And so Palestyle was born. Established in 2009, Abou Chaaban’s luxury fashion brand sells an exclusive collection of unparalleled accessories at high-end department stores, including Bloomingdales, House of Fraser and Etoile. After visiting a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, the designer felt she needed to find a way to help female refugees in camps throughout Jordan and Lebanon. She was inspired by the embroidery skills showcased by some of the women, and decided to empower them by offering them a job.
“Here [at the camp], I encountered refugee life for the first time,” she reminisces in an exclusive interview with MOJEH. “It’s quite a harsh life. 180,000 people literally live on top of each other in a 1-kilometre space with no hope for a future. There are no job opportunities and a very poor infrastructure. Even the very basics are unavailable such as proper electricity, water, a sewage system, home ventilation, and roads.”
[pullquotes bg_image_id="36237" quote=""I started my career in fashion hoping to contribute, even if minimally, to the empowerment of refugee women."" quotee="Zeina Abou Chaaban, Founder of Palestyle"]
The number of refugees fleeing war and conflict is steadily increasing in the Middle East, as well as Europe and the Americas, and Abou Chaaban intends to help escapees through employment. “I was inspired by the women in the camp who did handmade embroidery with a lot of love and pride. I knew that was the right time to start a business to empower those women with job opportunities and social development projects.”
Best-known for its assortment of colourful bags, Palestyle’s leather clutches are signed off with elaborate Arabic calligraphy, as well as gold-plated embroidery for that extra touch of heritage. “I loved handmade embroidery and thought that it could be made into a fashion trend while empowering the women behind it. That’s how the concept and name of Palestyle came to mind.”
The brand has also made a mark with its line of clothing and accessories, which has been worn by Hollywood stars like Eva Longoria, Gwyneth Paltrow and British model Lily Cole. Abou Chaaban hopes to see the business recognised as one of the top five profitable social luxury brands in the world, and adds that she’d love to see her designs worn by Gigi Hadid, who she describes as “a beautiful supermodel of Palestinian origin who is also very proud of her roots.”
Palestyle’s main line is luxury handbags that are sold in high-end boutiques throughout the region.^
A desire to help those less fortunate is increasing in the business world, and more entrepreneurs than ever before are establishing companies that assist social welfare schemes. “I started my career in fashion hoping to contribute, even if minimally, to the empowerment of refugee women,” she reveals, and her company has done just that.
Palestyle has empowered 100 refugee women with job opportunities and assisted over 4,000 refugees in Al Baqa’a Palestinian Refugee Camp by giving them access to clean water through the Water Tank Exchange Program. “The [Water Tank Exchange] program included installing a new water system for two schools in the camp, exchanging contaminated water tanks to poor families, and increasing the water supply for others.”
Palestyle’s proceeds also helped open the community library for Syrian refugee children in Al Mafraq, Jordan, in December. “The sense of ownership we saw in the eyes of the children for their new library was indescribable,” Abou Chaaban recalls with pride.
The journey to today, however, has been nothing short of demanding. “The biggest challenge for me has been managing my emotional stress levels,” she admits. “When starting your own business, you don’t have a team around you for support. Sometimes even the closest of people to you might not understand.”
