First graduates of SEI Youth Programme Launch Kalяzorki Youth Street Brand

Graduates of our SEI Youth: My First Business programme, where teens are trained in social entrepreneurship, are launching a youth street brand named "Kalяzorki" in Belarus, aiming to popularize Belarusian culture.

The first collection of clothing "To Be Called Human", named after a famous quote from the Belarusian poet Yanka Kupala, will be put on into the market through "MaeSens" crowdfunding platform.

In August, participants of the project were trained at SEI Youth: "My First Business". Here are the first results: the teenagers are launching their own social business: a youth street brand "Kalяzorki", based on stylized folk themes. During the training, young people tested their idea through design thinking and a business canvas, developed their initial marketing strategy, made up a business plan, practiced their pitching skills, and much more.

The first collection of street clothing named "To Be Called Human" will help young people not just feel easy and liberated but also touch upon the national history: "the collection is unique in its "self-explanatory" quotes from famous Belarusian personalities, "prints" based on the history and culture of Slavic peoples, unusual clothing shapes and cuts".

Creators of "Kalяzorki" are against the "boring T-shirts with ornaments" and are ready to open the new page in the Belarusian fashion industry by creating something new on the basis of unique folk traditions.

Aliaksandra (15 years old), an aspiring fashion designer, is one of the authors of the collection.

You can help to launch the first collection through "MaeSens".

SEI Youth "My First Business" was held within the social entrepreneurship training programme in Belarus implemented by ODB Brussels in partnership with TNU Network University (Netherlands), "Belarusian Youth Non-Governmental Organization "New Faces"  and Public Association of Belarusians of the World ‘Homeland" with support from European Union. It was within this programme that the first summers school of social entrepreneurship for teenagers in Belarus was organized.