Thursday March 28th, 2024
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Cajwelo: The New Egyptian Brand Bringing Retro Shirts to Summer Wardrobes

Pull out your grandpa's shirt, retro is here to stay.

Staff Writer

 Cajwelo: The New Egyptian Brand Bringing Retro Shirts to Summer Wardrobes

With the summer season in full swing and the heat being unbearable, we're taking a good hard look at our wardrobe decision. While our skinny jeans and tight tops might be cure, they're starting to feel like a burden on our skin paired with the humidity. Luckily though, the loose shirts and retro styles that our parents rocked back in the 80s and 90s are finally back in style and there's no better season to don those colorful, patterned loose babies than in summer. 

 

Groovy.

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Having launched just two months ago, Cajwelo is the online store tending to our vintage needs this summer. Catering to both men and women, the local brand has a variety of originals as well as vintage pieces. Founded by Ahmed Hisham, Omar Misbah and Hadeer Mersal, a lot of their products are found from scouring Egypt's vintage stores to find the perfect pieces for their clientele. “We go to stores around the country that sell vintage clothing and try to find pieces that would appeal to people,” says Hisham. “Sometimes, we’ll even get mens shirts that are xxx-large and sell them as dresses for girls.”

 

We will Cajwelo

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Cajwelo which re-designs and re[appropriate  loose vintage shirts with quirky patterns, was inspired by Hisham’s love for fashion and retro pieces. Having even had retro rousers, Disco Misr, wear his shirts in one their performances recently, Cajwelo has already caught the eye of Egypt's coolest hipsters and dandies. 

The brand's name was inspired by Egyptian comedy, Se3eedi FelGam3a El Amrekeya starring Mohammed Henedy. While Hisham originally wanted a Latin-inspired name for the brand, hours of channel surfing landed him with something a little more close to home."I did a lot of research and I was looking through all these Latin names that have different meanings. We had settled on one in Latin but I wasn’t convinced,” says Hisham. "Then I was watching TV one day just chilling and Mohamed Henedy’s song Cajwelo [from the film] came on and that’s what I decided to name it!”

Cajwelo's pieces aren't for the fashion-shy, to say the least, but Hisham insists that Cajwelo is for all. "I always get compliments on what I wear and people are always asking me where I got this or that shirt from. Now there are also the people who say they love what I’m wearing but that they wouldn’t have the confidence to wear it. There are also those who say I look weird," explains Hisham. "So I’m trying to cancel that. For us, it’s like we respect what everyone wears and we want everyone to be able to wear their own thing and rock it."

The Cajwelo team is currently working on releasing an original collection soon inspired by the designs of an Egyptian artist.  "We get inspired by everything and anything," concludes Hisham. 

Check out their shirts on Instagram