Innovation and sustainability intersect at Fashion Futures Dubai

18 Feb 2025

On 6 February, Vogue Business brought Fashion Futures, its thought-provoking industry summit, to Dubai for the first time. The event, which was hosted in partnership with Dubai Design District (d3), took place on the closing day of Dubai Fashion Week and welcomed over 200 guests, including fashion leaders, dignitaries, entrepreneurs and sustainability champions for an arousing agenda packed with exclusive keynotes and panel discussions. Taking place in the heart of Dubai’s iconic design district, a global creative hub by TECOM Group PJSC, Fashion Futures Dubai marked the inaugural event of a three-year partnership between Vogue Business and d3.

The day kicked off with a conversation between Vogue Business contributing editor Sujata Assomull and Manish Malhotra, one of India’s most celebrated designers, just six hours before his runway show closing out Dubai Fashion Week. The designer, famed for his celebrity styling and Bollywood roots, spoke with sincerity about his early days as a designer and the support he had from his family: “I was born in love with clothes and movies. I’m very grateful to my parents for not objecting to their son being so into clothes.”

Over the 35 years since starting out in the costume departments of Bollywood, Malhotra founded his eponymous brand, which is celebrating 20 years this July, and was the first South Asian designer to open a flagship store in Dubai’s luxury avenue last year. He was also a pioneer in the now ubiquitous marketing move of filling your front row with stars, dressing Bollywood figures in his collections long before it was an expectation. The designer concluded by asserting the need for investment in emerging designers, while expressing his desire to steward the next generation of talent.

In the next session, Assomull hosted a panel discussion, titled ‘Innovating the Business Model’. The discussion featured several industry experts, including Nadine Kanso, founder of jewellery label Bil Arabi; Jasmina Banda, president of Joint Ventures at Chalhoub Group; Fahed Ghanim, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Lifestyle; and Maria Yehia, co-founder and creative director of cult fashion label Mrs Keepa.

Yehia started by debunking some of the myths and misconceptions that international brands have about shoppers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “There is a stereotyping here in two forms: either that the Dubai consumer is an extravagant clientele who needs ‘bling bling’, or is a modest cultural clientele — when in fact, Dubai is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world,” she said. “Individualism is at its highest here. So this perception is what’s really frustrating for both retailers and designers.”

Banda built on this, pointing to the sophistication of shoppers in Dubai, who expect to see brands both online and offline, and appreciate when brands value their localised tastes. “Our consumer travels a lot, so you cannot fool them with a sub-optimal experience in store. They know what to expect, they know what they see in Paris, Milan, Tokyo, and they expect that here too,” she explained, adding that localising the brand experience is key.

Ghanim also spoke about the complexity of the Middle East as an “extremely multi-layered” market. He explained how, in the last few years, MAF Lifestyle has experimented with new formats, such as That concept store, which offers a unique brand mix, product assortment and services alongside new digital experiences. “We found that old retail is dead. Doing retail in the right way is what customers wanted and that experimentation worked for us,” he said. Ghanim highlighted the importance of using digital elements to provide a “direct benefit” to shoppers, rather than relying on the popular jargon of artificial intelligence. He gave the example of skin visualisation tools that evaluate the texture of shoppers’ skin to provide instant product recommendations based on their needs.

Kanso, founder of Bil Arabi, shared her honest experience of being a creative entrepreneur in the UAE: “When you start your own business, you think it’s going to fly and you’re going to become this entrepreneur who enjoys life, which doesn’t reflect reality. Now, people are all after experience. They want to engage with the designer, they want to have the story, the narrative. It’s no longer about a piece of clothing or jewellery. It’s the creative process behind it. It’s changed how we grow the business. Business-to-business is still very important, however this direct, VIC service and exclusivity gives the brand more authenticity.”

Kanso also spoke about her collaboration with Guerlain and the value of these partnerships, as well as platforms like Dubai Fashion Week, in not only providing a global stage for emerging brands, but also exposing them to a variety of customers.