Befree

Befree is a Russian fast fashion brand from Saint Petersburg, registered in 2002 by the clothing company Pervomayskaya Zarya and now one of five chains run by Melon Fashion Group. It sells inexpensive clothing for women and men, and its range includes underwear, swimwear and homewear alongside denim and outerwear.

From a Soviet textile mill

Befree's roots are older than the brand. Melon Fashion Group traces itself to Pervomayskaya Zarya, a textile factory that was privatized in 1991, as Soviet state industry was being sold off. The company's current website notes that clothing has been made for more than a century in the building that now houses its headquarters.

In 1993 the factory launched its own trademark, Zarina, a women's wear label sold through its own shops. That move from manufacturing to retail was the decisive one. A factory that owns its shops keeps the retail margin and learns directly what sells.

The 2002 investment and a new name

According to the Russian Wikipedia history of the group, the Swedish fund East Capital bought 25 percent of Pervomayskaya Zarya in 2002 in exchange for $7 million of investment over three years. Soon after, the company registered a new brand, Befree, from the English "be free."

At first Befree was a store format as much as a label. The early Befree shops sold all of Pervomayskaya Zarya's brands under one roof, a multi-brand chain aimed at younger customers than Zarina. By 2005, the same account says, the Befree network still trailed Zarina in revenue.

That year the retail business was reorganized. The Zarina and Befree chains were placed into a new company, Melon Fashion Group, which is still the owner. The Swedish investors Eastnine and East Capital have remained among the shareholders, and the businessman David Kellermann held about 40 percent in 2019.

Five chains on Krasnoarmeyskaya Street

Melon Fashion Group is run from the Kellermann business center on 10th Krasnoarmeyskaya Street in Saint Petersburg's Admiralteysky district. Over time it added three more brands to Zarina and Befree: Love Republic, Sela, bought in August 2019, and Idol.

The numbers grew quickly. The group operated 937 stores on January 1, 2025, and its own site now counts about 930 shops in 171 cities, with franchise partners in five countries and roughly 8,000 employees. Revenue for 2024 was reported at 82 billion rubles, up about a third on the year. Befree itself took 8.6 billion rubles in 2019.

Those figures put Melon Fashion Group among the largest clothing retailers in Russia, and Befree is the chain in its portfolio aimed at the youngest, most price-conscious shoppers.

Underwear in a fast fashion mix

Befree is not a lingerie specialist, and it would be misleading to describe it as one. Its online store lists underwear ("nizhneye belyo") and beachwear as categories within a much larger clothing range, next to sportswear, homewear, denim and footwear. The underwear sits where it does at most fast fashion chains, as one aisle among many rather than the point of the store.

That model is closer to the underwear sections of H&M or to Inditex's Oysho than to a dedicated lingerie house. For a Russian specialist with a factory history of its own, the more relevant comparison is Milavitsa, the Minsk bra maker.

The brand describes its mission in one line: "We're here to make fashion easy for everyone." For underwear, easy means cheap, quick to buy and replaced often. Befree's lingerie should be read in that light, as part of a fast fashion wardrobe from a former Soviet mill that learned retail in the 1990s and now runs one of the largest clothing chains in Russia.

Last updated October 7, 2026