A signature male suit look of Julie Pelipas needs no introduction in the world of fashion. For its boldness and style, it is widely praised and imitated.
But it also has a little secret: It often consists of apparel found on the shelves of vintage and thrift stores.
Having re-designed numerous pieces from used clothing for her own wardrobe, international street-style idol Pelipas, who is also the contributing fashion director of Vogue Ukraine, is now taking her aesthetics and advocacy for sustainability further.
She has launched a brand that sells male suits for women made completely from used apparel. Through a process known as upcycling, Bettter turns old and damaged garments into high-end fashion outfits.
According to Pelipas, 36, the plan to launch her own brand was initially postponed during a period where fast-fashion, a business model that sells high volumes of trendy clothes for a cheap price, was moving at a remarkable pace.
“Despite the idea brewing in my mind for about 4 years, there were just too many new brands appearing,” she told the Kyiv Post. “So I asked myself – do I really want to launch another one?”
While fashion remains one of the most polluting industries in the world, experts worldwide believe the pandemic has the momentum to spell the end of fast-fashion as we know it. Maria Terekhova, the founder of the Ukrainian fashion platform New Fashion Zone, claims that Ukraine is already experiencing greater demand for new, eco-friendly garments – an antithesis of fast-fashion.
Having been one of the earliest ambassadors of the now growing culture of sustainable fashion in Ukraine, Pelipas is determined to prove that the industry can do better with creating clothes – the idea that inspired the brand’s name.
She also believes that her approach can help break the wide-spread stigma around used clothing in Ukraine.
“I know a lot of women that will never purchase used clothing,” she says. “But after looking at me wearing those very same outfits, they see how chic it is and their perception changes.”
Versatility and comfort
The brand’s website displays a humble collection of 16 outfits, or looks, that contain 3-5 pieces of the following: a vintage men’s suit tailored for women, one or two t-shirts and a pair of pants. All of them are made of vintage and thrift clothing purchased locally. It is only possible to buy the full look rather than single pieces, which ranges in price from $570-970.
Launched in May, Bettter made the first drop, which contains 16 of the total 64 looks in the collection, in June. It has sold out in one day. Another drop is scheduled for late October.
Pelipas claims that the set-selling system removes the pressure on women that struggle or simply don’t have the time to style themselves every day. Each look is specially crafted to fit three different sizes, allowing the customer to readjust their clothing if needed and placing comfort as the number one priority.
“We don’t just redesign clothes, but we first consider the metrics of the item and of the different body types,” Pelipas says. “This allows us to customize each item in consideration of the little imperfections a body has – something mass-producing bigger brands do not have the luxury to do.”
Ukrainian stylist Julie Pelipas, who is the contributing fashion director of Vogue Ukraine, has reached international acclaim for her signature male suit looks. (Julie Pelipas/Instagram)
However, the design of Bettter’s looks should not be overlooked. Along with the perfected color combination of every set, the individual garments are all processed through a smart design algorithm that allows the used clothing to maintain its original shape and proportion.
The end product is a spacious, masculine outfit that captures Pelipas’ minimalist and effortlessly chic style. She describes the look as highly versatile – daywear that can be worn to work and still be available for social outings in the evening.
As for the business side, Pelipas is using help from the former Ukrainian government official and co-founder of virtual Monobank Dmytro Dubilet, who is a business consultant for the brand.
Sustainability
Bettter runs on the philosophy of conscious consumption that is meant to break the “traditional production patterns that have failed the planet”. Unlike mainstream brands, the Ukrainian label releases a limited amount of clothes and does not adhere to seasonal fashion.
“We don’t follow the market, we sell what we want and when we are able to,” Pelipas says.
This allows the small-batch tailoring label to produce as much as they can with the discarded fabric available to them rather than overproducing and contributing to the notorious throwaway culture of the fashion industry.
Every item in the brand’s look has its own so-called “passport” that details the original owner or brand, country of production, the country it was stored in. By offering full transparency on the history of the clothing, Bettter allows its customers to make more informed decisions about what they buy and be aware of how they contribute to a more responsible supply chain.
Pelipas’ commitment to sustainable fashion extends beyond her brand. As a social media ambassador for the Spanish mass-producing clothing retailer Mango, Pelipas had to carefully reconsider her partnership with the label after launching Bettter.
“I told them that I can only support the sustainable part of Mango,” she says.
After their conversation, Pelipas began to see a positive shift towards more sustainable practices from Mango. According to her, it is ultimately up to the bigger brands to follow the ongoing trend and adjust to environmentally-friendly means of producing clothes.
Julie Pelipas, Ukrainian street-style icon and contributing fashion director of Vogue Ukraine. (Courtesy)
Small eco-shops and clothing labels, such as Bettter, make up an insignificant segment of the market compared to the affordable, mass-producing brands that dominate women’s apparel in Ukraine.
A big reason behind the relatively small scale of production for these eco-friendly businesses is the expensiveness of recyclable materials, transportation costs and other logistics of sourcing. This also makes the transition towards sustainability for fast-fashion giants unprofitable and costly.
To facilitate the business side of things, the Ukrainian fashion guru calls on the government to support small businesses like Bettter that commit to sustainable practices.
“The real cost of producing eco-friendly clothes is not the low-cost of other mass-producing brands,” Pelipas says. “But the appropriate government tax policies and a shift in demand for sustainable fashion will continue to shape the forecasting for new marketing and production strategies of Ukrainian brands.”
Ukrainian consumer
During a 2017 briefing of the Ukraine Crisis Media Center non-profit, a group of owners of Ukrainian upcycling brands concluded that most Ukrainians do not understand the value of used clothing and are unwilling to pay for it.
Pelipas calls it the biggest paradox of Ukraine’s fashion, highlighting the huge amount of Ukrainians that wear second-hand clothes.
“Since we are now talking about the luxury market, the perception that pre-worn clothes and high-end fashion are incompatible did not change much from 2017,” says Pelipas.
While Ukraine has a popular culture of second-hand clothes, it is largely caused by its affordability. Conscious consumption is not yet a common value in the Ukrainian society, Pelipas says, but she remains optimistic, believing that sustainable choices will be embedded into the DNA of the new generation.
“It is the young middle class of Ukrainians,” Pelipas says. “There is no need to even educate some of them on conscious consumption. However, the number of those people is too small to be judged as a statistic just yet.”
Much of the vintage-loving youth that Pelipas talks about can be spotted at the seasonal Kyivness market, an event that promotes conscious consumption of local brands and engages a community of like-minded progressives.
To reach out to the wider Ukrainian audience on the concept of sustainability, Bettter plans to launch its own media channel in the “Data” section of the website. The channel promises to feature positive developments in the world of sustainable fashion, including technology and innovation.
Pelipas, who relentlessly believes in leading by example, asserts that positive news is the right approach to engage people that would otherwise be repelled by the daunting numbers or scary statistics.
“My dream is that one day it will be normal for Ukrainians to bring their clothes to me to redesign,” Pelipas says. “But I know this won’t happen overnight – it is our long term strategy.”
