Amid the invasion of Ukraine, digital fashion brand DressX is calling for international support from the fashion industry and from its community. On Friday, it launched a Support Ukraine collection on the DressX app, where users can now make donations in cryptocurrency.
Since the invasion of Ukraine starting on February 24, the nation’s burgeoning digital fashion scene, like other local industries, has been deeply affected. Businesses in the space include DressX, which has been largely responsible for AR fashion integration in Europe. The digital fashion startup was founded in Ukraine in 2020 by Daria Shapovalova and Natalya Modenova, at the culmination of a prior business partnership. Both women were behind the creation of Eastern Europe’s largest fashion week, in Kiev, through their company Kiev Fashion project, launched in 2010. They’ve been instrumental in bringing digital fashion to the forefront during the pandemic, working with companies including H&M, Barragan and Google to launch dedicated collections. They have now released an AR-led digital fashion collection through the DressX app, with all pieces available for free, to promote cryptocurrency donations and support for both defense forces in Ukraine and related charitable funds. Cryptocurrency donations have been a key feature of the conflict, with both sides receiving donations from supporters.
In a joint statement issued by DressX on their site, the founders wrote, “We provide the platform for designers and talents from all over the world to unite around digital fashion and creativity. We’ve created this collection as a way of starting a donation campaign to support those in Ukraine. We believe that no country or nationality in the world should be in war and conflict.” They also noted that, while many of their team members were abroad, many still remain in the country, along with family and friends.
The Dematerialised, a Web 3.0 digital fashion marketplace that has recently launched collections with McQ and Karl Lagerfeld, also has colleagues and collaborators in the country.
The brand issued a statement to Glossy, saying, “As the situation unfolds, we’re growing increasingly concerned for the safety of our close colleagues in Ukraine, and we want to help in any way we can. We want to be there on a human level for our colleagues during this traumatic time. Therefore in support, we have donated to Nova’s Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine and continue to show our solidarity with them to our community across our social media.”
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Recent efforts have been made to make Ukraine a leading jurisdiction for the development of the cryptocurrency industry. Already a key production point for many physical brands like Hugo Boss within the fashion space, Ukraine has also been making advances in technology. International companies have increasingly expanded their staff to Ukraine, and local legislation on cryptocurrency has moved forward. The Ukrainian MPs have backed the legalization of virtual assets, while creating one of the most advanced virtual asset laws in the world that was only approved on February 18. The law legalized cryptocurrencies and has the potential to expand Ukraine as a cryptocurrency leader.
Ukrainian digital fashion brands like DressX have provided strong examples of what the local industry has to offer. For example, it’s helped pave the way for younger Ukrainian fashion brands, like Finch. Finch recently presented a collection of semi-digital AR clothes, in partnership with the FFFace AR studio. Its physical collection was transformed for augmented reality technology to be readable with smartphones. The Finch and team is currently sheltering from attacks in Ukraine.
