Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world, they say.
Although 32-year-old Alina Ocheretyana never aimed to conquer the world, shoes have indeed led her to astonishing success: She is the co-founder and CEO of one of Ukraine’s biggest and beloved footwear brands.
Kachorovska originated from the Ocheretyana’s family’s footwear atelier in her hometown of Zhytomyr, a provincial capital 140 kilometers west of Kyiv.
Over the years, it has flourished into a prosperous Kyiv-based company with three stores and a retail website that sell thousands of pairs of shoes per year. Its high-quality and comfortable, yet elegant footwear, along with bags and other accessories, are loved by local celebrities, designers and bloggers.
“We are a modest Ukrainian family,” Ocheretyana told the Kyiv Post. “It’s just, we love what we do.”
With the sky being the limit for Kachorovska, the brand has recently expanded into a holding company, Kacho Group, to please their clientèle with new products and services. Among other things, it is set to launch an apparel collection and a sports shoes line, expand and rebrand the store chain and enter the international market.
“This is only the beginning of our transformation,” Ocheretyana says.
Back to 1957
Although the Kachorovska brand is 14 years old, its history traces back to 1957 when Leonida Kachorovska, Ocheretyana’s grandmother, mastered the craft of shoemaking. Later, as a shoe factory employee, she started making tailored footwear for private clients, desperately looking for some variety, which was a rarely accessible privilege during Soviet times.
Then Ocheretyana’s mother, Olena Kachorovska, joined her mother. Experiencing a high demand, the two moved their service from home to a small Zhytomyr workshop in the 1990s.
Ocheretyana was surrounded by shoemakers since early childhood but never wanted to become one, moving to Kyiv in 2004 to study law.
But because she needed pocket money, Ocheretyana started taking orders from clients in the capital, serving as an intermediary for her family’s business. The interest in Kachorovska custom shoes grew quickly and the young entrepreneur soon rented an office in Podil, near the university where she studied.
Alina Ocheretyana, the co-founder and CEO of one of Ukraine’s biggest footwear brands, Kachorovska, holds an elegant plump by her label, as she talks to the Kyiv Post at one of the Kachorovska stores in Kyiv on Jan. 19, 2020. (Oleg Petrasiuk)
Ocheretyana’s own demand also pushed the brand to design new products. When she couldn’t find a decent bag on the market, she designed one for herself. And so Kachorovska started manufacturing bags.
A major step forward came in 2010 when Ocheretyana and her husband, Ruslan Ocheretyaniy, started promoting the brand on Facebook, soon attracting thousands of followers.
By 2013, Kachorovska had sold around 25,000 of their custom items, producing about 200 pairs of handmade shoes a month.
“We know everything about feet,” Ocheretyana laughs, as she jokes about writing a book about feet one day.
As their number of clients kept growing, the wait for a pair of Kachorovska shoes increased from one month to two or three. That’s when the atelier started transforming, having launched their first collection of ready-made shoes that featured classy loafers, oxfords with silver metallic toes and pumps designed by Ocheretyana. and made of high-quality Italian leather.
“We have sold around 30–50% of what we produced in one week,” Ocheretyana says. “That was the best indicator of success.”
Now almost all Kachorovska clients are from Kyiv and the brand combines ready-made drops with individual tailoring still done in Zhytomyr.
Crisis and growth
When downtown Kyiv was ablaze with massive protests against then-President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, it was clear to everyone that the life of the whole country was going to change.
Still, no one expected the crisis to bring such a strong interest in goods that were made in Ukraine. But it did.
As the revolution wrapped up, Ukrainians, driven by patriotism, rushed to support local businesses. Ukrainian brands and companies were riding the popularity wave all over the country, and Kachorovska was no exception.
“This economic patriotism has given huge advance trust to the Ukrainian manufacturer,” Ocheretyana says. “It would have been impossible without the crisis.”
Kachorovska’s chunky Riri boots are one of the brand’s most popular pairs. The shoes were designed to meet the challenges of Ukrainian weather and imperfect roads. (Kacho Group)
As demand grew, Kachorovska provided the supply, releasing several collections of shoes and bags every year. After selling online for years, the company finally opened its first brick and mortar store in Kyiv’s Podil district in 2015. The space had a little twist, combining a retail shop with a café.
In the years to come, the brand opened another Kachorovska store in Kyiv and one more in the southern Black Sea port city of Odesa.
By then, several Ukrainian stars were spotted wearing items by Kachorovska. All the while, the brand’s footwear started appearing on runways in New York, Paris, Milan and London, complementing garments by Ukrainian designers.
Ukrainian women
A Ukrainian woman and her needs have always been the center of Kachorovska’s attention.
When designing products, the brand’s team imagines the everyday life of a Ukrainian woman and takes into account things as nuanced as local weather conditions and the quality of the roads.
One of their best-selling products, Riri boots, for instance, are lightweight leather boots in different colors with an extra-chunky tractor sole, suitable for walking on imperfect Ukrainian roads in any weather. A pair costs Hr 3,400 ($120) before discounts.
High-heel shoes by Kachorovska are another combination of comfort, style and sophistication. Their pleated satin clogs and sandals from the recent joint collection with pop diva Tina Karol, use a nine-centimeter heel, comfortable enough for walking and dancing. Yet the elegant silhouette mixed with delicate satin and adorned with Swarovski crystals, is a perfect pair for the most festive occasion. Each Tina pair costs Hr 5,200 ($184).
Ukrainian shoe and bag brand Kachorovska designed their recent collection together with Ukrainian pop diva Tina Karol. The drop features elegant pleated satin clogs, sandals and mini-bags adorned with Swarovski crystals. (Kacho Group)
Kachorovska’s love and care for Ukrainian women are also reflected in their media campaigns. One of their touching videos features local female celebrities talking about the challenges of being a woman in modern Ukraine. It started with the words “I’m a Ukrainian woman, I wear heels and sneakers at the same time.”
“It’s about a girl from (Kyiv) Mohyla Academy, a singer, an actress or a manager. It’s about Ukrainian women and how strong they are,” Ocheretyana says.
Transformation
Without a doubt, 2020 was an exceptionally challenging year for the whole world. The coronavirus crisis swept away many businesses that couldn’t adjust to the new reality. But not Kachorovska.
Just like all other non-essential businesses in Ukraine, the Kachorovska factory in Zhytomyr stopped operations during the lockdown in March. But just before that, in a rush to complete individual orders, their shoemakers manufactured 150 custom pieces in three days — an incredibly small amount of time for this volume of work.
That inspired Ocheretyana to optimize production and prioritize her custom-made shoes. Now Kachorovska produces around 600 individual orders per month.
The quarantine that forced people to spend more time indoors has become another inspiration for Kachorovska. The brand launched its first collection of home footwear with soft fluffy pastel-colored slippers, which have become a real hit. Not only have Kyiv fashionistas worn the shoes at home, but also shown them off all around the capital.
Ukrainian shoe and bag brand Kachorovska launched its first collection of home footwear in August 2020. The drop was inspired by the coronavirus quarantine that forced people to stay indoors. (Kacho Group)
The same year, Ocheretyana realized that Kachorovska has long been more than just a footwear brand. Besides producing their own collections, Kachorovska served as an outsource manufacturer of leather goods for fashion designers such as Bevza, The Coat and many more.
Having outgrown its own shoes, the brand announced a transformation into a holding company, Kacho Group, which reorganizes the brand’s activity under new entities. The group’s K.lab will produce goods for other brands upon order, Factory 1957 will provide tailoring services.
Kachorovska, meanwhile, will soon drop its first apparel collection and a sports shoes line developed with famous Ukrainian esports company Na’Vi. The label also plans to rebrand its stores and open new ones in Lviv and Zaporizhia.
And in what might be its biggest project, Kachorovska is constructing a new “dream-factory” for its employees in Zhytomyr, hoping to finish in 2022.
Although Ocheretyana says it might be too ambitious to call Kacho Group a holding company, the entrepreneur is sure that “as you name the boat, that’s how it shall float.”
