Meet M-TAC, President Uladzimir Zelenskiy’s casual sweater and T-shirt maker that started out selling airsoft guns | Popgen Tech

• Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky wore M-TAC clothing during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• M-TAC began selling airsoft guns and accessories in 2005, and launched an apparel brand in 2014.

Long before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wore their olive green sweaters throughout Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, M-TAC, a Ukrainian sweater manufacturer, sold military clothing and tactical gear in their country.

M-TAC was established in 2005, according to the company’s website, when it opened its first store in Ukraine selling airsoft guns and accessories that year. It wasn’t until 2014, during the “Revolution of Dignity” in which Ukrainians overthrew their former president, Viktor Yanukovych, that the company began selling tactical clothing and gear.

“Born by the revolution – hardened by the war” – the motto of the company.

According to the company’s website, M-TAC has more than 50 suppliers in 15 countries. It is mainly focused on making clothes and equipment for the Ukrainian military after the Russian invasion in February 2021. M-TAC has production facilities in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, and the city of Lviv.

M-TAC did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

“Our production was working around the clock, and the manufactured equipment was immediately handed over to the soldiers at the front,” says the M-TAK website. “Today, the Ukrainian military trusts the M-TAC brand and chooses our products because reliability is our priority. M-TAC brand clothing is worn both by soldiers in the trenches and by political leaders of the state.”

Zelenskiy popularized the clothing throughout his country’s conflict, wearing the brand’s casual fleeces and T-shirts at public appearances. Most recently, he addressed the United States Congress on Wednesday wearing one of M-TAC’s crewneck sweaters in his first public appearance outside of Ukraine since the war began early last year.

And people all over the world wanted to imitate Zelensky’s look. One of Zelensky’s M-TAC jackets that he signed was put up for auction for £90,000, or about $110,000 at the time, at a May 5 charity fundraiser organized by the Ukrainian Embassy in London.

Since Russia first invaded Ukraine, M-TAC has seen a sharp increase in demand for Zelensky’s fleece jacket, Taras Rudnitsky, the company’s Ukrainian U.S. manager, previously told Insider. The stock of the jacket soon ran out after the start of the war, as the company was focused solely on the production of clothing for the Ukrainian military.

“We hope to reopen it someday, maybe after we win,” Rudnitsky told Insider in May, adding that the hostilities have made it difficult to continue any type of production. – Now it is impossible.

M-TAC sells apparel on its website, and the company also sells on Amazon. Along with sweaters and jackets, the company sells, among other things, backpacks, shoes, knives.