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Center photo: company founders Bulat Barantaev (left), Artem Smyslov (right) with a partner from China on a Fashion show in Paris, 2023

Where Maskulo apparel is produced?

As of 2024, all Maskulo apparel is produced in China, with the company's headquarter located in Berlin, Germany. This also refers to "Outtox by Maskulo” products. Founded in 2014, originally the company had a factory in Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia.

Where is Maskulo from?

Currently, Maskulo is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. The company also operates an office in New York, New York state, USA, which manages its stockroom and order fulfillment for the online store www.maskulo.us, as well as an office in Riga, Latvia, handling global fulfillment for www.maskulo.de.Originally the company started operations in 2014 in Siberia in Russia, but had to move the business out with the start of Putin’s war with Ukraine.

In 2017 Maskulo owners founded business in Germany, and in 2019 opened the Maskulo Berlin city store

Bulat Barantaev in the Time magazine article on 2016 Parliamentary elections in Russia

Does Maskulo support Putin, Russia?

No. Since 2009 the owners of Maskulo have been vocal against Putin's politics - that was covered by local press in Siberia and internationally. They advocated for LGBT, human rights, were involved in activism for the freedom of press, fair elections, and fighting corruption.

In 2016 Maskulo CEO Barantaev was an anti-Putin candidate to the Russian Parliament. After Putin started the Ukraine invasion in 2022, they took a strong anti-war stance and had to leave the country.

Is it true that the Maskulo owner rallied against Putin?

The activism of Bulat Barantaev, Maskulo CEO, started in 2009. He has been organising many rallies in Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia about the threatening signals to freedoms, coming from Putin’s politics.

In July 2022, for funding the Anti-corruption foundation (founded by Alexei Navalny) the Maskulo director was listed by Putin’s officials as an extremist and terrorist: his bank accounts and property were “frozen” and even his social media page on VK (“Russian Facebook”) was hidden from the users in Russia.

Attitude magazine, PinkNews: Barantaev, a Russian gay activist against Putin. Parliamentary elections in Russia 2016

British newspaper "Independent": two openly gay men are running for parliament in Russia. Barantaev

Is Maskulo LGBT-friendly?

Maskulo is not only friendly to the LGBT people, this is a gay-owned business, operated by LGBT rights activists. By 2011 being a well-known civil activist in Novosibirsk, Siberia, the today’s owner of Maskulo Bulat Barantaev, added LGBT right activism to his profile. He publicly came out to the press and local television as a gay personand organised several rallies in the city centre - all having more the nature of educating the public of LGBT matters. The slogans on 12-meter posters were like: “What option do you leave for a kid realising he is gay? [and two arrows - to a heart-shape and to a rope loop]”, “[Psychology Today magazine cover] Experiment: The men who hate gays show arousal to erotic male images”, “Homosexual elephants never heard that being gay is trendy”, “Homosexual ducks never watched “gay propaganda” on TV” and so on.

How does Maskulo treat their employees? Are they an ethical business?

Throughout the business history, Maskulo is committed to fair trade principles. The company ensures that its employees, including garment workers, are paid wages above the market standard, reflecting their dedication to social and economic fairness. In terms of sustainability and environmental responsibility, Maskulo takes proactive steps to minimize our environmental impact: the goal of 2024 is to decrease the use of plastic in our shipping operations by 90%.