It’s not every day that a Hollywood star shops for shoes in Ukraine. But Tom Hanks, 62, looked to a company in Ukraine to custom make a pair of medieval-style boots for his part as Falstaff in Shakespeare’s “Henry IV,” which was staged by the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles from June 5 to July 1.
An agent representing Hanks ordered the boots from Kharkiv company ArmStreet, which produces tailor-made clothes and accessories in medieval and Victorian styles, as well as shoes and steel armor.
Mykhailo Skorobogatov, 40, the founder of the company, received back an email from the actor’s agent, with a picture of Hanks holding a letter ArmStreet sent to him along with the footwear.
“We were very excited to make something for Hanks, so we wrote a letter to him, saying that we were very happy to make these boots and that we hope they will hold up well,” Skorobogatov says.
Skorobogatov didn’t share any further details of their correspondence, but mentioned that ArmStreet had been given permission to use the photo to promote the company.
But Skorobogatov is reluctant to use Hanks’ photo in promo materials, and so far has only shared it on Facebook.
“We considered it to be a personal thing, and we want to keep it personal,” says Skorobogatov.
Early steps
Skorobogatov, together with his wife Anastasiya Myrgorodska, 44, a designer, co-founded ArmStreet back in 2003. They sold their first handmade cloak to an American customer through the U.S. platform eBay. The company now sells more than 1,000 items every year, still mostly to the United States.
“It was a black cloak we started with, because people always need black cloaks,” Skorobogatov says. “If someone has a costume party and wants to look cool — the simplest way is to buy a black cloak.”
Since demand for their products was growing, Skorobogatov and his business partner Igor Solunskiy opened an ArmStreet office in Milwaukee in the United States in 2006. The company also opened a branch in Melbourne, Australia, in 2016, and is continuing to expand — this year the company will open a branch in Chicago.
“America is a huge country, with room for everything, and that is why so many businesses eventually go there,” Skorobogatov says. “When Americans have a long weekend, they just try to spend it as intensively as possible, they do fun things, and this is what creates this strange market. It is strange, because it is not a necessity, people do not need a medieval costume — they just want it.”
ArmStreet has some ready-made items on offer, but the most of what they sell is produced to order.
The company gained popularity in 2011, when the U.S. science entertainment TV show “MythBusters” used lamellar armor made by ArmStreet in an episode about Chinese paper armor.
“A lot of people texted us that they had seen our armor on ‘Myth Busters’,” Skorobogatov says.
Demand for ArmStreet’s products is considerably lower in Ukraine, but Skorobogatov is seeing some growth here too — the company opened its second office in Ukraine in Lviv, a city some 500 kilometers west of Kyiv, in 2014.
“We are too expensive for Ukraine. However, there are still people who know us, and they want some goods,” says Skorobogatov, whose company sells “Viking boots” for $349. “In Ukraine, we’re just at the beginning of a consumption rush.”
Different reality
“This all started from a hobby,” Skorobogatov says.
Before creating his own company, Skorobogatov worked as a junior level scientist at Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, specializing in theoretical physics. Through his hobby, sword fighting, he met people fond of live-action role-playing games.
“My wife started to make clothes for our friends — she was among those people who brought live-action role-playing games to Ukraine,” Skorobogatov says. “There was a live-action role-playing game in Kharkiv in 1992 called ‘Hobbit,’ based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien, in which people dressed up as the characters from this book. It was a hobby for people who wanted to express themselves, and this idea of recreating reality is very attractive.”
Nowadays, ArmStreet exhibits its goods at well-known medieval festivals like Pennsic War, held on July 27 — Aug. 12 in the United States.
“For me, if you want to build an international business, you need to understand the background of different people,” Skorobogatov says. “It is really cool to have a multinational background, knowing how life is organized in different countries. It helps you understand life better.”
French citizen Marianne Blin, 27, is one international customer who has bought clothing from ArmStreet. Blin is fond of historical clothes: She owns a collection of 15 historical costumes, and recently ordered a Victorian-style coat and a hat from ArmStreet.
“I love the ensemble from ArmStreet. It is one of my favorite costumes,” Blin says. “I can wear it to historical markets, themed evening parties and Victorian-styled picnics; I prefer foreign companies because they are less expensive and make more detailed products.”
Skorobogatov insists that ArmStreet is not just about medieval clothes, but about recreating different realities.
“ArmStreet helps people realize that the world is much bigger than they tend to believe, and it has a place for everything and everyone,” he said.
