Lilus TM: both style and quality
While we are preparing for BABY EXPO, Lilus fashion factory is preparing new designs of school wear to be exhibited there. We have interviewed its director Liudmyla Pomazan and asked her about the benefits of and obstacles to the achievement of truly sustainable manufacturing.
- What has influenced you to engage in this very segment, i.e. sewing school wear for boys?
- The life itself. Just remember school uniforms worn by our classmates. Safe, unexpressive, colorless suits were considered as normal, and we decided to break stereotypes. After drawing a business plan, we modernized suit sewing facilities and started to manufacture men suits, school wear for kid and teen boys. First we refreshed dark blue and black uniforms with elegant cutouts and trendy buttons to delight school ‘trendsetters’.
- And then school uniform regulations were cancelled…
- Yes. You know, so called ‘business style’ was still compulsory. But colors, cutouts, and fabrics became optional elements that could be chosen by schoolchildren themselves. It was a new chapter in our life. Now we offer a wide range of designs suited to every fancy, i.e. fashion plates, hot dressers, dandies, and just for those boys who don’t have a hair out of place.
All our designs are distinguished by excellent quality. You can choose bright or sober colors, one or two vent jacket, with or without lapel binding, pocket kerchief, elbow pieces, buttons of various colors and shapes, etc.
- To emphasize the quality of your suits, customers say they can be worn inside out as well. Don’t you think that such quality is excessive? After all, school suits are bought to wear them just for a year or two…
- Backing has an equally important priority. To stay in comfort and respect yourself, you need to know that your suit is perfect even from inside. As for the useful lifetime, it depends on wear and care manner. For instance, my friend’s son has worn a school jacket by Lilus for two years. Although we recommend dry cleaning, the jacket has been washed several times. And then it has been promptly sold at ОLX marketplace.
- You also have a line of baby-size men suits. What customers are they targeted at?
- We produce them for Antoshka retail chain. We design such mini suit collections especially for them.
- Can you say that you products are ‘exclusive’?
- Yes, we produce only ‘limited editions’ not to uniform half the city. When we are going to buy fabrics in Turkey or China, we modify our contract by adding an exclusivity clause. We shall be the only company in Ukraine to be supplied with such fabrics. One day our supplier broke the contract and supplied the manufacturer based in Odessa with the same fabrics. And although the suits sawn from the fabrics were almost ready, we stopped their production because of our position.
- What are your plans?
- As for the local ones, we are planning to expand our capacities. As for the far-seeing ones, we are planning to expand our market to sell to the EU and other countries.
We have been sewing men suits from customer-furnished fabrics on a by-order basis for BOSZ (Poland) for over three years. We also manufacture pilot uniforms from customer-furnished fabrics for Polaris (Austria). And we are ready to offer customized services for other foreign companies.
- You are already preparing for the next edition of BABY EXPO to be held in March 2019. What have you got from participation in the previous editions?
- Every edition is a kind of a passed test. Test for the validity of our approach. For instance, many school suits were exhibited at the last year’s edition, but they were of lower quality than ours. Only teen suits made in Poland were of the same excellent quality, but of much higher prices not affordable for Ukrainian customers. We are proud that we can offer well-worked trendy school wear at affordable prices.
- What is the key to your success?
- Diligence and dedication. More particularly, control over every production stage, every seam. ‘The shorter the seam the strictest control’, this is my motto.
Prepared by BABY EXPO team
