“The fashion industry in Lebanon is a testimony to our creative strength,” explained Walid Touma, professor and director of the University Enterprise Office at LAU. However, he said, Lebanon’s designers need to create and cement a Lebanese fashion brand that can compete with those of Europe and the U.S.: “To have fashion on an international scale in Lebanon, we need to create a brand that says, ‘This is Lebanese fashion.’” “We need to brand our designers; we need to set a standard in quality and taste. Lebanese designers aren’t bonding. They are not fighting for the same higher cause,” Touma pointed out. The casual-wear market in Lebanon is currently dominated by international retail fashion giants such as Zara, said Touma, which offers thousands of designs, along with a complex infrastructure, large-scale manufacturing capabilities, and expert marketing. Naja added that companies such as Zara “compete with local products not necessarily in terms of quality, but all the factors together.”
A slice of a massive pie Joelle Hachem, an LAU graduate and an economics lecturer at the School of Business, runs Marcelle, a boutique in Beirut that her mother opened almost 30 years ago. Marcelle carries high-end European designers. She said the decision to carry top European labels was made by her mother when the boutique first opened on Abdel Wahab Street during the civil war, because at the time Lebanese designers were limited, and not high-end.
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“ To have fashion on an international scale in Lebanon, we need to create a brand that says: This is Lebanese fashion.’” —Walid Touma, LAU professor and director of the UEO
According to Naja, the private sector worldwide has maintained its demand for luxury even throughout the recession. He noted that premium products are primarily about image and status, and people are continually willing to pay for those symbols. “Buying luxury is not a physiological, functional need but a need of self-actualization,” he explained. Still, despite Lebanese designers’ good reputations and growth potential, and despite the inherent market for their products, there is no strong organizational body overseeing and supporting the country’s fashion industry. In addition to becoming more unified, the fashion industry must expand beyond haute couture into ready-to-wear and possibly children and men’s clothing, according to Najjar’s report. But ready-to-wear can be difficult for local designers to enter, as there is a great deal of competition from fashion chains. Elie Saab is pioneering this movement: He recently entered the ready-to-wear market, although in his case he was able to do so after making it big in haute couture and getting the necessary marketing for his brand.
A little background During the Lebanese civil war, many local designers went abroad seeking better opportunities, and many are now moving back after getting exposure, according to Dr. George K. Najjar, dean of the School of Business at the American University of Beirut, who wrote a detailed report about Lebanon’s fashion industry, entitled “Creative Industries in Lebanon: Full Report 2007.” Over the past 10 years, Lebanon has increasingly gained international recognition in haute couture for its “Orientalized luxury.” The Najjar report pointed out that at least 40 haute couture fashion houses in Lebanon—many of them popular with clients from the Arab world and the Gulf — provide around 40 percent of the haute couture exports.
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VOLUME 12 | issue nº 3 | Fall 2010
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eirut has always been known as the fashion capital of the Middle East, but voices from within Lebanon’s fashion industry are warning that with growing competition from outside and little help from the inside, the industry may never reach its full potential. Over the years, Lebanese fashion has gained international recognition and won the support of red carpet celebrities, thanks to designers like Elie Saab, who shot to fame when actress Halle Berry wore his dress Oscars ceremony in 2002. Since the Lebanese civil war, many other local talents have also come to the fore and are competing with top foreign brands. LAU business professor Dr. Hasan Naja explained, “Marketingwise, the high-end Lebanese designers have built good brands; they are major targets outside Lebanon.” However, the vast majority of Lebanese designers, as well as the country’s emerging crop of local boutiques and design factories, will have a hard time succeeding over the long term if the fashion industry does not become more unified, experts note.