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? Next in line is the personal story of Kateryna Silchenko, the creative director and founder of the COAT.

On February 23, 2022, on the brand’s social media, I left a message that we have a great team, so all I can do now is work, inspire, and ensure people lose don’t their jobs or their optimism.

After 2.5 years, this slogan remains the driving force for progress: the COAT team has expanded, and the brand has launched four collections, eight drops, and a fully charitable project called STAND WITH UKRAINE sneakers. This undertaking served as a strong motivator to continue the brand’s efforts just a month after the full-scale invasion. Through this initiative alone, the brand donated over 1.5 million hryvnias for humanitarian and military aid.

But the COAT resumed its work even earlier. Only two weeks after the first explosions, we opened a relocated showroom in Lviv, and I appealed to the audience in stories to continue working and supporting Ukrainian businesses. Customers from all over the world, feeling the desire to help, formed the lion’s share of orders from the first weeks, which gave the brand confidence, strength, and opportunities to present a full collection at the beginning of summer and plan the upcoming season.

Shelling, blackouts, and complete uncertainty did not stop the COAT but formed a new strategy — creating drops instead of two collections per year. This model allows for better control over the number of items produced, as well as increased flexibility and relevance. Given the rapid pace of today’s media and the fast-moving world, this approach has proven to be quite effective.

The courage to act and the preservation of the COAT team are the main reasons for the brand’s success, even during the war. From the renovation of the showroom in the summer of 2022, the opening of our factory in Cherkasy (which added fifty jobs), and the return of the UFW show in the heart of Kyiv — our long path has been woven with timely decisions.

As a designer, I understand that we have to create powerful cultural messages for the world. Yes, there is a war in our country. The war needs the most attention, and I want the whole planet to understand the value of Ukraine: its industrial, creative, athletic, and scientific achievements are important. The COAT team has been working on this day in and day out for years: each individual is in the right place and with even greater inspiration right now — when standing strong is what matters the most.