Egypt's Newest Men's Swimwear Brand is Here to Up Your Sahel Game

Egyptian men don't have it easy when it comes to fashion. Most stores in the country would normally dedicate at least two thirds of their space to women sections, and men find themselves limited by the reality of the retail industry whether they like it or not. For a few years now, all-Egyptian men clothing brands have been steadily increasing to fill that gap, the latest of which being Kai Collections, Egypt's newest men's swimwear brand.

"I’ve always had a passion for fashion and an ambition to start my own brand to express my own form of art. The idea first came to me when the devaluation of the currency occurred, all the prices sky rocketed and Egypt really had to stop relying on imports and foreign products and start relying more on local production to help boost the economy, that's when I saw that market gap," explains Karim Safadi, the 20-year-old Egyptian founder of Kai Collections.Encompassing a wide range of colours, patterns and designs, Kai Collections is a reflection of Safadi's artistic vision. His family's hands-on experience in Egypt's textile industry proved to be useful to bring his vision to life; high-quality, locally-produced swimwear.

"Our products and materials are made from scratch locally here in Egypt, with the highest levels of quality in order to support the local economy and defy the 'foreign-brands-only' stigma. While working on the development of Kai Collections, I was discouraged by many within the industry saying that the high end, premium quality products I was looking to achieve would not be possible in Egypt. Therefore, I made it my mission to prove that such an ideology could be defied and that our products could be as good or even better than international brands," Safadi further explains.It's no secret that many Egyptian designers have now established internationally-renowned brands. With creativity, grit, and vision, Egyptian-made gowns and dresses have made their way to the world's biggest fashion weeks and red carpets. The one thing which is common among most of those brands, however, is that they all cater to women only.  

"As a young entrepreneur growing up seeing these amazing Egyptian designers transform their dreams into globally renowned fashion brands, it really inspired me into wanting to follow up in their footsteps but rather in the men’s fashion industry. There is a tremendous amount of very talented people in Egypt that are slept on, it’s time that we start living up to our potential," Safadi concludes.

Find Kai Collections on Instagram and check out their website