Ukraine’s domestic clothing producers have gone from a marginal market niche to a potent developing industry in recent years. These three made-in-Ukraine brands are among those who have found their place at the crowded clothing market.
Krisstel
Where to buy: www.krisstel.ua, Ocean Plaza mall, Karavan mall, Piramida mall, Prospekt mall.
A showcase window of the Krisstel shop in the Ocean Plaza mall boasts a “Made in Ukraine” sign. It is one of the few Ukrainian clothing brands that can afford a representation in a popular shopping mall.
Founded in 2007 by Kyivan Svitlana Shelephost, Krisstel became a well-known local women’s clothing brand with four shops in Kyiv and one in Dnipropetrovsk. It specializes in modern feminine designs and claims to use fine Italian fabrics while keeping the prices moderate.
A skirt from the Krisstel latest collection is sold for Hr 1,724. (www.krisstel.ua)
The brand’s popularity breakthrough happened in October of 2014, when Krisstel collaborated with stylist Olga Slon and created a highly-popular capsule collection. It got a boost from Kyiv journalist and PR specialist Yulia Savostina, who reviewed the collection in her popular blog. The capsule collection included 30 designs of dresses, tops, skirts, and coats. Prices ranged Hr 600 to 2,000. The collection sold so well that the brand is about to repeat the collaboration – this time, with spring apparel.
Must Have
Where to buy: www.musthave.ua, 14 Kotsiubynskoho St., office 5.
In four years co-founders Anna Kovalenko and Anastasia Yankovenko went from a tiny store in Berdychiv, a city 200 kilometers from Kyiv, to a big clothing production and showroom in Kyiv.
The co-founders decided to launch their own brand after they discovered that it was hard to find some basic garments in shops. They launched Must Have in their Berdychiv in 2010 and moved it to Kyiv in 2012.
The brand’s specification is feminine clothes of basic designs, as opposed to the casual mass market clothes.
Kovalenko says that the customers used to have prejudice about poor quality and outdated design of the Ukrainian-produced clothes is bad and it is an old-fashioned style. But in 2014 the post-EuroMaidan patriotic vibe has shifted this attitude, bringing Must Have more customers.
A cotton Must Have dress is available for Hr 1,099. (www.musthave.ua)
One of them was the first lady Maryna Poroshenko. She and her two daughters wore the Must Have dresses for the Independence Day celebrations on Aug. 24, 2014.
The popularity didn’t protect the brand from being hit by the economic crisis. Must Have had to decrease the production due to the national currency fall that impacted the cost of the imported fabrics and decreased the purchasing power of the customers.
Neimovirna
Where to buy: www.neimovirna.com.ua.
For Iryna Herz, starting doing business in Ukraine was hard. She has been weighing her options for three years before finally deciding to launch her brand Neimovirna, which translates as “an incredible woman.” In late 2013 Herz bought a mannequin, fabrics, and took a sewing course.
In summer 2014 the woman launched her first summer collection of dresses. In the autumn, she focused on sweaters with mixed Scandinavian and Ukrainian ornaments. The sweaters, released before New Year, were so popular that Neimovirna with its small team of four people has failed to meet the deadline for the pre-New Year orders. The brand’s unique feature was personal approach – a customer is offered to model a sweater, choosing neckline, shape, and ornaments. The brand also started producing sweaters for men and kids.
Neimovirna has no store, selling online only.
Sweaters were the key to success for the up-and-coming Ukrainian brand Neimovirna. (www.neimovirna,com)
“We focus on women who spend a lot of time online,” says Herz.
Such a strategy proved successful. The brand finds most of its clients on social networks. Herz’s team offers a personal approach: customers can choose design of handiwork.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Torhan can be reached at [email protected]
