Friday March 29th, 2024
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Local Label Brown Toast Fuses Fashion and Art

An apparel and lifestyle brand, Brown Toast puts artists on the proverbial pedestal. Each of their collections are centred around one local artist, giving them a platform while creating unique pieces.

Farah Ibrahim

Local Label Brown Toast Fuses Fashion and Art

Everybody still remembers when Louis Vuitton and Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami teamed up in 2003 to collaborate on the iconic multi-coloured monogram print. When designers and artists combine their visions, they always end up with something truly out of the ordinary. And new Egyptian label Brown Toast has set out to do just that through collaborations with local artists.


An apparel and lifestyle brand, Brown Toast puts artists on the proverbial pedestal. Each of their collections are centred around one local artist, which they commission to create art for their pieces. Just like that, they’ve supported the local arts community, given them a platform, and created unique items all in one go.


“I wanted to create something really selective and with limited quantities. I don’t want to create pieces that look like products sold at a mass level,” founder Marwan Gallad tells SceneStyled. “That means the designs need to be unique, the pieces need to be handmade, and we produce a small number of them.”


Their first collection, ‘Sad Bois Club’, brought on the help of local artist Ryan Vicente Lee Grees, creating a casualwear collection that celebrates the melancholic cool cats of the city, with pieces like the ‘Ha3ayatko’ hoodie.


Only 20 pieces of each item are made, all of which are entirely hand-dyed, use recycled packaging, and are offered through two-day delivery to reduce their carbon footprint. Brown Toast’s next collection, which will drop in a few weeks, features artist Hammoud 3000’s signature urban aesthetics, bringing on an entirely different visual identity for the brand.


Brown Toast hopes to step outside fashion and start creating an array of accessories and homeware, as well. “The idea is more about supporting artists rather than apparel or fashion, that’s just the vessel we’ve chosen,” Gallad adds. Above all, Brown Toast is a space that gives artists a voice, and empowers them to tell their stories. Whether that’s through clothing or otherwise is besides the point - just as long as it’s not milquetoast.