London-based designers and friends Boryana Ivanova and Anita Petrova founded ANIKO&BO to express their own ideas of quality, aesthetic, and femininity through the combination of their Bulgarian heritage and culture together with their interest in trends and sustainability. Made in Bulgaria, the brand’s style combines contemporary silhouettes, natural fabrics (wherever possible), original eco print
s, eco friendly details (like buttons), and clothes designed with quality, elegance and confidence in mind. SUSTAINABILITY
We know how much the Fashion industry, particularly through its fast fashion or ‘discard culture’ , contributes towards current ecological issues. However, we also know that sustainability considers not only ecology, but also ethics and perception. One of the reasons why we wanted our production to be based in Bulgaria is that we wanted to help present and promote this talent and skills, as well as help small local businesses to blossom. We strive to use local textiles, we use small local sewing workshops (where the working conditions are very good, and we pay what they ask for the quality of work they produce), small local embroidery companies, and a designer’s printing studio (where they have the machine to print on natural fabrics). We consider our pattern cutting and printing with the aim to minimise/reduce waste. We are considering quality within every aspect of our designs (construction, finishing, materials, feel of the fabric on a person) with the aim to create clothes that have more value to the consumer - to be something that a person loves to wear, feels amazing wearing it, and would like to (and could) wear for a long time to come. HOW IT WORKS
We design everything in our base in London, and Anita makes the patterns (as she is praised for the great fit of her patterns), after which they are sent to Bulgaria. We produce a sample of each patter from the original fabric to make sure that the fit if perfect and we love the final result. The designs are reworked until this is achieved. As the business is committed to being as sustainable as possible we produce small quantities of each garment to minimise wastage. After the garments are ready to order online, and the produced numbers are sold, we produce each further order in two-three days after the order is placed and the garment is then sent straight away to the customer. There is not much waiting time for the consumer, but also no waste created by overproduced garments.