2021
North Africa
Sustainable Fashion Webinar
The Past, Present, and Future of Fashion Sustainability Challenges in North Africa
RAMADAN FUNDRAISING EDITION
#Education #Production #Artisan #Incubator #Brand #Retail #Circularity
From Morocco to Egypt.
Influenced by its proximity to Europe, North Africa enjoys a very special position in the international fashion industry that is increasingly changing towards greater sustainability. Traditional craftsmanship and production techniques shape local production even today.
Designed for you!
➤ First English-speaking Webinar from North Africa dedicated to Sustainable Fashion.
➤ A webinar designed for Students, Educators, and Young Professionals worldwide.
➤ April 7th, Wednesday, 6-9pm & April 10th, Saturday, 1-4pm CET (GMT+1)
The North Africa Sustainable Fashion Webinar is designed to introduce you to the issue of sustainability in the fashion industry as well as to give you the opportunity to engage with our experts and to network. Among other things, the expert talks will cover what it means to found a sustainable fashion start-up, how craftsman- and artisanship are still integrated into today's production and design processes, and how circularity is applied to secure long-term sustainable operations.
The non-profit webinar is characterised by the fact that we have solely invited local speakers who can share their first-hand experiences with you and are familiar with the local culture. 100% of the proceeds of the webinar will be donated to support the local textile industry.
What You’ll Learn
Competitive advantages of North Africa with regard to artisanship, diversity, and natural materials.
Current challenges for sustainable business and ethical fashion growth in relation to its history, social and economic infrastructures.
Leading examples of sustainable fashion changemakers, marketing campaigns, circularity, and CSR practices in the region.
Digital methods to support North African artisans remotely as a responsible consumer.
Realistic visions and authentic voices from the local experts on the future of fashion and sustainable development in North Africa.
Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Attend
No commercial profits and markups. This webinar duo is entirely dedicated to Ramadan fundraising for supporting the ethical community in North Africa in times of the global pandemic. Revenues will be entirely transparent covering webinar organizational costs and the rest will be donated to the NGOs. *We will donate to a total of 2 NGOs for every 50 tickets sold, 4 NGOs for every 100 tickets sold.*
No geological hindrance. This webinar duo is a pioneer program that virtually gathers both Moroccan and Egyptian sustainable fashion and supply chain experts for the first time to speak for the purpose of education.
No headaches for language barriers. Our webinar duo is completely held in English. It saves you time from having to master Egyptian Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Amazigh languages, and French yourself.
No beating around the bush by a middleman. This webinar duo brings you directly to the discussion of core problems and shows you the best practices available in the region.
No heavy travel costs involved. This webinar duo gives you insights into the North Africa fashion and artisan scene without the need for transportation and accommodation expenses.Don’t worry about sounding professional.
Guest Speakers
/ The Changemakers of North Africa /
Production & Environment.
Kenza Oulghada
Artisan Leader and Keynote Speaker, the Anou; Founder and Weaver, Cooperative Tithrite (Morocco)
Kenza Oulaghda is a traditional weaver, Artisan Leader and Keynote Speaker for Anou, Morocco's only artisan owned and also artisan managed e-commerce platform. 80% of the purchase price goes to the artisan that made the product, compared to only 4% on market average. Thus, a purchase from Anou supports artisans, frees their communities from exploitation, and strives for a fair wage. Anou was recognized in 2020 by Ashoka as one of the most socially impactful projects of the MENA region. Kenza is also the founder of the Association Tithrite, which she founded in 2008 with women from her village in the Middle Atlas Mountains to protect their products from middlemen and thus help to generate more income from each rug sold for the weavers. A big share of the revenues are invested into local projects that support the development of their village, i.e. by providing weekly literacy classes for women.
Ibrahim Al-Rashdy
Certification Business Manager, Control Union Egypt (Egypt)
Ibrahim Al-Rashdy is the Senior Auditor for Sustainable Textile Auditing (GOTS & GRS) Standards for more than 2 years and has been the Certification Business Manager at Control Union Egypt for more than 4 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Science majoring in Applied Chemistry from Cairo University.
Artisan Education.
Peri Abou Zied
Founder, Thaat Social Enterprise (Egypt)
Peri Abou Zied is the Founder of Thaat Social Enterprise & Innovative Consultancy, a handicrafts school and lab which has trained more than 3000 girls and women from different parts of Egypt and employs 60 women, of which 70% are refugees. Further, she founded the two lifestyle labels PAZ.Cairo, a heritage label reviving traditional tailoring, cording embroidery, and caftans, and Almashgel, a refugee-led lifestyle label which is using different textile techniques such as printing and fabric applique. Peri holds two master's degrees in Outsider Crafts and Social Entrepreneurship and has an academic background in art and design.
Abdelilah Boumara
Leather Work Training and Research Laboratory Manager, L’Académie des Arts Traditionnels (Morocco)
Graduated from the Academy of Traditional Arts of Casablanca’s leather art course, Abdelilah Boumara is a young designer specialising in leather goods and founder of the brands F&B Cherifien Leather and Boumara Casablanca. He now is head of the leather art department of the Academy of Traditional Arts (L’Académie des Arts Traditionnels) in Casablanca himself and also teaches workshops on the creation of artisanal work. The Academy of Traditional Arts was created in 2012 and is a platform of excellence dedicated to high-level training in Traditional Arts, based on the acquisition of scientific knowledge and allowing the development of virtuosities. The new graduates had the chance to apply for government jobs as well as start their own startups with the help of special loans.
Business Incubator.
Wafaa Naim El Idrissi
Director, Bidaya (Morocco)
An Essec Business School graduate, Wafaa has worked for several companies and organizations before joining Bidaya in late 2020. She has 16 years experience in non-profit organizations and as an independent consultant. Bidaya is a specialist for startups with a social or environmental impact. Since 2015, Bidaya supports entrepreneurs in their high-impact company projects development. Bidaya demonstrates a confirmed expertise in sourcing, supporting and reinforcing projects in 6 Moroccan regions, with a notable track record of incubation and community building.
Sami Daoud
“Garage” Program Manager, Nahdet el Mahrousa (Egypt)
Sami Daoud is a program manager at Nahdet El Mahrousa, a social entrepreneurship platform. Their five-year project, “El Garage”, aims to revive local identity, culture, history and art using entrepreneurship as a central tool. So far Sami has supported social enterprises at various stages in their development and managed the accounts of over 50 of them, operating across governorates and in a variety of sectors like education, renewable energy, handicrafts, and performing arts. His background as an actor and a drama-based behavioral-change trainer add to his skill set enabling him to be an effective communicator and trainer.
Ethical Brands.
Amal Kenzari
Co-Founder, IDYR (Morocco)
Amal Kenzari decided to launch IDYR after completing her studies in Industry and Environment Engineering, due to being inspired early on by her grandmother who made rugs with love and passion. IDYR revives the story of Boucherouite weaving and all its values through their leather goods, the accessories are woven and assembled by hand, by a selection of exceptional craftsmen. The production is locally in Morocco and 100% handmade out of recycled new fabric cuts, produced in clothing factories.
Fadila Bennani
Founder, AMAZ (Morocco)
Fadila Bennani is the founder of AMAZ, a Moroccan ethical fashion brand of sneakers that are handcrafted, vegan, and co-conscious, launched in 2017. With the “AMAZ for education program” and in partnership with NGO “Education for All”, for every pair of sneakers sold, one day of boarding school for a girl in secondary school is funded in High Atlas mountains remote areas. Fadila came back to Morocco in 2009 after she graduated from ESSEC Business School in Paris. She has worked for 7 years in strategy consulting and business development.
Yara Yassin
Co-Founder, Up-fuse (Egypt)
Yara Yassin is the co-founder of Up-fuse with a Bachelor’s Degree in Product Design from the German University in Cairo. She is particularly passionate about sustainability, design, and women empowerment. Up-fuse is a lifestyle brand that creates bags and accessory products made of upcycled plastic. It was founded to celebrate the originality of every individual while being socially and environmentally conscious.
Norhan El Sakkout
Co-Founder & Creative Director, Saqhoute (Egypt)
Norhan El Sakkout is the founder and creative director of Saqhoute, a slow women’s ready-to-wear brand. The brand was launched with the aim of supporting the individuality and ambition of the modern-day Egyptian woman by offering her ethically produced ready-to-wear garments. Norhan holds an MA in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship in Fashion at Goldsmiths, University of London as a Chevening Scholar and her BA in Finance with a minor in Art from the American University in Cairo.
Retail Channels.
Hilda Louca
Founder & CEO, MITCHA (Egypt)
Hilda is a visionary entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience in marketing and management. She founded MITCHA, an online slow fashion retail business in Egypt supporting local designers, in 2018. Her mission is to showcase the country’s top design talents in a well-curated digital platform of international standards.
Aida Kandil
Founder, MyTindy (Morocco)
Aida Kandil is a Moroccan entrepreneur who grew up between France and Morocco. Seeing from a young age the freedom and impact of being an entrepreneur, she decided to create her own business as soon as she was ready. In 2019, MyTindy.com was born to empower handcrafters in Morocco to connect and sell to an international audience. It supports them in their digital transition and allows them to promote their business internationally. MyTindy supports them by providing training and taking care of the logistics for their vendors. The marketplace has already onboarded more than 100 artisans that have sold products in over 20 countries.
Soukeina Hachem
Co-Founder, DABA Concept Store (Morocco)
Soukeina Hachem is the co-founder of DABA, a Concept Pop-up Store in several locations (i.a. Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakech) which is offering a wide choice of sustainable and handcrafted products Made in Morocco. In addition to being a concept store, DABA is a platform for designers and creative people who welcome all types of events related to creation: performances, dance, concerts, readings, creative workshops, and debates.
Circularity & Diversity.
Manal Saleh
CEO, Egyptian Clothing Bank (Egypt)
After being one of the founders of the Egyptian Food Bank in 2006, Manel Saleh became the CEO of the Egyptian Clothing Bank in 2017, an NGO which upcycles, recycles, and sorts clothing donations to underprivileged communities in Egypt. Manal Saleh is an environmentalist and a philanthropist who believes that community work should incorporate sustainable development with sustainable recycling and upcycling methods. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Cairo University in Biomedical Engineering and Systems.
Souad El Mghari
Content Creator, Kaftan Mag (Morocco)
Souad El Mghari is the founder of the fashion and lifestyle blog Kaftan Mag, digital entrepreneur, and a champion for creating content with a positive impact. She created Kaftan Mag in 2013 as a journal for her aesthetic, interests, and take on things that she come across, be it fashion trends, beauty products, or lifestyle subjects, all with a Moroccan POV. This led her to the opportunity of working as a journalist for Morocco’s leading women’s magazine Femmes du Maroc, then editor-in-chief of a smaller lifestyle magazine Mademoiselle Maroc. Souad El Mghari is currently also a lecturer of digital marketing with 7 years of experience creating multimedia content for public and private sector organizations and recently started to give life to a consulting business.
Rime Ajakkaf
Content Creator, Moroccan Mirage (Morocco)
Rime Ajakkaf is a stylist, fashion designer, and content creator. After studying Development in Clothing at ESITH University in Casablanca and working in the fashion industry for four years, she realized that “the glamorous side of fashion hides a darker side that made her feel that she doesn’t want to be a part of it”. This resulted in her starting to encourage second-hand consumption and sustainable fashion through her blog identity, Moroccan Mirage. Currently, she is working on her own vintage shop for opening after Ramadan and a sustainable brand for 2022.
Moderators.
Reiting Lee
Co-Founder, Morocco Fashion Future; Founder, the Oriental Hybrid
Reiting Lee is a creative digital marketer from Taiwan who has lived in 9 countries across 6 continents and found her endless inspirations while living in Fez and Rabat. Having studied from Environmental Design at Beijing Institute of Technology to Business Sustainability Management at the University of Cambridge, she is passionate about the impact sustainable fashion brings to society and she enjoys connecting resources for a meaningful purpose with a touch of aesthetics and humanity.
Rania Rafie
Country Coordinator, Fashion Revolution Egypt; Co-Founder, Up-fuse
Rania Rafie is the Country Coordinator of Fashion Revolution Egypt, and the Co-Founder of Up-fuse. With a degree in Product Design from the German University of Cairo, she is interested in sustainable fashion, design, philosophy, and social entrepreneurship. She believes in the power of good and spreading positivity by trying to maintain a conscious lifestyle, practicing yoga, and spreading awareness.
Organizer & Partners
the Oriental Hybrid.
the Oriental Hybrid is the first Social Media Marketing & E-PR agency combining native specialists with cross-market experiences in both the Chinese and Arabic-speaking professional environments. Aiming to promote CSR for businesses by dedicating up to 20% of the profits from each project to support living and education in the most needed regions.
IG/FB: @theorientalhybrid
Morocco Fashion Future.
Morocco Fashion Future is a Collaborative Platform built in February 2018 by a group of fashion professionals and enthusiasts living or traveling in Morocco that are determined to bring a change to the Moroccan fashion scene - a transparent and cooperative international fashion network with sustainability and humanity development in mind.
IG/FB: @moroccofashionfuture
Fashion Revolution Egypt.
Fashion Revolution Egypt is part of the global Fashion Revolution movement, which is a movement calling for a transparent fashion industry that values people and planet over profit.
IG/FB: @fash_rev_egypt
Green Fashion Tours.
Green Fashion Tours is a Tour Agency in Berlin organizing interactive tours with city excursions and expert talk online courses on the topics of Sustainability, Circularity, and Innovation in Fashion. With its unique format, participants are given opportunities to interact directly with the changemakers in the industry.
IG/FB: @greenfashiontours
YES, our funds go to these NGOs.
Cooperative Tithrite / The Anou.
Association Tithrite is located in the small agricultural village of Ait Hamza, approximately 100 kilometers south of the Moroccan city of Fez. While the association creates a wide variety of woven products, it specializes in Hanbal rugs that are unique to the Middle Atlas region of Morocco. The association is currently training more girls in weaving techniques to further preserve the area’s traditional weaving skills. The rugs represent more than just income for the women, they also support the association’s vision of becoming a model of community-led development.
Tithrite has been working on getting land to build a workshop for the cooperative, and they will need funds to build the workshop once they get the land. Acquiring a proper workshop and a bigger one aims to give Tithrite the opportunity to expand its social and economic impact on the youth and the women of the region.
Egyptian Clothing Bank.
The Egyptian Clothing Bank is a specialized NGO in providing suitable fitting functional clothing items to the deserving groups in the communities we serve all over Egypt. The Egyptian Clothing Bank serves seven groups of beneficiaries: Underprivileged university students, Underprivileged school students, Orphans, Deserving Elderly and Special Needs, Underprivileged athletes, Orphan newlywed couples, and poor border settlements through relief convoys.
Egyptian Clothing Bank provisions are seasonal. Donations for this Ramadan will be used for preparing new Eid clothes sets for children. This year, the Egyptian Clothing Bank will be targeting the families of Female Headed Households specifically. Some of the poorest villages in Egypt have a high percentage of FHH reaching 48%.
Register Now.
Registration Fee: 25€ Student Price, 35€ Professional Price for 2 days.
Each registration comes with access to the archived recording of the program for one year as well as the materials provided by the speakers after completion of the webinar.
All proceeds go to support the local textile industry and are donated to the following institutions: 1-2 in Morocco and 1-2 in Egypt. (The exact NGO names will be announced later for organizational reasons.)
In case the booking link doesn’t work, copy+paste this: https://2021northafricasfw.eventbrite.com
FAQs
When are the Webinars?
The Webinars will be held on Wednesday 7th of April from 6-9pm and Saturday 10th of April from 1-4pm CET/CEST. (CET/CEST time is GMT+1)
What if I can attend only one day, have to leave the webinar early or I am late?
That is not a problem. All participants will have access to the recorded session for one year. The link will be sent to you after the webinar, so you can catch up on the part you missed.
How do I register?
By purchasing a ticket via Eventbrite you are automatically registered for the webinar. We will take care of everything else.
I am not familiar with the topic so far, can I still participate?
Of course! The webinar is especially for interested students and those who are new to the topic. We will give a general introduction to the topic and cover all the important factors to give you an insight into sustainable fashion in North Africa.
Who can I contact if I have further questions?
Please contact one of our coordinators: Reiting (theorientalhybrid@gmail.com) or Rania (egypt@fashionrevolution.org) by email or Instagram messages to @theorientalhybrid
How do I register?
By purchasing a ticket via Eventbrite you are automatically registered for the webinar. We will take care of everything else.
Is there a deadline for registering for the webinar?
There is no deadline for registration, but the contingent is limited as we can only accept a certain number of participants due to our platform capacity. Therefore it is better to register early on.
When will I receive the access data?
We will send you the Zoom link by email at least one day before the respective webinar day.
Why do I have to pay for the event?
The webinar is a charity event to raise money for Ramadan for institutions in North Africa to support the local sustainable fashion industry. Neither the coordinators nor the speakers are paid.
Where will the money be donated to?
For every 50 tickets sold, we will donate to 1 selected NGO in Egypt and Morocco each. The organization names will be announced later due to organisational reasons.