Tailor transforms youthful love for fashion into career

Growing up in communist Bulgaria, Milen Krastev’s exposure to western fashion and culture came from Western movies and snowboard and skateboard magazines.

Milen and his friends would find a magazine, and look through them for the subscription cards. “Those things were like gold,” Krastev said in a recent interview in his Whitefish tailoring and leather workshop.

He’d put relatives’ names down to get free subscriptions and get six months of free magazines before the companies realized they weren't going to get a check.

It was in their pages that Krastev saw American fashion, but the clothes weren’t on sale in any of the shops in his hometown, the Black Sea beach town of Varna. Milen was determined to find a way to get those jackets and jeans one way or another.

Milen recalled buying his first denim on the black market. “I bought my first pair of jeans on the corner like it was drugs,” he said.

In the winters, he’d hang out in the ski towns in Bulgaria’s mountains, and he sewed custom puffy jackets, slapping on logos from his favorite brands, like Burton Snowboards and skate brand Alien Workshop.

Years of creating these jackets honed his sewing and design skills, on either side of a seven-year stint in the Navy and studying to become a commercial ship captain.

It was after a lonely four-month spell at sea that he realized nautical life wasn’t for him, so he came to San Francisco to get a master’s degree in fashion. He got himself a Ford Thunderbird, which he had thought was the coolest car growing up.

It was in San Francisco he met his wife, Jenny, who grew up in Montana. They moved to New York, with a stop in Germany for Jenny’s job at fashion house Hugo Boss.

Eventually, the family became tired of New York’s hustle and bustle, and they made the decision to move to Whitefish, where they had usually spent Christmas with her family.

“I don’t miss the dirt and the obnoxious people,” he said of city life.

It’s out of their garage that they run custom atelier MAD Leather together, with Jenny handling much of the design, and Milen crafting the pieces themselves.

After years in the industry, they have built enough of a client list and reputation that they are able to keep the business going from this corner of Montana. Each project is different, but Krastev says that a pair of boots start at a base price of $2,500 to $3,000.

Milen has developed a reputation for taking on projects that other tailors turn down, often because of technical challenges. He makes boots, pants, wallets and leather jackets, though he is willing to discuss any projects with his clients.

“If you can think it, we can do it — or at least give it one hell of a go,” it says on their website.

He’s also created clothing for TV and movies, and worked with celebrities. He made Ben Stiller’s leather jacket in “Zoolander 2,” as well as worked on red carpet and performance outfits for rock stars like Sting.

The Krastevs want to grow the business by expanding to a separate workshop building next to their family home, but Milen still wants to be responsible for each item that goes out his door.

“When you get something from here, you know I made it,” he said.

His passion comes from creating things he wants to wear.

“I have two pairs of jeans I’ve purchased and everything else I’ve made myself,” he said proudly.

Although his techniques, materials and clientele have changed, Milen’s process is much the same as when he was sewing bootleg snowboard jackets in Bulgaria.

“I just love the craft of creating something that we put on ourselves. No other animals do that. We do that all day long seeing what we can cover ourselves in,” he said. “Cover yourself better.”

Reporter Adrian Knowler can be reached at 758-4407 or aknowler@dailyinterlake.com