Behind the Scenes

Getting ready for the upcoming Ukrainian Fashion Week SS25, which will take place in Kyiv from September 1 to 4, the UFW team reached out to the participating brands with a question: How is your brand coping with the full-scale invasion? In this article, Ksenia Schnaider, founder and designer of KSENIASCHNAIDER, shares her reflections.

We faced a full-scale war when we were actively preparing new collections and collaborations and with ambitious plans to expand in the international market. From the very beginning, our team members helped each other, worked to retain suppliers and contractors, and participated in volunteer activities.

Organizing work during a war was a monumental challenge, but we, like hundreds of other Ukrainian brands, adapted to the new reality. In April 2022, the KSENIASCHNAIDER online store resumed operations, and later, production and the physical store returned to their usual mode. 

All the while, we continued to work on launching collections with Adidas Originals, which we successfully presented in 2023 and 2024. This cooperation became not only a creative challenge but also a powerful stimulus for interest in Ukrainian brands worldwide.

Also, as part of the Support Ukrainian Fashion initiative, together with Ukrainian Fashion Week and partners, we presented our collections three times on world catwalks: in Copenhagen and twice in London. Each show attracted the attention of customers, editors, representatives of global retailers, and fashion houses.

Once again, since 2014, we have experienced the demand for Ukrainian products on the international market and are very grateful to our partners and the press for their support. Thanks to their help, we managed not only to save the business but also to strengthen the brand’s position. The war also influenced the design of our items created from the beginning of 2022. Yellow-blue shades and other symbolic elements appeared in the new collections.

Despite all the difficulties, the KSENIASCHNAIDER brand continues to move forward confidently, supporting the Ukrainian economy and contributing to the development of the fashion industry in Ukraine.