Shuflia is an open workshop and manufactory that designs and manufactures leather goods.
It all started with a postcard and a budget of 400 hryvnias. In 2008, Natalia Naida, the founder of our workshop, made the first postcard. The money earned from needlework was accumulated and re-invested, and thus a small initial capital was created.
At that time, the aim of the company was to make gifts and souvenirs. Little by little, everything developed, expanded and turned into two companies: Bukvica, a silk-screen printing studio, and Shuflya, a workshop of handmade products.
Over time, the workshop moved on to making things from genuine leather, because it is a noble material, and well-made items made from it will last for years. This is the advantage of our product.


We have been working for 8 years in the field of leather accessories - we handcraft backpacks, bags, wallets and various accessories. It is important for us to preserve the value of handmade, the traditions of leather processing and, as a result, to continue to create things that can be worn for years.
We want to believe that small businesses like SHUFLIA are the future of the country's economy. We see value in openness and honesty, first and foremost to ourselves, in responsibility to the consumer: we work openly, in the workshop in full view of everyone, we give a one-year warranty on all products, we design and sew leather goods ourselves - we have nothing to hide, but we definitely have something to show!
In 2019, Marta Kondrin joined the Shufla team and became a co-owner of Shufla. Now Marta is actively working to make our brand known all over the world. Over the past year, our customers have become residents of America, Spain, England, Australia, and even Malaysia.

 

Shuflia is actively developing and gaining the favour of customers far beyond the borders of Ukraine. In 2021, the international Michelangelo Foundation, based in Switzerland, included the Shuflia brand in the list of the best craftsmen in Europe and included the workshop in its Homo Faber Guide.

With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Shuflia did not stop its activities. "In the first days of the war, we were greatly supported by our customers from all over the world, who began to actively place orders and even asked us not to send them orders in return. It was very inspiring.

We also received a lot of requests from the military to design and manufacture leather belts designed to carry weapons, first aid kits and other necessary ammunition. Ordinary civilian belts are not suitable for such purposes, because they are not strong enough and wide enough to withstand the load of more than just trousers. Thanks to the cooperation with the military, who "tested" the first batch, we have developed a new model of the belt. Now the military belt is 5 cm wide and made of heavy-duty belt leather. Another feature is the buckle, designed and manufactured by a Frankivsk jeweller specifically at our request. It is made of brass, the base is firmly soldered, and the fastener itself has 2 "tongues" that distribute the load. In this way, we optimised production and produced exactly the product that will benefit our defenders. Thanks to the support of our friends from abroad, we were able to provide more than 200,000 hryvnias worth of belts for the military free of charge.

 

We did not stop there, and together with the military we developed "three-point belts" for carrying small arms (assault rifles). This is a very specific task for us, we had to study the attachments on the weapon itself, its size and volume. We had to have a good understanding of how the belt would be used and what the "modes" of wearing were. It turned out to be quite good. The belt could be adjusted to a person's height, and also adapted to different sizes of weapons and their attachments. Most of all, the soldiers were pleased with the possibility of a quick reset when they needed to fall to the ground, hiding from enemy bullets. On the battlefield, every second counts, and we took this into account in our development.

The military constantly threw up interesting requests, which sometimes became a challenge for us. For example, one of the first products was a cover for a sapper's shovel, which has a sharp knife-like blade, a specific shape, and should be attached to a belt.
We have never turned down a request when we realised that we could be useful.

This year we have expanded our production and purchased new equipment. We are especially pleased that we have managed to create new jobs.

This year, we plan to scale up production even further, update our product line and continue to work.
We always want to remain a sustainable and responsible business, so in the future we plan to introduce new advanced materials into production. We hope that a worthy alternative to leather will appear on the Ukrainian market.

 

Writer: Iryna Shatalova