Local Brands Worth Paying Attention to
A new trend: when traveling, in addition to exploring local museums, attractions and restaurants, pay attention to local designers who work with the local cultural code.
Today, Rodina is a streetwear brand and store that can be found in many Russian cities, from Sochi to Yekaterinburg. You can find items from a wide variety of domestic brands in their showrooms, but this story began on ten square meters in Nizhny Novgorod: Artem Malyshev, the founder of the brand launched the brand and opened the first domestic streetwear store in the city in 2014. Rodina offers casual wear: T-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies with embroidery and prints, comfortable sporty trousers, shoppers of various colors with designs by local artists and original accessories. You can also buy something practical: a thermostat or some memorable trifle, for example, socks with witty inscriptions.
The brand was founded in 2019 by a young couple of designers — Ekaterina Bulgakova and Sergey Levin. The brand has become top popular because it applies conceptual approach to each of its drops, creates spectacular videos and photographs that reflect the concept and mood of each collection. For example, for a series of winter down jackets that resemble the jackets of sheriffs or journalists from America in the 80s, the team shot a series of short films about investigations of paranormal phenomena by a private detective. Today, the brand presents a wide variety of streetwear: from summer crop tops and loose shorts to warm trousers, down jackets and hats. The real hit of sales are fleece hoodies in bright colors. The brand's items are sold in more than 30 stores across Russia, and not so long ago they opened a conceptual store in the heart of Nizhny Novgorod.
The minimalistic brand began its history with a conceptual store featuring popular European and Asian brands. Now, it produces its own collections locally. Since 2018, the brand created by stylist Daria Leushina has been associated with Nizhny Novgorod by many fashionistas in the country. Select Studio was created for a resident of a big city — free, brave, natural, appreciative of her time, strong and feminine at the same time. The collections have all the components of the most comfortable wardrobe — classic pantsuits, dresses for important events and for every day, knitwear and tracksuits.
A clothing brand from Nizhny Novgorod, founded by designer and former psychologist Olya Miklina, who believes that clothing can be therapeutic. The brand is inspired by everything truly vibrant: a mix of styles from sporty to hippie, music, movies, people's emotions, colors and prints, and most importantly, the absence of artificiality and pretense. Here you can find knitted striped hats, mat vests, funny accessories and «Kura» pendants worn by girls all over the country.
A clothing brand founded by Nizhny Novgorod designer Nadia Andrianova, who defines it as a «brand with a background.» In the collections, you can see the traditional cut of folk costumes, the brand is not shy about the folk naming «fufaika», «kaftan», «dushegreya.» In her collections, KÍCHKA reinterprets the legacy of traditional Nizhny Novgorod costume and casual wear of the past centuries in modern images. The team explores patterns, details and motifs of ancient Nizhny Novgorod clothing and creates relevant images based on them, in which the region's heritage finds a modern language. There are even real expeditions in the Nizhny Novgorod region, where designers communicate with researchers of folk costume, study archived specimens in museums. In addition to working with traditional motifs and finding interesting forgotten cuts, the brand is interested in working with natural materials and upcycling.
Designer Yulia Tuboltseva experiments with cut and texture, while using premium Italian fabrics in her own production. She makes clothes for a wide range of sizes, from size 40 to size 50. Tiu is characterized as a brand of clothes that «make you not only turn around, but also get to know each other.» A variety of provocative accessories attract attention and have long earned the love of local fashionistas: collars, frills, crown headbands and bright cuffs.
IMSAY Studio is a young clothing brand with oriental aesthetics from Gorodets, launched in 2021. The founders define their products as «clothes with an aura of calmness». They believe that conceptual design is the best way to read a special inner world that you want to get to know more closely. Among IMSAY's products, you can find reinterpreted kimonos and dresses, as well as comfortable trousers suitable for both casual and formal, business style.
MASHKARA is a brand that positions itself as aesthetic clothing for intellectuals. Basic principles: laconic architectural cut, ironic prints, casual chic. The brand was founded in 2014 by Karina Manzhula, who over the years has grown MASHKARA from a small workshop into a full-fledged large-scale production with orders all over the world. Here you will find loose pantsuits, silk velvet dresses, bohemian kimonos for every day. The production of MASHKARA is located in Nizhny Novgorod, and the fabrics come from local factories in Italy, France, and India. By the way, in addition to working with luxury materials, the brand presents fabrics with its own prints every season.
The upcycle brand's items combine vintage fabrics, including tablecloths and bedspreads as if from a grandmother's chest, hand embroidery, patchwork and historical sewing techniques. A silk shirt with floral embroidery, a jacket decorated with antique lace, or a hat made of cotton towel — all of them are unique!
