News

Resilience Under Fire

Mar 21, 2025

Imagine training for the Olympics while air-raid sirens blare overhead. For Ukrainian sprinter Tetyana Melnyk, this is reality. Despite the war, she refuses to stop running. Inspired by her resilience, we co-created the Resilience Collection with Ukrainian athletes—not just as apparel, but as a symbol of defiance, strength, and hope.

Launching Friday, March 21, 10% of proceeds will go to UNHCR to support displaced Ukrainians.

This is more than clothing. It’s a movement. Stand with the athletes. Stand for resilience.

Imagine Training for the Olympics Under Missile Attacks

That scenario might sound unimaginable, but for Ukrainian sprinter Tetyana Melnyk, it’s an everyday reality. Her story is a living testament to resilience—a quality that refuses to bow even in the face of war.

Imagine stepping onto a track, a gym floor, or even just out your front door—while sirens blare overhead. That’s what Tetyana does daily. And yet—she runs.

Inspired by her determination, we created the Resilience Collection, a line of ImpactWear co-designed with Ukrainian athletes. More than just apparel, it’s a statement, a stand, a force for change.

The Resilience Collection launches Friday, March 21.
Support the athletes. Support the cause. Be the hero.

A Tale of Defiance in Wartime

Tetyana Melnyk has never been a stranger to challenges; as a professional sprinter, obstacles are part of her job description. Throughout her Olympic journey—competing in Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and most recently, Paris 2024—she faced the standard demands of an elite athlete: early mornings, intense workouts, and the psychological pressure of representing her nation on the world stage.

But in 2022, everything changed when a full-scale war erupted in Ukraine.

Suddenly, Tetyana’s race began well before she reached the track. Instead of walking onto a neatly kept field with her coach at her side, she was often huddled in the corner of a bomb shelter, listening to air-raid sirens wail across the sky. The unpredictability of explosions transformed an athlete’s routine into a daily fight for normalcy.

"Frequent air raids and shelling mean I spend a lot of time in bomb shelters. I can’t sleep normally or recover after training because of nightly alarms."

For an elite athlete, rest and recovery are non-negotiable—without them, performance suffers. But for Tetyana and many others, sleep is interrupted not by competition anxiety, but by the sound of airstrikes.

Still, she laces up her shoes every morning.

"Giving up was never an option. I train for the people we’ve lost and for those whose lives have been turned upside down. We are fighting not only for medals, but to show the world that no war can break our will to win."

Unbreakable. Unstoppable. Resilient.

The tragedy of Tetyana’s story is that she is not alone.

479 Ukrainian athletes have been killed in combat since the war began.
Thousands more serve on the frontlines, fighting for their country.
The facilities they once trained in have been destroyed.
Coaches are scattered across different countries, forced to flee or stay behind to fight.

Yet, they refuse to break.

The Human Cost: UNHCR Data on Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has caused one of the largest humanitarian crises in modern history. According to UNHCR, the numbers paint a stark reality:

Inside Ukraine:

3.7 million people are displaced within their own country.
12.7 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
2 million homes have been destroyed.

Across the World:

6.9 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their country.
6.3 million of them are now refugees across Europe.

This is not just a crisis. It’s a fight for survival.

The Birth of ImpactWear

Moved by these stories, we asked ourselves: "How can we help?"

The answer wasn’t just to make a collection. It was to create something meaningful—something that carried the spirit of resilience in every thread.

That’s how the Resilience Collection was born—the first true ImpactWear line, where every piece does more than just represent resilience—it actively fuels it.

We worked directly with Ukrainian athletes, listening to their experiences and ensuring their voices shaped the collection. This wasn’t about fashion. It was about defiance. It was about hope.

Building the Resilience Collection

Creating this collection wasn’t a simple process. It was an evolution—shaped by the stories, struggles, and unshakable strength of Ukrainian athletes.

At first, we envisioned a sleek, minimalist design. But the athletes wanted more. They wanted the collection to embody defiance, power, and hope.

Black represents resilience, the grit of training through adversity.
Yellow accents symbolize more than just Ukraine’s colors—a light piercing through the darkness..

One of the athletes put it best:

"This isn’t just clothing—it’s a reminder that we’re still standing, still fighting."

We tested multiple iterations, refining every detail until the collection felt like a second skin—functional, comfortable, and most importantly, a badge of resilience.

Tetyana and her fellow athletes took immense pride in the process. They weren’t just endorsing a collection; they were building something they believed in.

Every piece carries their commitment to the cause. And when you wear it, you don’t just wear a brand—you wear their fight.

But wearing resilience is one thing. Helping rebuild it is another.

Why UNHCR?

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is at the heart of Europe’s largest displacement crisis since World War II.

UNHCR provides:

Emergency cash assistance to help families rebuild.
Refugee integration programs that support employment and education.
Protection services for vulnerable groups like children and survivors of gender-based violence.

That’s why we’re donating 10% of all proceeds from the Resilience Collection to UNHCR.

Because resilience isn’t just about endurance. It’s about rebuilding.

The Spirit Behind "Unbreakable. Unstoppable. Beyond Limits."

Tetyana’s story embodies these three words:

Unbreakable → No matter how severe the barrage of challenges, her will remains intact.
Unstoppable → From bomb shelters to podium dreams, these athletes refuse to halt their progress.
Beyond Limits → In wartime, resilience takes on a new meaning: surpassing not just physical limits, but existential threats.