“I’m not thinking as a business woman. I’m just having fun and experimenting,” said Ksenia Schnaider, an Ukrainian fashion designer, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Kseniaschnaider, a sustainable, independent and rerisilient international brand produced in Kiyv.
She has participated “Triple match for fair fashion”, one of the most interesting talks of Denim Premiere Vision, the denim-focused trade show that took place, in Milan at SuperstudioPiù on 20 and 21 May.
She was on stage with two other forward-thinking, visionary, and responsible entrepreneurs–Andrea Bonfini, owner, Fade Out Label, and Adam Tabuenfligel, co-owner, Triarchy–proving how approaching responsibility can be multifaceted and open to most different creative interpretations.
Schnaider’s practice focuses on circular design, upcycling, and the development of new material development using recycled and reworked textiles. Under her creative direction, her brand has became known for signature silhouettes such as Demi-Denims, Asymmetrical Jeans, and Denim Fur.
Her work is constantly exploring the intersection of sustainability and contemporary fashion, combining experimental construction with wearability and conscious production. The brand has upcycled more than 45 tons of denim throughout its life and continues to manufacture locally in Ukraine, while also collaborating with different brands and players including international names like Adidas and Lee Cooper.
We spoke with her about her newest projects.
How was Kseniaschnaider born?
We started as an upcycling brand in 2012 and have always been adding new upcycled materials to our merchandise.
What are your newest projects you are focusing on right now?
The most exciting thing for us now is experimenting with silhouettes. We love to experiment with denim, and now we have been focusing on our design-driven Square Denim collection, or, as we call it, Think Inside The Box. It’s really my passion project.
We offer square jeans, square jackets, and square shorts. I’m really into this now.
It’s not a commercial project, but it’s really fun.
In what sense can we say this collection is responsible, as the rest of your creations until now?
Our whole product offer is done by upcycling old garments, mostly denim. Either like vintage denim or certified denim fabrics from trusted manufacturers, or organic or regenerative grown cotton.
We are much more focused on checking where our fabric comes from. For this project, for Square Denim, we use both vintage denim and new fabrics, though I prefer vintage fabrics because garments look more interesting.
How do you create these jeans?
We use patchwork-like techniques, matching square fabric pieces together. Also, the way we sell them is out of the ordinary, as we don’t produce stocks. We sell only pre-order pieces through our website, which—I think—is also a very sustainable approach.
Do you also sell through physical stores?
No, it’s only pre-order. Given their particular silhouette and how they fit on the body, customers need to provide us their height measurements as we produce each pair specifically for each client, and because the construction requires some elements inside to fix the square silhouette on the curved body.
It has some belts inside and some panels. So that’s why we really need to know measurements to adjust this square pair perfectly. It’s a kind of architecture. They are more like couture pieces because we cannot do them according to mass production standards.
Who buys them? Celebrities or people who wear them for special performances?
We first started offering them like an experiment and art project, but then we saw the reaction, and people actually wanted to buy them. They started asking how to order them.
And they are successful, as we have been offering them a year and a half ago, and I only see this trend growing.
Is their success somehow due to the fact that after such a long time when people wore second-skin clothes and body-hugging apparel, they now prefer to wear just the opposite?
Yes. And this trend is absolutely opposite because you put your body into, like, a box. For me, it’s just the next step in playing with jeans, like making a couture piece, but still keeping it wearable.
And they wear them every day because I receive pictures from our customers wearing them for different occasions, like shopping or while meeting friends.
You don’t need to be a rock star at a concert for wearing them. If it were a dress, it would require some special occasion—but that’s jeans.
And I know it’s not regular style, but it’s still denim. So, I like to play around and see how it can evolve. So it really shows the next evolution of the market.
How many items are you offering?
It’s a full collection. We did a square jacket, square jeans, square shorts, a square skirt, square denim tops, a square denim hat, and square shoes, but the best-selling item is square jeans.
People really love the jeans, and the rest is more like a kind of accessory, like some curious item, but they feel it’s something they can really wear.
Is this collection more expensive than the rest of what you offer?
They cost more because there is more work in it, plus we produce it as an in-between pre-order and custom-made—because it’s custom-made. It’s a kind of couture, and it’s a very special business model.
Did this collection participate in any fashion week?
Yes. It participated in London Fashion Week last February, and I’m planning to show in London next September again because the feedback was great and I continue to see this trend growing.
Where do you produce your Square Denim collection?
I produce it exactly as the rest of my collections—in Ukraine.
Despite the war?
Yes. I continue to have it produced there, where I travel every month.