Object X is one of the few Ukrainian techwear brands. They sew functional men’s clothing, in which the most interesting thing is the details: for example, hidden and removable pockets, regulators. And also materials, including membranes, light storing laminates and triple washed and sun dried Japanese cottons.
On the website of Pitti Uomo (one of the main international events of men’s fashion. — Note from DTF Magazine), in which the brand has participated eight times, its concept is described in such a way that everything has two sides: visible and hidden, and Object X clothes are more than you expect. In our interview, the brand’s co-founder and designer Yurii (Hero asked not to use his last name — Note from DTF Magazine) confirms this with a feedback from one of the customers who wore the jacket for two weeks and each time found new pockets in it.
Yurii was on rotation when we met him in Kyiv, but during the interview he asked us not to emphasize or manipulate the fact that he is a military man. The designer told DTF Magazine about his passion for astronomy, why their items are tested by a digger in the subways of the capital, and when they will release their first women’s collection
Briefly about Object X
Object X was founded in 2017 in Kyiv, and after two years its team started exhibiting at Pitti Uomo. They create jackets, basic T-shirts, vests, longsleeves, pants and accessories.
Apart from Yurii, the team consists of four people: a designer, an assistant, a financier and an operations director. This is without taking into account the employees of their own Kyiv production facility, which combines studio and office.
Now Object X is negotiating with one gallery, which participates in the organization of fashion week in Canada, and is planning a collaboration with a Ukrainian artist. Currently, the brand is represented in Kyiv stores such as TSUM, OSTRIV, Anthology and LID, as well as in Lviv OSTRIV.
About brand management and military service
— You are on rotation in Kyiv. As far as I understand, you still continue to manage the brand and participate in the main processes, including design development, right? How much are you involved in it?
— My role in all of this is organization and design. I handle workflow adjustments, approvals, and design creation. I have formed a good team that understands me and I understand them. I draw, the designer creates, the lab technician stitches, everything is approved. Now my functions remain the same, it’s just that my presence on location is reduced.
— What was the event after which you went to defend Ukraine?
— I went as a volunteer back in 2014, and about three years later I quit. When full-scale war broke out, I had no choice: to go or not to go. It was, shall we say, an ideological impulse.
— War is a tough and big challenge. Have you had any thoughts of shutting down the brand because of a full-scale invasion?
— For the first four months of the full-scale war, we did not work at all. The women from the team left, Oleksandr (Operations Director — Note from DTF Magazine) evacuated his family and returned to Kyiv. Four months later we got in touch with him and thought about starting to do something. Little by little we picked up speed and now we are already working more or less fully. I can’t say that we are doing as much as we did before the war, but we are coping.
So there were thoughts of closing the brand, but the team wanted to keep working, and that also played an important role. Then we were contacted by Pitti Uomo (summer 2023 — Note from DTF Magazine). They met us and invited us to exhibit for free. And we thought that if they made us such an offer, we should go and work.
— Were there any problematic stages or moments in the brand’s history when you were thinking about what to do with the brand — to shut it down or not?
— No, before the full-scale war, we had no problems at all. I can’t say that we were a super-successful brand and everything was going the way I wanted it to. However, we were working, earning, realizing everything we wanted, and that was enough. We knew and understood in which direction and how we should develop our brand.
‘When I wanted to launch a brand, the concept of ‘techwear’ didn’t exist for me at all’
— On one of your longsleeves I saw a print with the date January 6, 2010. On that day, an unknown object (Object X) was detected. Did this astronomical event influence the choice of name for the brand, do you put a broader meaning into it?
— It’s quite a long story. I wanted to create something new, roughly speaking, something that I liked and that I wanted to see on myself and others. I started putting together a team, looking for a designer, an assistant, but I didn’t have a name, then we just discussed ideas.
Then Oleh Moroz from RIOTDIVISION and I went to look for fabrics at international exhibitions, because at that time the materials we were interested in were not sold in Ukraine at all. I was in search of a name, although I had already formed the ideology and design in my mind, and we were starting to make the first items. I knew for sure that there should be X in the name, because it is something that needs to be understood, it is something unknown.
That’s when Oleh said that he had come up with an awesome name for my brand — Object X. He knew that I love astronomy, space, the sky — for me, this is a story that began in childhood and is associated with it. He told the story about the object, and I realized that the name was completely in line with my vision. But Oleh still jokes that the brand wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for him.
— Were you interested in techwear when you were planning the launch of the brand? Or did it happen during the process?
— Yes, I liked something functional that had a normal look. I mean, there are sports, military, hiking clothes — they are comfortable, but they look like sports, military and hiking clothes. I’m interested in putting functionality into ordinary items.
When I wanted to launch the brand, the concept of ‘techwear’ didn’t exist for me at all. I mean, at the time, Stone Island was making items using good fabrics and so on, but it wasn’t formed into a trend like techwear.
I don’t know how to explain it, but I create items that I would like to wear and in which I would feel comfortable. I like the functionality of some items, but I don’t like the way they look. That’s how I design clothes: I see a cool item, but I know how to redesign it to make it look different without compromising on the original comfort.
— The Pitti Uomo website describes your brand with the quote that everything has two sides: visible and hidden, and that the idea behind your items is that they are more than you expect. What other ideas do you put into your brand philosophy?
— It’s true. I like the transformation of items, something hidden, like additional seams and constructive solutions for the convenience of functionality. That is, I like to make it so that at first glance it’s just a normal jacket, but when you start to look deeper, you’ll find pockets or stretchy material added for convenience.
There was a situation when a person bought a jacket, and after some time we got a feedback saying: ‘I have had this jacket for two weeks and I keep finding more and more pockets’.
I like to create more than just items, I want them to have something more than what people can understand just by looking at them.
About the team and digger Bono, who tests Object X items
— How do you see the brand’s audience? And do you focus mainly on foreign clients rather than Ukrainian ones, as most Ukrainian middle-up brands do now?
— I guess your question should be asked to the people promoting the brand. Because I just create the items. But I will try to answer that they are active people who have activities, preferences and so on, who understand why they need these items.
Like most people of my generation, I grew up wearing Stone Island and ACRONYM. But now these brands have acquired some kind of artificial history and people wear their items in order to prove something to someone.
This is just my vision, of course, but the guys dressed in ACRONYM are the kind of mommy’s ninjas who look cool, but hardly any of them are ninjas. It’s the same with Stone Island — if a guy is wearing a jacket with a patch, for example, he’s supposedly broadcasting that people need to fear him. I’m not comfortable with that, and when I started, I immediately looked for someone who would help me with promotion or give me recommendations.
I found digger blogger Bono, who explores all sorts of underpasses, subways and abandoned places. I asked him to test items, but he didn’t immediately agree, saying he wasn’t about fashion at all. Then I sent him some pics of the items so he could get a sense of what they looked like, he agreed that the clothes weren’t bad, and decided to try.
We started communicating, now we are friends, he even encouraged me to become a digger, we explored several sites, open and not so open. Such a format, involving a digger, is great for testing items and understanding what is superfluous and what is missing, what is convenient and what is not. So it’s such a test of items in a real environment.
— Who else is testing your items?
— Besides Bono, I am also testing because it has to do with my internal perception. It’s just the two of us doing it, but I have a list of people I’d like to involve, but I haven’t contacted them yet.
— Tell us about the brand team, how many people are in it now and what tasks they perform.
Each team member assumes some sector of responsibility so that I don’t think about anything and do what I like. They completely provide a vision of what I want to do. For example, I can come to the designer with any crazy idea and he will realize it.
One of the first jackets I designed had an overly complicated functionality, particularly because of the hood. Everyone told me that it was nonsense, that it didn’t make sense and that it was impossible. However, they recommended a constructor to me. He also told me that it was nonsense, but agreed to try. In the end, we did it, we finished everything, and we succeeded.
Then we started communicating, I offered him a permanent job, and since then we have been working together. The team is, let’s say, an irreplaceable incentive to keep working. I can’t imagine this work without them, because we are very used to each other.
As for production, we have one person controlling the process of making one item from start to finish, and we have not yet been able to organize сontinuous-flow manufacturing. Perhaps because we don’t have large enough batches. We have tried to work using a conveyor system, but because of this there were problems, and at some point we went back to one person who calmly and accurately created an item. We work in this way, and we are completely satisfied with the quality.
‘I have a problem with compromises: if I want something, it has to be exactly the way I want it’
— Do you mainly order fabrics abroad? How do you find and select manufacturers?
— We look for fabrics at exhibitions in China, Italy, France and other countries. I pay attention to the tactility of the fabrics, i.e. if I have touched them and liked them, I should take them. But Oleksandr, for example, delves deeper into these issues than I do: the composition is important to him, he tries to predict what will happen to this fabric in different situations.
Nowadays, fabric manufacturers know us more or less. Sometimes they write to us and offer us fabrics. But about 90% are foreign exhibitions where we are looking for something new and functional.
— Earlier, Oleksandr told us about preparations for this year’s Pitti Uomo, including about problems with logistics. For example, a manufacturer from South Korea kept a light storing membrane fabric for a year until you could find a way to deliver it to Ukraine. How justified is such a wait for a brand that presents two collections a year at Pitti Uomo?
— I guess the wait was justified because this is the fabric we wanted.
I have a problem with compromises: if I want something, it has to be exactly the way I want it. Sometimes we have situations when we can do it not exactly the way we want it, but a little differently, even though it’s similar. And it pisses me off, but we live in a reality where there are things that we can’t influence.
We were happy that we could get this fabric, that we found a way to transport it. For our team and for me, it was justified enough because I envisioned an item made of this fabric, and if it had been made of another material, it would have looked different.
Ukraine does not have a very well-developed fabric market, where there would be materials we are interested in, and during cooperation with other countries, we have problems with logistics. It is easier with Europe, but as for Asian countries, including Japan, every time there is a very complicated situation with delivery and customs clearance. But it is justified by the fact that as a result we get what we want. Customers see exactly what we wanted to show, not something similar. And we like that.
How Object X participated in Pitti Uomo eight times
— Why is it important for you to participate in Pitti Uomo and how much does it help you, as a Ukrainian brand, to promote yourself abroad?
— Pitti Uomo is attended by many professionals from different countries, and for us it is a chance to show ourselves and meet someone.
We like going there, and we see it not as a buyer exhibition, but as an image exhibition. For example, one day we went into one of the Ukrainian stores to discuss cooperation, and they were surprised that we were at Pitti Uomo. That is to say, Ukrainian brands do not participate in this exhibition very often.
This is quite a powerful event for Europe at least. We also attended Seek Berlin, but it has exhausted itself a bit, now they are in the process of rebooting, we will see what they will show next.
— Are you interested in foreign men’s fashion weeks? Why don’t you participate in them?
— It’s hard for me to imagine how it should be, who would be able to buy the items and wear them. I don’t see myself there, but this format is interesting as an experiment. Now we are negotiating with a fashion week in Canada; we will see what comes out of it.
Pitti Uomo is a very clear thing for us, because there are almost no outsiders there. Only the press, buyers, and sometimes students gather there. In other words, all communication is around business, unlike fashion weeks.
— In general, there are not many techwear brands in Ukraine. Can we compete on a global level or is it competition within the country?
— To be honest, I’m not very interested in it and I don’t know any other Ukrainian techwear brands except RIOTDIVISION. But I don’t consider our brand as a player in the competitive field, but more as a creativity. Because for me competition means that I have to prove something again, but I just want to create something, not to compete in marketing, promotion and advertising. I’m not good at it and I don’t want to be good at it. Your question should also be addressed to the people who are in charge of that in my team. On the other hand, I also realize that we are quite raw, just starting, learning and we still have a lot of work to do to compete with the style flagships.
— Do you think we should expect a boom of techwear brands in Ukraine, given that the country is at war and this also affects who and it also affects who wears clothes and what kind of clothes?
— Again, to be honest, I don’t really associate myself with this direction and I try not to label it as techwear and not something else. As for the boom, it seems to me that techwear has become less popular, not as interesting as it used to be, people have had enough of it and are more indifferent to it. That is, they look not just at the name, but at the particular item and want to know what it is.
‘For the last seven years I’ve been trying not to buy items, but to make my own clothes and think about what they’re missing’
— What brands do you focus on and what are your favorites?
— My whole childhood was about second hand clothing. I also almost always followed Stone Island. By the way, now Sasha Kanevskyi works for them as one of their main designers (Sasha works as head designer. — Note from DTF Magazine): this is such a good example of Ukrainian opinion in world design.
But for the last seven years I’ve been trying not to buy items, but to make my own clothes and think about what they’re missing. I am inspired by the fact that I can see something on the street and immediately sketch it out for future design.
I can see that a shadow has fallen on the jacket, and realize that it would be a good idea to place a pocket instead of a shadow.
— Are there any brands you’d like to create collaborations with?
— It’s Nike, because I would like to create a cool shoe, and for me a cool shoe is about them. But in general, collaboration as a phenomenon would be interesting, but I can’t choose any particular brand, because every brand has something recognizable. We are open to suggestions.
— There is a section with women’s clothing on your website, but there are only unisex hats there. Do you plan to produce women’s clothing?
— Yes, there will be changes to our site, there is a goal to create women’s items, but now is not the time when I could be fully engaged in this. Now is not the time for that, but it will definitely happen one day. I think after we win, we will definitely do it.
