EROTICA sells, and who knows it better than a loss-making textile factory in post-breakup Russia which is struggling to pick up the pieces. Designers at the loss-making Samoilov textile factory in Ivanovo, known as Russia’s Manchester, are trying to boost sales by using Kama Sutra patterns on their bedcovers.
Ivanovo, 150 miles north-east of Moscow, has been an important textile centre in Russia. For years, the Samoilov factory was the main source of jobs in Ivanovo, also called Russia’s ‘city of brides’’ because it primarily employs young single women to churn out bedding, curtains and textiles. But ever since a free-for-all economy replaced Soviet-style protectionism, Samoilov has been battling financial ruin.