The Ukrainian entrepreneurs are fast becoming the country’s leading fashion players, having co-founded Asthik Group, one of Ukraine’s fastest-growing luxury retail companies.
Asthik Group counts among its holdings several of Kiev’s monobrand stores, including Hermès, Valentino, Marni and Agent Provocateur, as well as the concept store Asthik, which has been steadily expanding its retail presence amid political and economic turmoil.
A graduate from the Institute of International Relations in the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev, Mkhytaryan began working in business with her father in the Ukrainian Construction and Investment Bank. She subsequently received an MBA from Kiev Mohyla Business School, and turned her attention to fashion, opening monobrand stores of luxury European labels in Kiev. She also began publishing the Ukrainian edition of Buro 24/7, to highlight global fashion news with an emphasis on emerging talent.
Ievenko was marketing director at the multi-brand shoes and accessories stores Helen Marlen, before co-founding Asthik in 2014 with his wife. Today it is known as Ukraine's trendsetting platform for womenswear, menswear and lifestyle labels like Thom Browne , RaF Simons, Jil Sander , Martine Rose , Graig Green, Dries Van Noten and Stella McCartney .
“It was a risk we decided to take, especially since Asthik’s launch coincided with the revolution and the beginning of the war in the east of Ukraine,” she told BoF.
After having her second child, Mkhytaryan opened Asthik Kids. Since then, the concept store has expanded to Tsum, the recently opened luxury department store in Kiev, where it occupies 1,500 square metres of retail space.
Ienki Ienki was born in 2016 after finding a gap in the market for fashionable puffer coats. It was immediately picked up by international stores including Barneys New York, Lane Crawford, Harrods, Net-A-Porter and 10 Corso Como.
In March 2017, Asya Mkhytaryan announced on her Facebook page that she and Ievenko were getting a divorce.
