I did not start in garment construction. I started in survival.

I graduated in Kyiv just as the old system was falling apart and the new one had not figured itself out yet.

I wanted to design clothing. The economy had other ideas.

So I sold clothes. Then I bought clothes. Then I spent years chasing the places where clothes were made. China. Turkey. Italy.

Everyone was looking for products. I became interested in the mistakes.

A jacket that looked perfect on the hanger and hopeless on a person. A beautiful fabric wrapped around a bad pattern. A factory that saved three cents and ruined three months of work.

Eventually I stopped asking whether a garment looked good. I wanted to know why it worked. Or why it didn’t.

That question led me into patterns, production, fit, factory floors and fittings. And more conversations about shoulders than any normal person should have in one lifetime.