“This shirt is a talisman with meaning and power”: Ukrainian social enterprise recreates ancient embroidery works

What difficulties did the team face during the development of the social enterprise? What is special about the embroidered shirts from Free Thread? Nataliia Dresvyannikova, the founder of the workshop, answered all the questions.

The shelter of St. Olha in the Kyiv region was created by the non-governmental organization Eleos-Ukraine. It is a shelter for women and children who have suffered from domestic and gender-based violence. There, they can receive various social, legal, and psychological assistance.

The shelter has a huge percentage of women with low qualifications who cannot provide for themselves independently, even more so — rent housing and fully financially support the child. Often, they cannot count on a full-time job because there is no one to leave the child with. 

Free Thread is a social enterprise that Nataliia Dresvyannikova created with like-minded people to solve these problems. Before joining the St. Olha's Shelter team, Dresvyannikova worked in various companies. In 2021, she unexpectedly found herself working in the social sphere, which saved her because supporting those who needed help brought great satisfaction.

"In the fall of 2021, we at the shelter realized that detailed work with our hands works like therapy. This is also about value as you can do something that will bring you money," says the shelter director. "It supports and inspires confidence." The opportunity to do something with your hands adds determination and confidence in the future.

At that time, the team of the future social enterprise consisted of three people — Dresvyannikova herself, a social worker, and a psychologist. They planned to involve women from the shelter in the work.

Once, Dresvyannikova's acquaintance found a unique shirt from her grandmother and asked the team to do a replica. In the process of embroidery, the craftswomen realized that it is challenging and time-consuming to decorate clothes by hand. They reached the point where they needed to switch to machine embroidery.

The team needed an embroidery machine and placed their project on a crowdfunding platform. The Renaissance Foundation supported them and began the fundraiser in December 2021. The fundraiser was completed already after the start of a full-scale invasion. "People responded and supported the project despite all the challenges brought by the war. This gave us the final understanding that this project needs to be done,"  Dresvyannikova shared with Rubryka.

In addition, Free Thread was supported by the Ukrainian diaspora from the USA. After the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainians from the USA said they would help with equipment for the workshop. The enterprise team wrote a grant and won it. Thus, at the end of August 2022, the modular premises of the Free Thread workshop grew next to the shelter. The most expensive machine purchased in the workshop cost about $10-12,000.

The team received an order from American friends to create an embroidery collection for a festival — twenty-five female and 25 male shirts were produced, with ornaments representing 24 Ukrainian regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. "We finally understood that the Ukrainian shirt will be the focus of our work," shares the project's founder.

Currently, the team accepts orders for shirts from all interested parties via social networks. You can buy both an embroidered shirt and decorative cuffs.

"We buy ancient canvas wherever we can. Cuffs made of this fabric are an ideal gift with unique history," Dresvyannikova is convinced.

Having mastered machine embroidery, the team launched free embroidery courses for women from vulnerable categories. There were not as many of them as expected, but they willingly applied and continued to apply.

"We repeat to these women: 'You must be able to provide for yourself.' Our goal is to educate and support women. If she doesn't like our conditions for further work, that's ok too — she can go to work for any other production. But the main thing is to give her a job that will bring in money," says the project's founder. Free Thread helps St. Olha's Shelter by directing funds, for example, to utility services or providing support upon request. In addition, Free Thread is ready to support other projects run by women. Previously, they funded repairing the room where volunteers sew kikimora for Ukrainian snipers.

Currently, the Free Thread team creates about 18 embroidery pieces per month, but according to the plan, there will be 22 of them — then, the workshop can be called profitable.

There is no long queue for training from willing women from vulnerable categories, says the founder, because they often distrust free projects.

Currently, Free Thread receives orders both in Ukraine and abroad.

According to the creators, this is a power shirt — there is an ornament in which Ukrainian ancestors put special meaning. The stories of embroiderers are also special and different: someone is the wife of a military man, someone moved from Crimea or another region, someone was in a shelter and now has become a micro-entrepreneur, and someone lost her husband. "A shirt made by each of them is a talisman that has meaning and power," shares the project's founder.

Free Thread also created orders for international delegations. Dresvyannikova says that such a gift is precious because of its creation history and social component.

"This is a product made by a social enterprise, a confirmation that Free Thread is a business that can earn for itself," says Dresvyannikova.

The project team dreams of creating its own website but has insufficient resources yet. They also want to cooperate with SMM or marketing specialists.

In the future, the Free Thread team dreams of becoming an exporter of Ukrainian shirts with ancient ornaments and setting up workshops in villages so that women feel supported there as well.