Fashion for Healing: a Conversation with Scarabaeus Sacer
Written by: Chemitei Janet, Africa Regional Coordinator @ Threading Change
9 May 2022
[15-minute read]
When it comes to fashion for a cause, ethical and sustainable fashion brand Scarabaeus Sacer (Scara-bay-os sacher) based in Egypt, has found a way to connect people through their advocacy on fashion for healing as they lead the conversation on why it is important to talk about mental health for the well-being of both people and the planet.
They create their streetwear using 100% organic Egyptian cotton. The brand has thematic collections that advocate for social and environmental issues in the society that the co-founders, May and Ali, brainstorm about to depict the issue and emotion they want to share with their community and followers. Find out how they harness the spirit of collaboration to not only create mindful collections that elevates other artists, but also what they do with excess clothes and fabrics.
I chatted with the co-founder of Scarabaeus Sacer, May Kessem, to ask her more about their brand and what they are all about!
How did the brand begin?
“Scarabaeus Sacer is a latin translation of the sacred scarab in ancient Egypt. We wanted something that was representative of our own background and heritage. For the ancient Egyptians, the scarab was sacred because they regarded it as a creature that was very resilient, which sustained the test of time as it has been around for thousands of years.
The scarab was a symbol of resurrection, rebirth, and reinvention and that's exactly what we want to do with our fashion brand; we want people to reinvent everyday and to get in touch with their mental health. We want to be a part of the fashion industry’s revival.
The story began in 2005. My co-founder and husband Ali, was finishing med school and he felt that even though we had a lot of resources in Egypt like cotton and very good production capabilities, there was no representation in the international market.
He wanted to start a fashion brand with a positive social message, but he got interrupted because he went into the army after he graduated from med school. After that, he travelled to complete his masters degree, then worked with the United Nations for a number of years. So that meant that the launch of the brand got put on hold until the end of 2018.
Scarabaeus Sacer was reborn as a sustainable fashion brand that advocates for social and environmental issues with an emphasis on mental health. The reason we wanted it to be sustainable and ethical is because we believe sustainable fashion is the only way forward.
The other element of our brand is the mental health and social advocacy element, where we want everyone to engage with these issues and be vocal about them. There is still a lot of work to be done in raising awareness and advocating for mental health, which is why we chose to incorporate this into our brand.”
How do you define sustainability?
“The meaning of sustainability at Scarabaeus Sacer is that we use what we have to create our products. We use 100% certified organic Egyptian cotton, including all the inks and the dyes we use. This means that the cotton is not infused with harmful chemicals at any stage of the raw material production.
We also upcycle from pre-consumer waste after people have produced pieces and collections. Instead of the leftover fabrics going to a landfill, we give them a second life through repairing, upcycling and even downcycling. We are really lucky to be using organic Egyptian cotton and we are able to use less water and energy in our production. Our packaging is made from recycled materials so we are plastic-free throughout our entire supply chain. We hope to continue to grow and evolve and develop even more sustainable practices.”
How did your background as a psychologist bring out the vision and mission?
“We want to start this tough conversation with our community of customers and followers.. Ali and I worked with refugees, migrants and people who were trafficked. Ali saw lots of social issues that needed awareness and advocacy for marginalised people.
I am a psychologist by profession, so it is something I’ve been passionate about since I was in high school. I worked in the field for many years in Egypt as a mental health professional, and what I learned from all the places I worked at, is that there is still a large gap when it comes to mental health. People still don't seem to understand mental illness or how to deal with someone who is suffering with it.
The brand's slogan is “Fashion for Healing”, and that's really what we want to do for the brand – we’re not just there to sell and produce garments. We want to make an impact through our clothes and designs.”
Why is storytelling important in your work?
“Storytelling is one of the ways that people can really get to know one another and it has the power to transform people’s feelings. Your story could include where you come from and what you have experienced – these things make up who you are. If I don't know who you are, I wouldn't be able to show you empathy, compassion or care. And that is really the first step when we talk about mental health or advocacy for marginalised people.”
What are your brand’s values and how do you stay true to your ethics?
“We think it's about how you live everyday, You live and breathe your values. You have to be ethical, transparent, genuine and passionate.
At Scarabaeus Sacer, we want to make an impact. We want people to have a shift in their thinking on social issues. It's hard sticking to your values every day, but at the end of the day it's a business. Fashion is a cutthroat industry and you have to remind yourself daily why you're doing it, and what your purpose is. To stay true to yourself, it is essential to question your choices and maintain self-awareness while still being honest with yourself. You need people that are going to cheer you on, but will also remind you when you steer off track.”
Tell us about the UNHCR campaign you’re currently working on:
“The issue of refugees and migrants is close to our hearts. Especially to Ali because he worked in this area a lot in Egypt and abroad and he saw the challenges and how much people were not aware of what was happening on the ground.
Our current collection is in collaboration with UNHCR and it's called Threads of Life. It's a collection that is very special to us and we’re proud of it. We worked with refugee artists in Egypt and bought their artwork to make an upcycled collection with fabrics we sourced from pre-consumer waste by using their designs. These pieces that we created show their artwork, but in a bigger way shares their stories. We also engaged them in storytelling interviews so that our community can be able to hear their stories from their own perspectives. You might see one of our pieces and like the way the artwork looks, but then when you hear the story behind it and why that person drew what they were feeling at that time, that's when you start feeling something towards someone else that allows you to start creating empathy. That is the power of storytelling.
With this collaboration, we took them through a mental health workshop with a visualisation guided meditation, where we wanted them to search and reflect on where they have been, their experiences, who they are today, and how they envision their future. All these things bring awareness to the forefront and from that we created new artwork, with 100% of the profits going directly to the artists.
Through these elements and a mini documentary that highlights the whole collaboration, awareness is being brought to a cause that is so important. This collection was created before the Ukraine invasion. When we collaborate with certain entities, we always tell our community that this could be you. Even if you think that this cause is so far away from you, at any point in time you might become affected one way or another and it's important to realise that there are people who are struggling. We need to create a more empathetic humanity.”
How do you foster collaborations?
“It's not easy because there isn’t a lot of transparency within the industry, and competition is high. But you have to come in with a collaborative mindset and know that you can only gain and get stronger by collaborating with others. With every interaction and experience with other companies, you really get to explore things that you might never have before. There are people that might have skills that your brand is lacking, and a collaboration can usually add value.
Alongside passion, it goes back to the whole idea of your values and how you run the brand. Forget the business side–anybody can learn business skills and run a business. We've collaborated with street artists, organisations that raise awareness for the visually impaired, skaters and hip-hop dancers.
Collaborations are a huge part of how we advocate for social issues, and we've been lucky because we're able to build that network of like minded individuals that also want to make an impact and want to contribute to something bigger than themselves.”
What does fashion for healing mean to you?
“Everything we want to do comes back to the idea of healing. On so many different levels–society, individuals, communities, the planet. “Fashion for Healing” refers to the idea of being sustainable and having ethical production. The manufacturing facility that we work with is certified fair trade and we’re very aware of how we work and partner with others. The ethics of how they manage the business and how they treat those that work for us is very important in terms of fair wages and that they are treated respectfully and equally. There is no discrimination and they work in clean and safe conditions.
All of these things are important because they tie back to the idea of healing. When we put the rights of others first, we are also respecting the planet. The very obvious part of the brand is healing through addressing social issues with an emphasis on mental health.
We use graphic design, and in our previous collections, we have worked with independent artists and chose designs that are very representative of the issues that we want to talk about. Anxiety, depression, gender, body image, self confidence–all kinds of issues through the designs and besides creating a t-shirt, a jacket or a dress, it's also about the campaigning that we're doing around that. We create a lot of video content, conduct interviews with people who are suffering from mental health, or know someone who is. And we also collaborate with artists who appear to be marginalised or who are looked at as someone who is different and discriminated against. Through our designs and the work we do, we are trying to bring attention to these issues so that people can not only buy our clothes, but also advocate for the cause even further.
They can start conversations with their communities, or give back to the causes that we support. By doing so we hope that it creates healing for that person, those who are around them and for the planet as a whole.
We look for designers that fit with the brand aesthetics including their designs and the colours that they use, because we feel that their designs are representative of what we're trying to portray. There are stories to each design and sometimes these stories are created by the artists themselves. Sometimes we create a dialogue around the design. For this collection, we worked with refugees who are artists. For other collections, for example advocacy for the visually impaired, we used individual artists.”
What are you looking forward to in the future?
“The possibilities are endless. There is no shortage of challenges and problems on this planet. Social issues will always exist, but we hope to advocate for more issues, raise more awareness for mental health and hopefully that is going to create a ripple effect.
We also hope to inspire others and mentor other brands or brand owners that are thinking of pursuing sustainability in Egypt, Africa and even globally. We are looking towards a future where sustainability becomes our lifestyle and people understand how powerful their voices are.
We want to continue on our sustainability journey and make the brand more circular and reduce our carbon footprint. Our goal is to impact more and more people and try to change perspectives and bring more healing. That's our vision for the future.”
About the author:
Chemitei (she/her) is an Environmental Planning and Management graduate with a passion for sustainable fashion and landscape restoration. She is a climate and social justice activist from Kenya, and also advocates for mental health and body positivity. Her interest in fashion started when she was young watching runway shows and design competitions. Chemitei's commitment to sustainability began in 2017 when she watched the True Cost movie and even went ahead to contest for Miss Environment in her home county Elgeyo Marakwet and won. She expresses her love for fashion and the environment through actively volunteering in environmental organizations such as Greenpeace and GLFx Nairobi, and learning how she can impact change in her community. She incorporates her love for crochet in upcycling projects and loves storytelling through writing.
