This year, the founders of the successful St. Petersburg handbag and accessories brand Arny Praht, Vlad and Anna Prakht, announced the launch of a new label, At Ease, which specializes in denim and everyday items (but with a note of thoughtfulness and technological design). We spoke to Anna and Vlad about the need to create a second business, its conceptual features, its respect for the environment and the difficulties of working with jeans in today’s reality.
Vlad and Anna Pracht
founded Arny Praht in 2013
founded At Ease in 2024
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 1)
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How did your story in the fashion industry begin? How and why did you decide to found Arny Praht?
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Vlad: The story began 10 years ago, when we decided to make bags to order, gradually moved to the format of ready-made collections, found a style and a concept, improved our production skills and started developing the brand. At first it was a small family production, where everyone was involved: parents and friends. Then they expanded and moved twice. Now it is a complex full-cycle production with a large office and an experimental workshop, and we still create all the products in St. Petersburg.
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 2)
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 3)
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Tell us about your debut collection.
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Vlad: The first collection appeared at a time when we were offering custom bag making services. We made several models just to demonstrate the technological capabilities and material variations. There was a fair and all the products I participated with were sold. This gave rise to the idea that ready-made things are clearer and easier for people to buy.
Anna: Some models from that collection are now kept in the office, they are already a relic. Since then, the products have become much more technically complex, sometimes we ourselves are shocked by what we do, it is very moving to look at and remember the early works.
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When did you feel your first success?
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Vlad: Participation in ST was definitely a success for me. I participated in St. Petersburg Fashion Week, after which we were immediately invited to the international catwalk at Helsinki Fashion Week. The process was exciting and the feedback was very rewarding.
Anna: Probably about three years after the brand appeared, I began to constantly see bags on girls in the city, it was an unofficial recognition and a feeling of first success.
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For ten years, Arny Praht has built up a huge loyal audience and recognition. And this year you launched the denim brand At Ease. What motivated this decision?
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Anna: In one way or another, we always look around to see what is happening with our peers and in the global industry, we sometimes really want to do something more than just accessories. But it is important not to dilute the brand, which is why such initiatives often get held back. After the exit of many foreign brands, I started to feel some scarcity on the consumer side; I wanted to see more interesting things. I had no doubt that the industry would fill all the gaps, but I wanted them to be more than just faceless rags from mainstream India. I wanted us to create mature, high-quality products in terms of aesthetics, imagery and concept within the country. Jeans are an important item in any wardrobe and few people do them well, so we decided to try them out.
Vlad: I liked the atmosphere of this niche, jeans always have a bit of protest and defiance. This is a challenge for ourselves in many ways, trying a new direction, from scratch, setting a high bar, is very stimulating.
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 4)
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 5)
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How does the experience of launching Arny Praht help in developing a new brand?
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Anna: The product is of course radically different: a different production schedule and time cycle, unfamiliar material and difficult cooking process, a different country of production (we make jeans in Istanbul), but all the experience in creating and promoting the product, our team, our back office – all this helps us a lot. This is our great resource.
Vlad: Yes, the product is different, it is 20% new and 80% is already experience in creating sales channels, team competence and building a brand. I think we can follow this path faster.
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Have any conceptual features migrated from one brand to the other? Or is this a completely new project with its own ideology?
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Anna: Stylistically and emotionally, they are different brands. The task of accessories is to stand out, to set accents, to be bright, noticeable and always super relevant. Jeans are a quality base; we want them to be modern, with well thought-out details, but without unnecessary “frills”. These are fairly long-term trends, but not bland cuts.
Vlad: We have remained faithful to our principles of respect for the environment: we produce jeans from 100% cotton (any impurity, even 1% elastane, makes it impossible to recycle things), we use equipment with reduced water consumption, instead of bags we sew reusable ones for buyers ourselves.
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 6)
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 7)
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How would you describe At Ease’s core value? What concepts does the brand’s DNA build on?
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Anna: At Ease translates as “at ease”, “at ease”, “at ease”. And we are trying to translate this name into a lifestyle. In many translation options, the main vector of the brand is already read: this is such a stylish base when comfort is important to you, but you don’t want to dissolve into basic things. When your unconventional personality pushes the boundaries and continues into clothes. It is important to be present even in routine, to be attentive to yourself and your details. The pleasure of expressing yourself in everyday life.
Vlad: When we introduced the brand heroes, we decided that they were seekers of big cities: curious, hard-working and independent-minded. Their main desire is the freedom to find themselves by exploring the world. The goal is to live a better, more natural and fulfilling life, to maintain and grow their uniqueness, self-realization and movement in life.
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Arny Praht is more of a girls’ brand; there aren’t many unisex models in its range. And at At Ease we noticed a lot of masculine and agender elements. Did you take this step intentionally? Is it about broadening the audience?
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Vlad: We simply did not plan to position ourselves as a brand for women, which means that we are also for men. Today, the male half of the population generally finds it more difficult to dress; this fact cannot be ignored.
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 8)
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 9)
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Where and how do you produce your collections? Are there any supply difficulties at the moment? How do you deal with them?
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Anna: We have a complex international cycle. Our stylist-consultant lives and works in Amsterdam, the product designer is from Berlin, we develop test samples in St. Petersburg together with our team. Then we send it to the factory in Istanbul and launch the batch. Of course, there are many difficulties now, but when were there not?
Vlad: Turkish manufacturers are very loyal to us, they understand the current situation and we often meet them halfway. Chains are gradually being built up, we are faced with all the new requirements regarding labelling, customs procedures, etc.
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How do you plan to develop the brand?
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Vlad: We want to produce a well-developed, high-quality product for a broad middle segment. We are working on the assortment. We want to build a separate retail store.
Anna: We want to compete with international brands in price/quality/visual.
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 10)
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 11)
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Maybe we can expect another brand in the future?
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Anna: I already have the next idea, in a niche that I think is very underdeveloped right now. But you can’t hold on to everything, I understand that.
Vlad: Different brands are interesting both for us as entrepreneurs and for the internal team. We are developing very different and strong competencies, but we need to do it well and efficiently, and this takes time. If we can manage well with the current volume, why not?
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And finally, three favourite pieces from the At Ease range.
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Vlad’s choice:
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 12)
Cowboy shirt
buy“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 13)
Men’s straight jeans
buy
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 14)
oversized t-shirt
buy
Anna’s choice:
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 15)
Baggy jeans
buy“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 16)
Bermuda
buy
“The joy of expressing yourself in everyday life”: Arny Praht founders talk about the launch of denim brand At Ease (photo 17)
Red knitted bag
buy
