“Given the world that we live in, you have two choices,” 3EIB founder Dania Arafeh tells me over a call from her home in London. “Either you succumb to colonialism, succumb to the systems of oppression that put us in one box or keep us in one line; and move through the world without questioning. Or you have an opportunity to radically change your situation, to change the way you think by decolonising, unpacking, and unlearning. For the people that are able to do that, that power is often rooted in creativity.”

3EIB launched in September 2023 as a community-led platform and pop-up series retailing 30 fashion brands created by young SWANA designers. From the outset, it was rooted in the belief that creativity can be a form of resistance. By consolidating designers who are either from SWANA nations or members of the diaspora under its banner, 3EIB aims to encourage the authentic expression of cultural identity, and eventually elevate the SWANA fashion industry to the same level of recognition as other global fashion hubs.

Arafeh chose the name 3EIB, Arabic for shame, or ‘shame on you’, because as she says, “it’s one of the main weapons that is used to beat us into line, so we decided to reclaim this word to symbolise the safe space we are creating for the next generation who are able to push against the mould and and be authentically themselves.”

Together, the 3EIB designers create a kaleidoscopic array of bold, future-facing designs. A few of the many exciting names include JDEED, a Palestinian-owned brand designed in London which employs Palestinian refugee women living in Jordanian camps to embroider Tatreez details on to clothes, with each garment displaying the name of the women who embroidered them. 

There’s Paris-based, Algerian-Turkish designer Isisdünya, who draws influence from her Arab culture and the streets of the French capital to create edgy upcycled designs; and Lebanese-Palestinian designer and DJ ELISSARRR, who creates form-fitting, club-ready fits. The Beirut-based queer fashion label, Beyt Ahlam, founded by cousins Nour and Nadim creates structural streetwear, while Jordanian designer Tania George uses playful prints and a pastel colour palette to create quirky dresses and suits. 

At 3EIB’s debut London runway show last year, the energy was electric, the mood joyous. It was youth culture at its best – a panoply of incendiary, forward-facing and exceptionally cool, designers gathering together under one roof to celebrate their creativity. But only a few weeks later, war broke out in Gaza and everything changed. 3EIB put the launch of its online store on hold to focus on organising activist actions; educating the community through lectures, workshops and events; disseminating literature and petitions to sign.

This weekend, 3EIB opened its first pop-up in London since its debut in September. Its mission to nurture community and support the SWANA community has never been more important. As Arafeh tells me during our call, 3EIB has always aimed to empower SWANA creatives by giving them a platform to share their designs with the rest of the world and, equally significant, giving them the chance to support themselves financially. 

“I think that in order for the SWANA region to be free and in order to live a dignified life, people need to see you as a human with value that’s of equal importance to theirs,” she says. ‘So much of dehumanisation is narrated through culture, education and economics. The more money that you can flow through your community, then the bigger the cultural capital that you have to actually implement change. So 3EIB is not just about increasing awareness of the SWANA creative community, but also about increasing our financial share. That way we can help make decisions that will influence things on a global scale.” 

For Arafeh, it’s important to ensure that the 3EIB business model is structured to provide all of the designers as much support and financial return as possible. With the pop-up and online platform 3EIB takes a 15 per cent commission on sales which, according to Arafeh, is below the industry standard of around 30-50 per cent. The platform also works on a drop shipping model, which means that the designers don’t have to pay anything upfront and can keep their production to manageable quantities.

“A Palestinian once told me that creativity is one of the highest forms of resistance and that really spoke to me. It made me realise: this is how I’m going to impact the world, this is how I’m going to help to make a change” – Dania Arafeh

“Our mission is to support the designers directly,” Arafeh explains. “This platform is for them. We make sure the designer will get most of the benefit because it’s their creation, but we’ll take a small cut to funnel back into our business as well.”

Before launching 3EIB, Arafeh, who is 31 years old, was head of Middle Eastern and North African galleries and institutions for Artsy and curatorial partnerships lead at Avant Arte. Those roles taught her how to digitally platform creative work and support artists, but they also highlighted how under-supported her community was. “Relatively speaking, SWANA creatives don’t take up much space in the cultural landscape or generate as much cultural capital,” Arafeh says. “Throughout my career it’s been my goal to change this, but I wasn’t successful within the confines of western institutions. I started to realise that if you want something done, you need to do it yourself.”

So Arafeh quit her job and booked a one-way to Palestine, returning there for the first time since she was a baby in search of artists that could help her realise her vision. “I went there for three months with the intention of connecting with my culture, learning more about my people and discovering my land; but I also went with the intention of meeting creatives,” she says. “I wanted to understand how I could best support them from my privileged position of being someone from the diaspora. When I got there, I was just blown away by the creative scene, the people that I met there and the connection I had to them.”

So Arafeh quit her job and booked a one-way to Palestine, returning there for the first time since she was a baby in search of artists that could help her realise her vision. “I went there for three months with the intention of connecting with my culture, learning more about my people and discovering my land; but I also went with the intention of meeting creatives,” she says. “I wanted to understand how I could best support them from my privileged position of being someone from the diaspora. When I got there, I was just blown away by the creative scene, the people that I met there and the connection I had to them.”

For Arafeh, those creatives and the others that make up the 3EIB world have become lifelong friends. Together, they are working to create a better world at a time when we desperately need it. “I tried so many different forms of activism, some which were borderline illegal, like a Palestinian protest we staged at the Tate,” says Arafeh. 

“I put myself in a number of different situations, only to realise that many of the activist spaces that I ended up being in were really rooted in anger and hate. It’s a totally understandable and valid response which I’ve of course felt too, but it also made me realise that as a person, I’m someone that wants to be rooted in love, in hope and in creativity. A Palestinian once told me that creativity is one of the highest forms of resistance and that really spoke to me. It made me realise: this is how I’m going to impact the world, this is how I’m going to help to make a change. It’s through building this community. It’s through shifting mindsets and stereotypes and reclaiming our power.”