With faith in life, we take a step into 2023

In a new video shared on the Instagram, Alina Kachorovska, shares a message of hope and thankfulness ahead of 2023. She looks forward to the year ahead, strives to keep her company growing, her family safe and waits for the day that her country will become at peace again which would be a second victory in her lifetime to reside in a free country.

“WE WILL WIN AND WE ARE WORKING HARD IN ALL FRONTS TO MAKE THE VICTORY AS CLOSE AS IT CAN BE. AND WE WILL LIVE FREE AND HAPPILY AGAIN. ALL THE WORLD WILL BE WITH US.”
Alina Kachorovska

In the weeks after the Russian invasion, many families had fled to find refuge across Europe and around the globe. As many Ukrainian families passed their first Christmas in their new homes, with a range of emotions that comes with beginning a new year, without seeing loved ones for ten consecutive months, as well as what the reality of a new life feels like. For millions of Ukrainians, many of them still under daily Russian bombardment and grappling with little to no power and water shortages, New Year’s celebrations were certainly not the same as Russia’s 10-month war rumbles on with no end in sight.

As Russian attacks continue to target civilian power supplies leaving millions without electricity, no big celebrations were expected, and a curfew was put in place as the clock announced the new year. But for most Ukrainians being together with their families watching Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to the nation is already a luxury.

Alina Kachorovska is the designer of the most iconic and largest footwear brand in Ukraine and manages her three children in addition to her other responsibilities has businesswomen, with no nanny, employing 150 people. There was no question for Alina in leaving her capital city of Kyiv. Right now, her place is right there standing strong with her country. Also, even especially, for her children as she lived through the fall of the USSR in 1991 when she was three years old.

“I remember when I was 5-6 y.o. we had long periods without electricity as we were a poor country after the USSR break down. We not used to have even candles, just a piece of textile in oil and this is how we lightened the house. Tough years which that always come back to mind when we are again with blackouts. My son (4 y.o.) the first thing he does as soon he wakes up is checking if we have lights. I had the hope for my kids to just remember the sunny moments from their childhood and that they forget what war brought to us. As I forgot the poverty that the fight for Ukrainian independence brought us in my childhood”, states Alina.

KACHOROVSKA footwear brand began with Alina Kachorovska’s grandmother making shoes in Ukraine. Launched during the Cold War in 1957 they now employee 150 people with their own shoe factory, 2 retail stores and coffee shops in the centre of Kyiv. They are currently building a new footwear factory that will increase their production capacity ten times its current size. Alina Kachorovska is the third-generation woman in the business and still works closely with her mother Olena Kachorovska who currently runs the factory. The shoe factory is located right outside the centre of Kyiv and produces its fashion collection plus has pivoted at the beginning of the war to also deliver Ukrainian army boots to help the countries war effort.

They currently ship 25,000 commercial pairs of shoes a year to their customers and are still successfully conducting business even while the war on Ukraine continues. In any city in Ukraine on almost every street you will see women wearing KACHOROVSKA shoes which are also frequently worn by the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska. The company is now even more focused on exporting and growing their business to international marketplaces. The brand concentrates its attention to its core category footwear but also produces handbags and apparel to provide their customers a head-to-toe look.