Why this high-fashion startup is prioritizing Palestine

High fashion is big business in the Middle East. In fact, the Arab region is one of the international fashion industry’s most vibrant markets. Consulting firm Bain & Company estimates that the total spend on personal designer goods reached $8 billion by the end of 2013. Even Fern Mallis, the creator of New York Fashion Week, recently revealed that a third of the world’s couture clients now hail from the MENA region.

And more of us are turning to our computers to shop. According to Go-Gulf, the current overall internet penetration in the Middle East is 40.2%, with the estimated number of online users expected to reach 413 million by the end of 2015. With 27% regularly shopping for fashion online at present, it is perhaps unsurprising that the number of ecommerce sites offering home-grown and international designer brands are also slowly on the rise.

So when there already are a number of successful online fashion startups in the region, just how do you distinguish your brand from the competition? For Elmuda.com’s Ruba Abdulhadi and Badea Jaber, it’s their aim to make designer wear more accessible in their home country.

“Growing up in a small town in Palestine, I didn’t have much access to fashion, but I certainly had a passion for it,” Abdulhadi tells Wamda. “I always felt that fashion was a defense mechanism, and so creating this business was very personal for me.”

“I want to be able to give ladies access to everything they thought they couldn’t reach, but only see on TV. Learning from my experience in the United States [a year-long exchange program at Harvard Business School], I noticed that everything is available online and customer service is impeccable. They think of every possible scenario, addressing every problem and solving it.”

Original article by Rachel McArthur

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Why this high-fashion startup is prioritizing Palestine