Kyiv, Ukraine + my thoughts on sustainable brands

My thoughts on sustainable fashion as we captured this post – definitely something I would like to discuss, but first…

Let’s take a break from fashion-talk and discuss the real reason why we all travel the world: food.

Duh.

Somewhere between varenyki, dyruny, borsch, salo, pyroshky, and blintsi, Ukraine is a pro in this department. This is where you need to stop what you’re doing, google every single one of those foods and write down recipes.

Thank me later 🙂

Scroll down for my Kyiv food experiences and recommendations:

11 Mirror Restaurant

Outside of loving the whole experience of staying at 11 Mirror Hotel, the rooftop restaurant/bar here provided a gorgeous experience (also considered one of the top 10 restaurants in the city).

Breathtaking views of the whole city + yummy chicken Kyiv = one of my top must-visit restaurants.

TOVSTA KACHKA

This restaurant is also at the top of my list. Matt did some long and serious research to find this gem on Google maps – the location is a bit tricky (and may seem a bit shady, if you don’t know the city). To find the entrance – turn into one of the residential building’s courtyards and walk through a short dark arc… but then you’re greeted with a gorgeous mural on the left and a gorgeous restaurant entrance on the right. Food here was great. As were the cocktails. As was the ambiance. As was the service. Honestly, it was a perfect fine dining experience and I highly recommend making a reservation if you’re in town.

Faina Familia Restaurant

Not the most glamorous of city streets, with an entrance that isn’t easily spotted, this place surprised us with amazing food! Wine/cheese plate combination, steaks and seafood were among the items ordered – 5 stars for all. The ambiance here is also very fun, with an old-school traditional Ukrainian vibe.

The Last Barricade

The restaurant is located right in the middle of the Maydan (where the revolution in 2012 unfolded). The entrance is hidden and even password-protected. But if you do manage to find the door (spoiler alert – in the mall and down the escalator) and are just very nice to the doorman (beg for the password), you’ll most likely get in. The place has great Ukrainian food and sometimes live Ukrainian music.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

My thoughts and struggles with sustainable brands – unnecessary disclaimer, but needs to be said: “struggles” are unrelated to brands / pieces I’m wearing in this post.

Shopping and loving Ukrainian labels, I started wondering how global fashion brands interpret sustainability. Dynamic trio of fashion ethics is fair treatment of people, preservation of the environment and fair treatment of animals. The perfectly sustainable brand would practice all 3.

95% of the time – brands focus on 1-2. Most popular observed case: a sustainable brand stimulating the local economy, creating jobs, treating workers fairly, paying fair wages, reducing carbon emissions, recycling packaging… and using leather as a material. Would I still purchase from this brand overlooking one negative vs. so many positives? Yes. I choose to support small brands trying their best to be a fully sustainable production. Do I wish that would abandon leather? Yes.

Another example is the case with a Canadian brand Matt & Nat: using 0 animal products + creating gorgeous vegan footwear… production transparency is nonexistent, therefore easy to assume the brand doesn’t follow ethical practices.

In my interpretation, this kind of sustainable incompleteness exists because historically, the fashion industry exponentially increased production YoY and is only NOW starting to slow down. Emergence of ethical bloggers, conscious designers, sustainable magazines, blogs and apps + so much accessible information = the fashion world is forced to re-evaluate. But this slow-down cannot happen overnight. Bigger brands today take steps, announce commitments and sign agreements to turn a new ethical page and we, as consumers, have to be extra savvy with our purchases.

Sustainability doesn’t institute an easy lifestyle – it requires dedication, continuous research, abandonment of habits and convenience, patience, and smart compromises. Including boycott of fast fashion, which occasionally spits out misleading “green collections”.

What are your thoughts on this topic? I’d love to hear your opinions or stories about sustainable fashion struggles.