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In Ukraine, many stylists and
fashion brands
have abandoned their usual production to enter a sector that they would never have thought they would have to embrace: that of
military clothing.
The Kyiv Independent
newspaper
has collected the cases of designers and firms that have stopped their spring-summer collections and work day and night to dress Ukrainian soldiers in uniforms,
camouflage suits
and combat boots.
One of them is the stylist
Serge Smolin, of the
Idol
brand ,
who has changed from making menswear to camouflage uniforms for the Ukrainian army.
Having escaped from the capital and reunited with his parents in the northwest of the country, Smolin has contacted the military to be of service in some way.
Uniforms were scarce,
so he has improvised a weaving factory in a local school gymnasium, where he has embarked on his new adventure, social and charitable.
The Ukrainian journalist
Elina-Alem Kent tells about Serge Smolin:
"With his brand Idol he designed suits that made men have a touch of distinction. Now, just the opposite, he makes sure that these same men do not differ, but rather camouflage themselves on the battlefield in camouflage uniforms".
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From feathers to bulletproof vests
Nebesite,
a 'made in Ukraine' firm that created streetwear before the Russian invasion
,
has now specialized in anti-
projectile vests.
It was a leader in the sector of feathers and ditto shawls;
he has found a producer of metal plates for armored vests and they have transformed his simplest model of jacket into a defense against firearms.
The brand has given the Ukrainian army the first
250 copies of this military coat
that would cost
190 dollars
(due to the increase in prices due to the war).
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Before this conversion, the brand was about to celebrate its fourth anniversary and launch its new spring collection with a lot of noise.
But, precisely to make the 250 bulletproof, Nebesite has used
the budget
that it would have allocated to said collection.
"The production has run out of our pocket", confirmed
Tanya Mogila,
designer of the firm.
Nebesite also collaborates with
the 'maison' Frolov,
which before the war was dedicated to
glamor evening dresses
and now collects funds to buy in Europe the steel needed for the plates of anti-projectile clothing.
They have obtained
20,000 euros to date,
in addition to the fact that Frolov has made his own workers and
sewing machines available to the project.
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The Military Boot Designers Who Made Luxury Shoes
Kachorovska
is a very famous shoe brand in Ukraine for its
elegant and 'trendy' shoes.
Now he 'bakes' military boots, called 'combat boots'.
Its 'brand manager',
Maria Slenzak
tells The Kyiv Independent that her factory has partnered with three other Ukrainian companies that supply
leather, soles and personnel
to produce boots for the Armed Forces of Territorial Defense.
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The first
500 pairs of boots
have been made thanks to funds from Kachorovska;
now they have asked for the public's contribution through
donations
(can be made through the brand's Instagram account).
The production and delivery of the boots takes place under extreme circumstances:
under bombs
and heavy stress.
"All the pairs are sewn under the constant threat of
air raids.
The courage of the team to work in these conditions is immense," says Slenzak.
But the reward is great: "The soldiers are very satisfied."
Clothing sales, help for the Ukrainian people
There are also the cases of brands that do not sew military clothing but use the
sales of their clothing
to help the Ukrainian people.
This is the case of
Chereshnivska,
casual clothing with a young audience that has interrupted its production and sells the remaining stock in the United Kingdom to provide
food and basic necessities
to its workers in the city of Lviv.
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For its part, the women's clothing brand
Bevza
allocates 10% of its income to the Ukrainian army.
Then there is the case of
IrinaDzhus
, founder of
DZHUS,
who has improvised a collection inspired by
the only suitcase
she was able to take with her when she was forced to flee
Vyshhoroda Warsaw a few weeks ago.
Essential garments make up this collection, the proceeds of which, in part, will be donated to charitable associations in Ukraine.
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The journalist Elina-Alem Kent reflects in her report in The Kyiv Independent that, after having seen how brands were reconverted to
produce masks
and medical clothing during Covid, it was thought that
this lightness of fashion would be resumed.
Unfortunately, it could not be so.
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