The key facts
- Spenta Tonica was founded in 2025 by designer Kamil Karimov; investment in the operating business is about $100,000, with no loans or investors
- More than 300 prints created, about 12,000 items sold; the project broke even excluding the purchase of the premises
- Production is fully local: about 2 tons of knit fabric per month; T-shirts cost from 180,000 to 350,000 soums
A local brand without investors
The clothing brand Spenta Tonica opened in Tashkent in 2025. Its founder, designer and author of all the prints, is Kamil Karimov. According to him, he invested about $100,000 of his own funds into the operating business (renovation, equipment, first collections, excluding the purchase of real estate). The project has no loans or outside investors. In a year and a half, the team has created more than 300 prints and sold about 12,000 items. Excluding the purchase of the premises, the project, according to the founder, has already broken even.
The path to one's own business
Karimov has no professional design education — he studied management at a university in Moscow and worked for many years in the hotel business at a major European corporation. In his youth, he organized underground rock concerts in Tashkent and tried to create a production center, but decided that a career in music in Uzbekistan in those years would not be possible. Before Spenta Tonica, he launched, with partners, a medical clothing project, where he gained experience in sewing and developing models. According to him, he had been nurturing the idea of his own brand for more than 10 years. The story about selling a car for investment, according to Karimov, does not correspond to reality: he sold the car because he was tired of driving in Tashkent and gets around by bicycle.
Own premises and team
The founder bought the showroom space in the center of Tashkent rather than renting it — after an unsuccessful rental experience in the medical clothing project, when the owners decided to sell the space. The project team (excluding production) consists of four people, including the founder's wife Nadezhda Tarasenko, who serves as operations director. Karimov runs Instagram and social media himself, without an SMM team or content plan. In a year and a half, he has had only one day off — January 1.
Production and prices
Production is fully localized in Tashkent: the fabric factories, workshop, and store are located in the capital. The brand processes an average of 2 tons of knit fabric per month and works with factories directly. The dyes are Japanese, and the printing equipment was ordered from Germany. The simplest T-shirt costs 180,000 soums, the most complex models with technologically advanced dyeing — 350,000. The founder calls the business low-margin and says he wants quality items to be affordable for the average buyer in Uzbekistan. The plans include adding jeans, working with denim, fleece, and technical materials, as well as Garment Dyed and Stonewashing dyeing techniques.
Positioning and audience
The brand has no online store or marketplace presence; the offline location is deliberately situated in a low-traffic spot on the second floor. Online orders are possible only through direct contact on social media. The store has a stand with a catalog of prints: the chosen item is printed in the workshop on the second floor within 5–10 minutes at no extra charge. According to the founder's impression, about half of the customers are foreigners: expats and tourists, including from Japan and El Salvador. When asked about similarity to the brand Kanishka, Karimov replied that Spenta Tonica is an independent project and, in his opinion, they are 'completely different,' and the associations arise from the small selection of unconventional design on the Tashkent market.
Plans
The founder plans to develop the team, the model lineup, and the brand's visual world. Possible directions include accessories and interior objects, but, according to him, it is too early to talk about new products. He speaks cautiously about going international: clients from Kazakhstan suggest opening a location in Almaty, and he would also like to try a pop-up store, for example in Stockholm, but for now, according to Karimov, 'we are not looking that way.'
