5 high-end Ukrainian fashion brands you should know

Editor’s note: This article is part of a series of profiles highlighting successful Ukrainian startups and businesses. The series is funded by the regional investment fund Ukraine-Moldova American Enterprise Fund (UMAEF) and created in partnership with Spend With Ukraine, a non-profit organization that launched a platform to showcase businesses with Ukrainian roots and provide one more meaningful way to support Ukraine – by choosing to spend with Ukraine. The series’ sponsors are not involved in the editorial process of the writing of these profiles.

In the midst of Russia’s full-scale invasion, many Ukrainians still remain fashion conscious.

While this may come as a surprise to foreigners, some in Ukraine feel that dressing well equates with feeling well. Fortunately for the country’s fashionistas, Ukraine’s major brands still continue to produce and innovate despite the challenges of war.

Ukrainian designers were already taking the world by storm prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion. Ukraine’s rich sartorial history of beaded jewelry and embroidered dresses helped shape the country’s creative eye and paved the way for the current generation.

Even under a barrage of missiles and drones, Ukrainian fashion brands have shown they can compete on the global haute couture stage and clothe some of the world’s biggest stars all while supporting the nation’s defenders.

Here are some of our favorite high-end brands shaping the Ukrainian fashion industry. What’s more, they all ship internationally.

Ienki Ienki

Days before the full-scale invasion, Ienki Ikeni’s founder Dima Ievenko announced a collaboration with Ukraine’s National Antarctic Scientific Center. The company, known for its warm outwear and brightly colored 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 enable them to perform useful work and conduct scientific research in Antarctica without being exposed to the harsh conditions of the icy continent,” the company wrote on its website.

Ienki Ikeni pushes what clothing brands can do, redefining fashion for explorers as well as the less adventurous among us. From goose-down jackets for the city to skiing overalls for the slopes, the company covers all bases and their clothing has been worn by the likes American model Bella Hadid and American model and actress Emily Ratajkowski.  

From abroad, Ievenko continues to mold how we see clothes and their function. One of the more innovative designs is the Hustka hood, which is Ienki Ienki’s contemporary take on the traditional Ukrainian scarf.

Anoeses

While Ukrainian society tends to lean more towardsthe conservative side, erotic clothing brand Anoeses breaks the mold with provocative but graceful pieces.

From lingerie to latex body suits and leather harnesses, the brand produces outfits for everyone looking to get in touch with their sensual side.

“Our mission is to inspire people to explore their own sense of eroticism. That’s why we create a safe space for all genders, bodies, ages, and sexualities, so that everyone feels free and loved,” Anoeses writes on its website.

The company follows slow fashion principles, promising that the high standard leather will last for decades and that their latex is ethically sourced from a rubber plantation in Malaysia. Vegan leather options are also available.

Anoeses makes a firm stand for human rights in Ukraine and partnered with the NGO KyivPride last year in a campaign with artist Nikita Gudzovsky. Anoeses produced leather accessories that Gudzovsky painted over with white text and visuals to reflect the color taken away from people’s lives due to the war.

“This capsule collection is dedicated to our tireless struggle for human rights, for the opportunity to love anyone, anywhere, without hiding it in the future. This is an active message from Ukraine that very soon our lives will return to the full spectrum of rainbow colors, and we will be able to feel everything at 101% again,” Gudzovsky wrote.

Cultnaked

Another fighter against fast fashion is Lviv-based Cultnaked founded by former fashion photographer Mary Furtas in 2018. From originally sewing together her own party clothes to go out clubbing, Furtas has grown Cultnaked into a multimillion dollar label worn by the likes of Ariana Grande and Kendal Jenner, she told Vogue in an interview last year.

While headquartered and manufactured in Lviv, Cultnaked’s clothers are sold in stores across the world, from Bangkok to Naples. The label keeps its collections to a limited number to avoid overproduction and encourages individuals to embrace “quality over quantity”.

Comfortable and stylish party clothes remain the label’s mission. Cultnaked mixes contemporary style with Y2K aesthetics, and its signature item is a combined mini skirt and short- a skort- that Furtas used to make herself back in her clubbing days.

The war has made life difficult for Cultnaked and the label was forced to shut down for several weeks while Furtas escaped abroad with her family. But the team was determined to carry on and the brand has only grown since the start of the full-scale invasion, with collections often selling out in just a week.

Kachorovska

Alina Kachorovska started working at her family’s small shoe-making company when she was just a teenager. She has since propelled the nearly 70 year old business to international stardom and beyond shoes to include bags and clothing as well.

Together with her husband, Kachorovska launched the first line of shoes and bags in 2013 with an online shop under her surname. The company now has two physical stores in Kyiv, about a two-hour drive from Kachorovska’s childhood home in Zhytomyr where her family had their initial workshop.

Kachorovska chose to remain in Kyiv at the start of Russia’s invasion and together with her mother and several other factories produced 1,300 army boots for members of the Territorial Defense Force who initially found themselves under equipped.

Aside from soldiers, some of Ukraine’s biggest stars have been spotted wearing Kachorovska’s shoes including First Lady Olena Zelenska during the Independence Day celebration in 2019.

For Eurovision fans, you would have seen 2023’s host, the singer Yulia Sanina, gracing the stage in Liverpool with Kachorovska’s shoes.

Riotdivision

In the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the staff at Riotdivision donated all their stock clothes to the military. Few other Ukrainian brands are as suitable for warriors, with Riotdivision producing agile tech-wear clothing like balaclavas and combat style cargo pants.

The founder and chief designer Oleg Moroz is now serving with the Armed Forces having taken Riotdivision from an online store in 2010 to an internationally exhibited brand with a flagship store on Kyiv’s trendiest street — Reitarska Street.

Moroz built the company around an ethos of “creating communities of the free, with a strong spirit.”

Riotdivision has found particular success among soldiers, who get a 50% discount at the store. The label recently partnered with the fundraising branch of the Azov battalion to produce a line of T-shirts to raise money for the unit.

For those looking for something less militant, Riotdivision also has a line of tech-wear suits with a water repellent coating, that are both sleek and practical.

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Editor’s note: This article is part of a series of profiles highlighting successful Ukrainian startups and businesses. The series is funded by the regional investment fund Ukraine-Moldova American Enterprise Fund (UMAEF) and created in partnership with Spend With Ukraine, a non-profit organization t…