Towards the end of 2019, with the “Memory of a Town” collection, the story of the designer brand “Mirjana Josifoska” begins. It is the first and only fashion collection of this brand, so that today it becomes recognizable for sustainable fashion completely focused on designing hats, with which the designer Mirjana Josifoska becomes the first Macedonian hat designer.
The idea for the ethical production of hats and hair accessories is one of the winners of the competition “Green Ideas” organized by the ARNO Association for Social Innovation.
Her love for hats has existed since a very young age and it started with her grandmother’s and mother’s hats and continued into her teenage years. After some time, she wanted to buy a designer hat here and realized that such a thing does not exist in our market. That was exactly the motivation and inspiration for her to establish the first Macedonian designer hat brand.
The first collection of hats called “The Seven” was presented by the brand in 2021 at the 24th edition of Skopje Fashion Weekend.
The creation for each subsequent collection is a segmented process of gathering inspiration and extensive research, followed by concept development and initial model sketches.
The next collection “Lavender Fields” is inspired by the beautiful lavender fields in the Tikvesh region. The third collection “Cycle” represents the cycle of life described through the colours in Macedonian folk art.
Their mission is to reduce textile waste through sustainable design and ethical production. They use 100% certified materials, textile waste or materials of 100% natural origin. In the production process they use a “zero-waste” tailoring technique, where the goal is to create as little waste as possible. From all the waste created by the production of the hats, they create even smaller products – hair bands, with the aim of reducing waste to almost zero.
In addition to the country, the brand has also presented its collections to audiences in Belgrade, Ljubljana and Thessaloniki. Apart from fashion shows, she often participates in competitions and programs that promote green fashion, such as “Sustainable Fashion Competition”, “Uplift Western Balkans” and “Fashion Scout SEE” in Ljubljana.
