Our family is originally from Ukraine and we now live in Michigan. We moved to the United States due to the Russian military campaign in our community, which had a substantial impact on our lives and our business. We have been selling handbags, backpacks, and wallets since 2015.

Prior to moving to the U.S., we lived in Kharkiv, Ukraine, a city that is just 17 miles from the Russian border. From the first hours of the war in February 2022, our city was continuously bombed.  We were forced to live in a bomb shelter. While staying in the bomb shelter, Alla went into labor. We gave birth to our daughter, Daiana, in the basement of the hospital. Our 3-year-old son, Davyd, was also staying with his grandparents, in anticipation of the birth of our daughter, but soon their town of Izyum was occupied by Russian forces as well. Our son and Maksym's parents and grandmother were forced to live in a root cellar for almost a month before Maksym rescued them from the occupied city. It required that he pass through almost 60 Ukrainian and Russian checkpoints, enduring significant stress and potential harm.

We moved twice within the country to try to keep our family safe from the fighting. Soon after we left Kharkiv, our main retail store and large warehouse of bags, backpacks, and wallets was completely destroyed by a series of Russian bombings. 

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Safe In America

In June 2022, we left Ukraine to protect our family. Wanting to restart our first love of retail and wholesale accessories, we reached out to our suppliers back in Ukraine. Many had fled to the central and western part of the country to restart their business. Now as we regrow our business in the U.S., we also help support Ukrainian families and businesses internally displaced at home as well. Through their high-quality craftsmanship and heavy attention to detail, we believe a little piece of the soul of Ukraine is embedded in each of our products.

Thank you for supporting our small business in the U.S. and the businesses of our long-time colleagues in Ukraine.