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 is the story of the team of the Lviv brand, Andreas Moskin.

Questions about business, fashion, or creativity became background noise during the first days of the full-scale invasion. The priority was physical survival in its literal definition. Soon, we transformed our production to make things for the military’s needs.

Many factory workers had left the team, but the core staff remained and continued to perform their duties even under such extreme conditions. However, working in adverse circumstances is familiar to Andreas Moskin because we opened production at the height of the coronavirus pandemic when there were no general optimistic forecasts for the industry.

In April 2022, the brand began receiving the first actual orders. The most loyal customers who followed Andreas Moskin’s activities on social networks would order several suits each as a sign of support. Soon, the team realized that we were actually saved by the power of love. It turned out that many people who were planning a wedding before the full-scale war decided not to postpone the event, and the brand gained new supporters.

Since then, the demand has gradually increased, and production has doubled compared to 2022. Many foreign brands left the market, and the Ukrainian consumer, despite such difficult conditions, saw the value of the domestic product. Naturally, because of this, the popularity of most local manufacturers has increased. In addition, we began to create collections based on the principles of couture, which have positive reviews on the international arena.

In 2024, Andreas Moskin became the first Ukrainian men’s brand to present its collections as part of a special evening program of London Fashion Week and Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week.

Over the past two years, we have repeatedly participated in social initiatives. In 2022, a limited accessories collection emerged, and we transferred the profits to the Children’s Voices Foundation. In 2023, the brand sent 7% of every check to the country’s demining efforts. This summer, the designers and the national charity United 24 are preparing a mini-collection of classic costumes, the proceeds from which will be redirected to the restoration of the gymnasium in the town of Velyka Kostromka in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.