After leaving her native Jerusalem for Montreal to study fashion, Rawan Alami started Soi Disant. Heavily influenced by Montreal’s fashion and culture, Rawan envisioned Soi Disant as a collection of clothing that would reflect the city’s style but that would also incorporate Palestinian trends and traditions. Rawan designs clothes for young women that are fresh, casual and sexy but that also contain Middle Eastern design elements such as traditional cross stitching and Middle Eastern fabric.

Soi Disant is manufactured in a factory in Bethlehem in the West Bank. This factory promotes commerce and employment in an area where political conflict and war have destroyed its industry and trade and left many people unemployed. This factory employs skilled workers, pays fair wages, and never uses child labor.

All of Soi Disant’s embroidery and crocheting is done by hand by a group of women who live in small villages and Refugee camps in the West Bank. Rawan and the team behind Soi Disant are working with these talented women to embrace Palestinian cross stitching and to open the western eyes to the eastern culture.