The origin story
26 years.
1 volcano.
3 hours.
In eighth grade, the boys at school started making fun of my name. Svetlana. So they called me Svet shirt. Svet pants. Svet mobile. Svet shop. Everything with a Svet in front of it.
So I said: oh, you just wait.
I said I was going to open the Svet Shop. A play on sweatshop. I was going to make the most beautiful things, and with all the money I'd make, I'd get rid of sweatshirts everywhere.
I talked about it for years. Decades, honestly. A lot of ideas came and went, and none of them were really it.
Then one night, sitting on a volcano in San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala, a little elevated, a lot inspired, it became obvious: I already had the mantras. I already had the words. I'd been collecting them for years — in my art, in my work, in everything I do.
All I needed was a super soft cotton t-shirt as the canvas.
It only took me 26 years to build this in three hours. Life is funny.
— Svetlana
I started doodling my words and feelings as a kid and never stopped. Two decades of coaching later, my whole life still revolves around words — finding them, listening to them, sharing them with people who need them and didn't know it. One of my core values is beauty. So a shirt that is comfortable, looks great, and carries words worth living by? That's the trifecta. The svet shop... created itself when it was ready. In three hours. On top of a volcano. You know how it goes…
More about Svetlana →"oh, you just wait."