Vitosha Factory (Bulgaria) 70s, Ministry of Light Industry, Comecon Markets

Vitosha Factory (Bulgaria) 70s, Ministry of Light Industry, Comecon Markets SUNDAZED & OUTSIDE SOCIETY S.O.S. | sundazed.io/sos ...Flat-felled seams, five-line topstitching, and structured interfacing evidence disciplined Eastern Bloc manufacturing. The mid-length single-breasted overcoat, originating from the Vitosha Factory (Завод Витоша) in Sofia, Bulgaria, emerges from the industrial apparatus of the socialist era, where garment production served as both infrastructural necessity and ideological reinforcement. Vitosha, operating under the Ministry of Light Industry, functioned not as a designer atelier but as a key manufacturer of structured garments for domestic and COMECON markets, imprinting its workwear-derived tailoring with the principles of socialist-modernist form: rigid construction, visual austerity, and pragmatic utility. The coat encapsulates this cultural moment, merging the visual coding of postwar functionality with engineered tailoring intended for urban and professional wear across fall and winter seasons. Constructed from a midweight cotton-polyester blend twill, approximately 220–260 GSM, the fabric exhibits a high-density 2/1 or 3/1 twill weave, structurally analogous to gabardine. The surface shows a faint but consistent diagonal ribbing, revealing a weave engineered for abrasion resistance, wind buffering, and moderate weatherproofing, consistent with Eastern Bloc outerwear pragmatism.