NuBEKh: Spectacular casual wear from Kiev
WONDERZINE PRESENTS YOUNG DESIGNERIn and tells where and how you can buy their things. Our heroine this week is Maria Bekh, the founder of the Ukrainian brand nuBEKh.
Over the past couple of years it has become obvious: to follow the development of the Ukrainian fashion industry is much more interesting than the Russian one. Tense competition between two really strong fashion weeks - Kiev Fashion Days and Ukrainian Fashion Week, and a clear interest in the Ukrainian fashion from the West, also affects. Young brands, for which there are new talents, appear here with enviable regularity. The nuBEKh brand is one of the most visible commercially oriented novices in recent years.
The founder of nuBEKh, Maria Bekh, received a business education, but quickly realized that she wanted more, and entered the Marangoni Institute for a design course. During her studies, she did practice in the brand By Malene Birger, and also won a grant for a one-year supplementary course. For five years, Bech has worked on the more complex and expensive BEKh Atelier line. And only two years ago I decided to start developing nuBEKh, a practical, understandable, convenient and relatively inexpensive clothing brand. The history of the emergence of nuBEKh is not trivial: "I made a couple of sweatshirts to order my Italian friends - they were so often stopped on the streets of Milan to find out where they took these things, which the guys advised me to create a new, separate brand." Now 10 people are working on nuBEKh. On the products of the brand behind, instead of a label, there is a carved rectangle, in addition, Bech makes personalized inscriptions for each thing — quotations from songs and films are written on the reverse side of the rectangle.
The autumn collection of nuBEKh will include things from t-shirts to coats. The brand refers to the linen style: the body was the key product of the collection. In addition, you can choose a combination dress or a velor robe, decorated with sequins. nuBEKh for the first time tried to make things from knitted knitwear. Materials are ordered from Italy and Portugal, and items are sewn in Ukraine and in the same Portugal. Maria herself calls nuBEKh "a line for life", therefore she chooses basic colors for things: gray melange, flesh, white, black, shades of blue, and then she introduces bright "sparks". Now the designer is negotiating with investors about expansion into other markets and plans to launch an online store soon.
To keep the balance of price and quality in a crisis is very difficult, especially when your brand is in the making. The greatest difficulty is the implementation of production minima. But I believe and love my product so much that I’m ready to sacrifice a lot for it to continue to develop.
I have a European approach to work, therefore, I choose partners who meet my requirements. First of all, I think that fashion should be practical and take into account the rhythm of life. I respect my clients and value their budget, first of all they are my friends. Exactly, therefore, I believe that selling sweatshirts for 1,000 euros is the height of cynicism.
Photo: nuBEKh