Hours From the Ukrainian Front, Sleeper’s Kyiv Store Opening Feels Like a “Warm Hug”

Sleeper cofounders stand in front of a rack of Sleeper pajamas.

Sleeper co-founders Kate Zubarieva and Asya Varetsa know how it sounds: opening their luxury pajama label's first store in Kyiv, Ukraine, four years into the war against Russia, roughly 200 miles from the front lines. "It's not a very good idea in wartime—anybody can say this," Zubarieva tells Marie Claire over Zoom from the Ukrainian capital, sunshine filtering through the windows of the car where she's taking our call. "Anybody can think like this. But not me."

Inside Sleeper's first store in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Image credit: Courtesy of Sleeper)