When news of Russia's invasion [1] broke, Cultnaked [2] founder and Ukrainian fashion designer Mary Furtas was home, preparing to celebrate her daughter's first birthday. "I couldn't sleep very well on that day or any particular day before," she tells POPSUGAR over Zoom from a new location. "I was constantly waking up at night to check the news, and then I picked up my phone and there's a message that they started bombing the cities." Furtas escaped to Poland with her daughter, shutting down operations for the brand she launched almost five years ago.
The label, which is loved by celebrities like Kendall Jenner [3] and Megan Fox [4], gained recognition for its high-octane approach to going-out clothes, designed with a passion for the female form. Cultnaked's sustainable business model also stands out; it is made to order and repurposes whatever little stock it keeps into new silhouettes. This thoughtful approach to production, combined with the quality of the fabric [5], has turned Furtas into one of Ukraine's leading next-gen designers.
"I want to keep going for the people, for my team, and for the economy of the country."
The war put a pause on the label's business plans, but that hasn't stopped Furtas from charting a path forward. Shortly after the invasion, she shut down her website, leaving only one message on the homepage: "You should focus on the war." She has since leveraged her growing social media platform [6] to raise awareness, amass funds, and support the local community and her team in particular, many of whom are still based in Ukraine. While she has since resumed operations in a limited capacity, she's also turned Cultnaked [7] into a powerful messaging vehicle. Now, a new message is displayed on the site: "UKRAINE MUST GO ON." "I want to keep going for the people, for my team, and for the economy of the country," she says.
Furtas spoke to POPSUGAR about the impact of the Russian invasion, the fashion industry's response to the war, running a business in these challenging times, and her hopes for the future of the industry.
Read on for the full interview, which has been edited for clarity.
On Fleeing Ukraine
POPSUGAR: First, how are you? It's a really heavy time.
Mary Furtas: I was to going to celebrate my daughter's first birthday, and we were at home sleeping, and then I woke up. I couldn't sleep, really. I had prepacked a lot of stuff, and thankfully, we live close to the Polish border, maybe 60 miles away. I was packing everything into the car and then I hear bombs, but further away, not close to the house, and that broke me. I just fell on the floor and I couldn't move, but then I picked myself up in a few hours. We left straight away, because I was super afraid for my daughter. So, I got lucky to get out — one of the first people.
On the Pre-Invasion Fashion Scene in Ukraine
POPSUGAR: What was the fashion scene like in Ukraine prior to the invasion?
Mary Furtas: You probably heard about a lot of fashion brands from Ukraine by now. We're this growing, hip, up-and-coming country. And Cultnaked is part of that. The industry was not really big, but it basically became a creative hub for all of Europe. Other countries would come in for cheaper labor but much higher quality of work. And people shot big advertisements here, [like] LVMH and Hugo Boss. So, we are all around these cool people, and we would go to fashion weeks and have this gang vibe.
But for Cultnaked, it was very important to have ethical production. It's very important to have equal pay and a super-cool place that people want to work in. Everybody gets a good salary. It's very important that we keep this cool thing going, and we are in the western part of Ukraine that's relatively safe.
On Ceasing Operations
POPSUGAR: I noticed you shut down your website with a message that said, "You should focus on the war." I thought that was such a powerful moment, and I don't think I was seeing a lot of other brands doing that. Most of them were still figuring out how to respond to the war. What was that like? What led you to the decision of shutting down?
Mary Furtas: I love my country, and I would always want to protect it and be a kind of activist. I do what I can, and I would just want us to win. It's very crucial. It's crucial for democracy.
On Fashion's Response and the State of Activism in the Industry
POPSUGAR: What do you think of the fashion community's overall response to the war? During Milan Fashion Week, it wasn't until Giorgio Armani staged a silent show that everyone realized, well, we can still be conscious of what's happening. How did your community respond once you started raising more awareness on your platform? And how do you feel about the state of activism amid all this?
Mary Furtas: Well, I don't expect anybody to stop their lives, but of course, it was great to see fashion support us. I understand it's not forever. I do not have any kind of expectation, but I have a lot of friends helping out still in the fashion community. I would really love to keep those regular small reminders. That's what I'm trying to work on now. I ask my friends to post on social media.
I think activism comes in waves. People can't sustain it for a very long time if they don't get paid for it. I'm just thinking realistically from a business perspective.
At the end of the day, you're in your own bubble, so I think that implementing activism into your business model is a good idea. So, to me, it's important that brands and people, in everything — I'm not just talking about the war in Ukraine — try to do whatever they can, because it inspires other people to think that way, and it models this democratic behavior.
On Running a Business Amid War
POPSUGAR: Are you mostly operating in Ukraine? Is your team based out there?
Mary Furtas: Yes. My team is working, and there are occasional bomb alarms ringing. They head to the bomb shelters, then they go out, and they keep on sewing. I want to keep going. I want to keep going for the people, for my team — they're amazing — and for the economy of the country. I feel there's nothing like Ukraine, it's so core us, that I tell everyone who works for us, "You should come to Kiev, you should see our people, see our places, our cool vibe." And I miss that a lot. I will keep doing everything there as long as it's possible, and I hope it's going to be possible forever.
On the Path Forward and Lessons Learned Along the Way
POPSUGAR: What is it like to run the business right now, and how do you stay motivated through everything? What are some lessons you've learned along the way?
Mary Furtas: It's hard, because [my team is] all tired. They're not very motivated. I'm busy with all the activism and all the social network[s]. If something happens, I'm furious, but I'm trying to move forward. The hardest part for me at the very moment is to set up the production of new things, because I'm not physically with my team. I'm now having zoom meetings with the fittings, and I'm used to touching everything, but let's see how that works out.
But my team is made up of strong Ukrainian women. My chief operations officer does so much volunteering, collecting stuff for the army and helping our territorial defense, then she goes and has some fittings. It's a half-military, half-fashion kind of job right now. I think they're heroes.
I've learned that people are the main resources for everything. My team is Cultnaked's best asset. And now that I see how the country is united against the enemy, that gives me so much hope for humanity. I learned that nothing matters as much as human life.
On Her Hopes For the Future of Fashion
POPSUGAR: With all that said, what are your hopes for the future of fashion?
Mary Furtas: When we [Ukraine] win, we're going to be the fastest-growing and top country for fashion. I see fashion in the way that I create it. So, the four core ideologies of Cultnaked: quality, construction, flattering fit, and sustainability. I'm trying to push that forward.
So, we are a seasonless, on-demand brand. We don't produce a million seasonal outfits and throw the leftovers away. We make the one item, perfect it, push it on the website, sell it until people love it; we don't do overstock, and if the item is not popular, we just make different items from the same fabric that we already bought. And we sell everything until the last piece, and we make it the type of quality that people wear for years.
The main problem [with] fashion to me is how much stock we have and what quality this stock is. A lot of clothes that we buy just end up in landfills, because they're not of good quality. What's the purpose of this? I don't want things to be just cheaper. I also want things to be cool, so that's what I do — and I believe that the best is yet to come.
That's what Cultnaked is, and that's how we want everybody to be. So, I'm working on this, and of course, if the invasion didn't happen, we would go fully sustainable on all textiles by the end of the year. But we're still going to get there, and I'm fighting for it.