Julia Mikhailova

”Our passion is to produce unique and high-quality costumes.”

I have always loved handicraft and once I used to sew clothes as a hobby. Sewing inspired me so much that I decided to study to become dressmaker. When my daughter was eight years old she started aesthetic group gymnastics. I watched her trainings, shows and competitions. Language of the athletes’ motions, their fusible harmonic wholesomeness with the music, their energy flow and all the glowing inspired me to try making a competition costume. I wanted my own daughter a beautiful, high-quality and sustainable costume. After sewing the costume, I showed it to my daughter’s team’s coaches and they wanted to order the whole team similar costumes. That’s when the story of Gratsia (now Aistarg) begun. I founded the company in 2013 and started producing costumes for teams.

I continuously follow the situation of our industry. I watch every important competition and follow influences of the world. I am always creating new techniques and testing their functionality. I want every costume to be as comfortable as possible for the athlete. Fit is very important, so the athlete can do the moves he wants to. Costume also has to be long-lasting and extremely well fitting at the same time. Well fitting means, that costume is like your second skin: it has no wrinkles or seams which could disturb the athlete. Costume must support his/her performance. The athlete will gain confidence when the costume is high quality, fashionable and works. This is my most important goal with every costume. We want to produce the best quality ones in the Finland’s market. Quality is so important to me, that I will never bargain from it for a single seam, costume or dress.

It’s always a nice moment to witness, when customers try on their costume for the first time, especially kids. Their eyes are glowing and the excitement in the air is so rewarding for me. In competition it’s wonderful to watch athlete or team when their perfect movements, the costume and music come together to tell a story. Choreography of every athlete and team is unique and costume is always as important part of the show no matter the age.

Now we want to transfer our expertise in designing and creating costumes into dresses also. We want to bring dresses to the market, that have never been seen in Finland. For them we use variety of high-quality materials and special, very challenging sewing techniques. By design and sewing we can highlight best qualities of the carrier of the dress. We want everyone to feel beautiful and comfortable in our dresses. That’s how the dress is also able to tell her story. It is very motivating for me to explore new areas and to be able to level up my work and skills continuously.

Julia Mikhailova