means of the writing of those profiles.

Within the midst of Russia’s full-scale invasion, many Ukrainians nonetheless stay style conscious.

Whereas this will come as a shock to foreigners, some in Ukraine really feel that dressing nicely equates with feeling nicely. Thankfully for the nation’s fashionistas, Ukraine’s main manufacturers nonetheless proceed to supply and innovate regardless of the challenges of struggle.

Ukrainian designers have been already taking the world by storm previous to Russia’s full-scale invasion. Ukraine’s wealthy sartorial historical past of beaded jewellery and embroidered clothes helped form the nation’s inventive eye and paved the best way for the present era.

Even below a barrage of missiles and drones, Ukrainian trend manufacturers have proven they will compete on the worldwide high fashion stage and dress a few of the world’s largest stars all whereas supporting the nation’s defenders.

Listed here are a few of our favourite high-end manufacturers shaping the Ukrainian trend business. What’s extra, all of them ship internationally.

Ienki Ienki

Days earlier than the full-scale invasion, Ienki Ikeni’s founder Dima Ievenko introduced a collaboration with Ukraine’s Nationwide Antarctic Scientific Heart. The corporate, recognized for its heat outwear and brightly coloured coats, produced orange, faux-fur lined parkas for Ukraine’s polar explorers braving expeditions in -27C temperatures.

“The Antarctic Expedition Parka was designed for members of the Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition and is designed to allow them to carry out helpful work and conduct scientific analysis in Antarctica with out being uncovered to the tough circumstances of the icy continent,” the corporate wrote on its web site.

Ienki Ikeni pushes what clothes manufacturers can do, redefining trend for explorers in addition to the much less adventurous amongst us. From goose-down jackets for town to snowboarding overalls for the slopes, the corporate covers all bases and their clothes has been worn by the likes American mannequin Bella Hadid and American mannequin and actress Emily Ratajkowski.  

From overseas, Ievenko continues to mildew how we see garments and their perform. One of many extra modern designs is the Hustka hood, which is Ienki Ienki’s modern tackle the standard Ukrainian scarf.

Anoeses

Whereas Ukrainian society tends to lean extra towardsthe conservative aspect, erotic clothes model Anoeses breaks the mildew with provocative however swish items.

From lingerie to latex physique fits and leather-based harnesses, the model produces outfits for everybody trying to get in contact with their sensual aspect.

“Our mission is to encourage individuals to discover their very own sense of eroticism. That is why we create a secure house for all genders, our bodies, ages, and sexualities, so that everybody feels free and beloved,” Anoeses writes on its web site.

The corporate follows gradual trend rules, promising that the excessive commonplace leather-based will final for many years and that their latex is ethically sourced from a rubber plantation in Malaysia. Vegan leather-based choices are additionally obtainable.

Anoeses makes a agency stand for human rights in Ukraine and partnered with the NGO KyivPride final yr in a marketing campaign with artist Nikita Gudzovsky. Anoeses produced leather-based equipment that Gudzovsky painted over with white textual content and visuals to replicate the colour taken away from individuals’s lives because of the struggle.

“This capsule assortment is devoted to our tireless wrestle for human rights, for the chance to like anybody, anyplace, with out hiding it sooner or later. That is an lively message from Ukraine that very quickly our lives will return to the total spectrum of rainbow colours, and we can really feel every thing at 101% once more,” Gudzovsky wrote.

Cultnaked

One other fighter in opposition to quick trend is Lviv-based Cultnaked based by former trend photographer Mary Furtas in 2018. From initially stitching collectively her personal social gathering garments to exit clubbing, Furtas has grown Cultnaked right into a multimillion greenback label worn by the likes of Ariana Grande and Kendal Jenner, she instructed Vogue in an interview final yr.

Whereas headquartered and manufactured in Lviv, Cultnaked’s clothers are bought in shops internationally, from Bangkok to Naples. The label retains its collections to a restricted quantity to keep away from overproduction and encourages people to embrace “high quality over amount”.

Snug and classy social gathering garments stay the label’s mission. Cultnaked mixes modern fashion with Y2K aesthetics, and its signature merchandise is a mixed mini skirt and short- a skort- that Furtas used to make herself again in her clubbing days.

The struggle has made life tough for Cultnaked and the label was compelled to close down for a number of weeks whereas Furtas escaped overseas along with her household. However the workforce was decided to hold on and the model has solely grown for the reason that begin of the full-scale invasion, with collections typically promoting out in only a week.

Kachorovska

Alina Kachorovska began working at her household’s small shoe-making firm when she was simply a teen. She has since propelled the almost 70 yr outdated enterprise to worldwide stardom and past sneakers to incorporate baggage and clothes as nicely.

Collectively along with her husband, Kachorovska launched the primary line of sneakers and baggage in 2013 with a web based store below her surname. The corporate now has two bodily shops in Kyiv, a couple of two-hour drive from Kachorovska’s childhood residence in Zhytomyr the place her household had their preliminary workshop.

Kachorovska selected to stay in Kyiv at the beginning of Russia’s invasion and collectively along with her mom and a number of other different factories produced 1,300 military boots for members of the Territorial Protection Power who initially discovered themselves below geared up.

Except for troopers, a few of Ukraine’s largest stars have been noticed sporting Kachorovska’s sneakers together with First Woman Olena Zelenska in the course of the Independence Day celebration in 2019.

For Eurovision followers, you’d have seen 2023’s host, the singer Yulia Sanina, gracing the stage in Liverpool with Kachorovska’s sneakers.

Riotdivision

Within the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the employees at Riotdivision donated all their inventory garments to the army. Few different Ukrainian manufacturers are as appropriate for warriors, with Riotdivision producing agile tech-wear clothes like balaclavas and fight fashion cargo pants.

The founder and chief designer Oleg Moroz is now serving with the Armed Forces having taken Riotdivision from a web based retailer in 2010 to an internationally exhibited model with a flagship retailer on Kyiv’s trendiest road — Reitarska Avenue.

Moroz constructed the corporate round an ethos of “creating communities of the free, with a powerful spirit.”

Riotdivision has discovered explicit success amongst troopers, who get a 50% low cost on the retailer. The label just lately partnered with the fundraising department of the Azov battalion to supply a line of T-shirts to boost cash for the unit.

For these in search of one thing much less militant, Riotdivision additionally has a line of tech-wear fits with a water repellent coating, which are each glossy and sensible.