Sladjana Pantovic, PS Fashion, about the creation of the popular brand – Grandma’s genes, the famous 501 and dreams which come true (PHOTO)

Choosing a child’s career is never an easy topic for parents, especially when the trends and the development of the industry later on also dictate their paying power, but that a child can show, from the earliest age, what it is made of and that it only needs to be enabled to take full flight is shown by Sladjana Pantovic (54) from Cacak. We believe that there are plenty of those who don’t know what brand this name stands behind, but if we say PS and add “fashion” and four dots, many will realize that it’s a local women’s garment brand, certainly well known among women in these areas, at least those who care about style and dressing well. And ladies from the area of the former Yugoslavia, wherever one of more than 100 stores of this brand is located, have certainly also heard about it.

However, this success and regional recognition and the recent participation in the Paris Fashion Week, according to eKapija’s interviewee, Sladjana Pantovic, the owner and the main designer within this brand – did not come overnight. But Sladjana spent her nights dreaming about numerous things within her professional development – nearly visualized them – and they subsequently came true as well. But let’s start from the beginning.

First steps…

– Even as a small child, before school age, I would constantly create things. I made artworks from coffee mug saucers at my uncle’s company by using some paints I had found. I made broches from the hazelnuts my grandfather had, by cracking them in half with precision. I made impressions from clay, that was my favorite. There were not as many materials and secondary materials available as there are now, so I had to be resourceful. Once, I used deerskin glasses wipes to make a belt with some roses. And while children mostly played some social games, I was constantly making something – Sladjana starts her story in the interview for eKapija.

Her first encounter with a sewing machine also happened in her early childhood, when Sladjana had a small machine for children, on which she made clothes for dolls. As she says, she inherited the talent for it from her grandmother, who was very skilled at sewing.

– My mother told me that she and grandma were always the best dressed ones, because they had pieces that nobody else had. Then I too, in elementary school, wanted my mom to sew me things that I would come up with, mostly unusual things, but she would tell me when something couldn’t be done. In fact, it could have been done, but she didn’t have the knowledge to do so. And that was certainly one of the things why I decided to educate myself in that field. I first finished the Textile School in Gornji Milanovac, and then the Modeling School in Maribor – says Sladjana.

When fashion makes your back hurt…

She remembers that the famous 501 jeans appeared right around that time and that, for that time, it was a piece of garment that cost a lot and for which she did not want to expose her parents to a big expenditure. However, at that moment, when she was 17 years old, she showed the entrepreneurial spirit that was already characteristic of her family – her uncle and father were already entrepreneurs and, in one store in Milanovac, she started buying leftovers from textile made by the Rudnik company.

– I would buy pieces of 70-80 cm of material in bright colors and started sewing pants made from that and one woman sold those pants for me at some company at a price of 10 marks. I then used that money to buy myself a 501 and then I bought myself some 6 meters of cashmere for a coat. I sewed it, it was gorgeous, with big ruffles and unusual details, but it was so heavy that, whenever I went out wearing it, it made my back hurt – Sladjana reveals some more details of her professional development.

Visionary dreams

However, as she says, throughout her school years and her beginnings as a creator, what was always coming to her was that she would literally dream of having her own brand, dream what her store displays would look like, how she would have a life partner in all that, with whom she would work in the same field. She would go to bed at night and wake up in the morning with those thoughts.



And, as she says, it all eventually came true. She met Predrag, who to this day is an indelible part of both her life and PS. But the part that is in charge of finance, negotiations, investments, plans and the organization. However, even with him, PS didn’t happen immediately. She first spent a part of her life in South Africa, following Predrag who was there for his trade business. But even there, her creativity was restless. As she says, she took with herself pearls and various secondary materials and made jewelry from them over there. She even sold it at a local fair. She persistently talked to her husband about her dreams of having her own fashion brand, until he decided to meet her halfway. Upon returning from South Africa, around 1994/1995, she started her first collection and they opened a boutique on the upper floor of a store that sold sneakers in Cacak.

One day you won’t be able to make as much as they demand from you

– That was a period of crisis and there would be a power cut while we were working. There were days when I couldn’t stop crying because I couldn’t sell anything, there is no electricity, I’m also working as a seller, and while women are sewing, there’s a power cut, and I remember that my husband once said: “Don’t cry, one day you won’t be able to make as much as they demand from you” – which was a visionary statement from her husband.

Sladjana was then lying in bed, pregnant for the first time – and now she’s mother to four sons – and welcomed women who would sew, while she drew and created handmade details for the models.

– During that time, my hands hurt so much from that unnatural position in which I made those details that I had to slow down a bit and take a break. Then others sewed using my drafts. Even when the baby was small, women would come and sew while I took care of the baby, but I monitored the works all the time, in three shifts. I then got heart arrhythmia from being overworked and that’s when I definitely had to take a break. My husband then told me that we couldn’t go on like that and that we had to commence serial production – says Sladjana.

Serial production commenced using borrowed money

After that, Peca and Sladjana (which is what “PS” stands for, but also “Pantovic Sladjana”, whereas the four dots in the name of the brand represent their four sons) borrowed money from her father for the first machines.

– One night, I dreamed about this modeler called Sava from the Rudnik company, whom I had visited once for some professional advice, and I dreamed that he was coming over to my place, bringing 5-6 women to sew. And in less than two months, he really came over! It happened that, as a serious professional, he started working for me – a child of 26 – and that he had brought over six of his colleagues. We then started producing in a space above the father’s workshop. That is when the number of people started increasing, with master craftsmen being among them. That is something that we have kept, a good quality of sewing, because those are people who came from companies which worked in line with the German sewing standards.



Soon this space became small for them, so before her second childbirth, they started building their own facility on a plot of land bought by her father and that’s when the first 500 m2 of PS was raised in Suvi Breg. And as the sales grew, so did the production, so that space became small too, so they moved again and kept increasing their production facilities. Today, nearly 30 years from their beginnings, they have finally put their production in a space of 8,000 m2, in the former Inex at 29 Milutina Mandica Street in Cacak.

From the first workshop above a sneaker store and one employee – Sladjana – today PS Fashion has over 500 employees and over 100 stores throughout the region. Today, Sladjana is not the only designer – there are five more, but she still gives the final stamp of approval.



Successor ready too…

Although she has four successors, all things considered, one of them will follow her path. As our interviewee says, her son Jakov is currently finishing high school and has shown a great interest in this activity, so he plans to continue his education in Spain, before joining the family company in a professional capacity too. Jakov is also the youngest one, and the other sons, Matej, Filip and Viktor, have shown an interest in other spheres – soccer, hospitality, but also green economy. It is precisely Matej who will, in a way, cooperate with the family company in the future, because he is interested in sustainability, so he will start with PS.

– To clarify, we pay around EUR 6,000 a year for the disposal of excess material, as textile waste, and Matej intends to dedicate himself to recycling our leftovers, so in that way, we will show that we are thinking about sustainable production – adds Sladjana and notes that, as a company, they are environmentally oriented and that, in their production facility, they already use solar panels, a thermal pump, and that now they will go into recycling too. Also, within socially responsible activities, the company invests considerable funds every year in forestation and other ecology projects.

Quality which is resilient to world online traders

As for the further plans, according to our interviewee, they aim to enter the European market and that is what they will be working on in the coming period. The arrival of popular online garment sellers, such as Temu, Shein and others, has not disturbed them, she says.

– This year, in the spring season, we even exceeded the sales plan. Simply, our garments are bought by ladies who want quality clothes, which are not just for one season, but which will last. And they are ready to pay for it. Usually, these are business women, who make enough money themselves, and even when something seems expensive to them, they are ready to come over several times and try out a certain article, but in the end, even with perhaps a higher price, they choose it – says Sladjana.



She admits that, as a fashion house, they have somewhat fallen into the trap of their own development, that is, they have followed their customers, who are aging, moving toward a more serious style, and there’s a risk there of forgetting about the young, brave business women, who have been the guiding lights of the brand from day one.

– That is my goal, to turn a bit more to designing clothes for the young, to “rejuvenate” ourselves in that sense, while at the same time remaining loyal to a part of our customers – says Sladjana.

When all is summed up, although, as she admits, she has never been interested in her professional development in how much they’ve earned, but how many pieces they’ve sold and of what, Sladjana would now, if somebody asked her, gone down the same path.

– The only thing I don’t know is whether I would have enough strength. You have to give up on everything in order to achieve everything. Something like this requires great sacrifices… – the first lady of PS finishes her story for eKapija.

Danijela Stanimirovic-Gavrilov

PS Fashion Design Čačak

PS Fashion Design

Slađana Pantović

Predrag Pantović

fashion design

clothing for women

PS stores

PS network

female entrepreneurship

female clothes

materials

sewing

boutiques

clothes

fashion shows

online sale

clothes design