During Paris Fashion Week in June, the Hundred Saudi Brands event was held, a fashion exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and a showroom at the Hotel Mona Bismark. The program supports fashion companies, logos, and designers in their quest for expansion, with the determined hoping to gain advantages from market-related projects to contribute to the positioning of the logo, whether wholesale or retail.
It is for this reason that the occasion took place in Paris, where 11 Saudi designers presented their spring/summer 2025 men’s collections. Among them were Awaken, Hindamme, KML, Mazrood, and Noble.
This country is full of surprises and this is what is happening with the emergence of Saudi men’s ready-to-wear. The number one base of visitors in Saudi Arabia are still women, however, there is a wonderful appetite for menswear and potential selling points. Historically Saudis dress in classic clothes, but local life has changed a lot and there are more and more opportunities to dress fashionably: festivals, events, concerts, exhibitions, etc.
Half of [Saudi Arabia’s] population is under 25 years old and lives in the country or studies abroad. They want something new and interesting. This is what has prompted a new generation of local designers, under the age of 35, to launch new menswear and streetwear brands, which have Saudi references, even if they are accessible to a foreigner. The country’s specialty is craftsmanship, especially embroidery, which is still very visual in men’s fashion.
Absolutely. For her eponymous collection, Noura Sulaiman created the first high-end collection for men. On the other hand, the KML logo is co-founded through the Hassan brother duo.
Every year, one hundred brands have implemented it to make them aware of the realities of the overseas market. We need to make sure we have the most productive team. First, we provide them through the collective showroom of the hundred Saudi brands. We take care of the rental of the space, press relations and contacting buyers. Brands take care of travel expenses.
Those who have the perspective will then be able to provide for themselves separately and independently. Thus, Shahd Alshehail for the Abadia logo held his own showroom at Paris Marais Fashion Week in June 2024.
Showing up in Paris has a quick effect once you get home. At last season’s presentation, immediately after the show, the designers won calls from consumers who had purchased the entire collection. In addition, two brands were decided through Galeries Lafayette. The first final buyers were a French woman and an American.
We produce wool, which is part of our craftsmanship, but most of the mass-marketed fabrics do not exist, so we have to source from Spain, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, China and India. Première Vision’s sourcing exhibition is an ideal destination for the manufacture of luxury goods.
When it comes to women’s fashion, brands have their own ateliers and boutiques. They can produce temporarily for the local market and do not need experience. But we have just opened the first production unit in Riyadh for streetwear or sweater. We hope that by the next presentation, the maximum of the pieces on display will be held in Riyadh. The garments are in a premium range, from 150 to 1,500 euros (retail price).
We opened the first Riyadh Fashion Week in October 2023. Thirty local designers walked in other market segments (women’s ready-to-wear, men’s, streetwear, haute couture, jewelry). It will be renewed from October 17 to 22, 2024.
For May 2025, we are creating a second event focused on hotel collections, at the St Regis Red Sea Resort on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. As part of the “Red Sea Global” project, many hotels were opened and a new foreign tourist destination is positioned. Organized over 3 days, we will integrate foreign brands that need to cope with the Saudi market position for this occasion. We need to optimize the presence of local brands, but we also need to strengthen the fashion sector’s share of the country’s GDP [Gross Domestic Product].
It will be comparable to what the brands that show at Paris Fashion Week and organize their own events have. We have created an online platform to talk about this project. Brands will cover prices and accommodation and we have a design for models. makeup, hairdressing, production, etc.
We are in our third season and we hope to do at least two more. Our strategy is for five years, at the end of which we will make an inventory of the progress made and the type of needs. Every year we update the program we put in place.
This article was originally published on FashionUnited. Translation via AI and editing via Rachel Douglass.