Through Nöl Collective, fashion designer Yasmeen Mjalli brings indigenous Palestinian crafts back to life

"How can I be doing things differently? How can I think about fashion in the most intersectional sense — not just as a garment, but beyond its physicality? So, thinking about: Where is the fabric being made? How is it being sourced? What is the fibre? Am I working with natural fibres or polyester? Who's making these pieces? How much are they getting paid? Where are they based?"

For Palestinian American designer Yasmeen Mjalli, these are crucial questions that drive her work.

Through her fashion brand, Nöl Collective, Yasmeen goes beyond simply making clothes — celebrating Palestinian weaving, embroidery, and other traditional crafts that Palestinian artisans continue to preserve and pass down through generations.

Given life in 2017, Yasmeen shares from her studio in the West Bank that Nöl Collective started with a photo she came across on Instagram: a Palestinian man from the 1970s washing yarns in seawater to naturally dye them, a practice that was once common in Palestine.

“I’d never seen anything like it,” she says. “I was obsessed. It made me ask, ‘Where did this go? Who’s still doing this? How can I keep these traditions alive?'”

Determined to find answers, it was in that moment that Nöl Collective began to take shape, a project that continues to develop today.

Honouring unique styles 

While some may wonder where the name of the brand comes from, Yasmeen explains, “‘Nöl’ means ‘loom’ in Arabic, and ‘Collective’ represents the different types of artisans I work with to produce the designs.”

She continues, “Nöl Collective is about heritage and history, but it’s also about the people behind the work. I wanted to create a space where the artisans were celebrated for their work, not just their craft. Their stories are what matter most.”

In saying this, Yasmeen makes it clear: “If you go to our website or social media, you won’t find my face front and centre. It’s not about me. It’s about the collective — the artisans, the dyers, the weavers. Every garment we make is the result of their work and their creativity.”

Touching on her most recent collaboration, Yasmeen has been involved in reviving natural dyeing techniques once used in Palestinian textiles, which relied on ingredients like pomegranate peels, coffee, and even insects — methods largely lost to industrialisation.

“Natural dyeing used to be a huge part of our culture. But now, it’s almost disappeared,” Yasmeen shares. 

Despite these circumstances, Yasmeen has managed to breathe new life into the tradition.

“I recently discovered a natural dyer in Bethlehem named Mohammed Hadia. He’s been working with natural dyes for about a year, and now we’re collaborating on a spring/summer collection. We’ll be releasing two pieces that are dyed by hand in his garden. It’ll be the first time we [Nöl Collective] release pieces dyed here in Palestine,” Yasmeen shares.

Since the brand's birth, Yasmeen has also collaborated with several weavers, stating that they are at the heart of the brand. She emphasises that, although many of these artisans are not widely known, their work is central to the fabric of Palestinian culture.

“I work with two main groups of weavers,” Yasmeen shares. “One of them is the Majdalawi weavers, originally from Al Majdal, which was once the centre of weaving in Palestine. They created Majdalawi fabric, traditionally used in Gazawi thobes, with each stripe featuring its own unique style.”

Yasmeen explains that Majdalawi fabric is traditionally indigo or black with pink stripes along the sides, and a woman wearing a dress with such stripes would be recognised as being from Gaza.

According to Yasmeen, Al Majdal was once home to over 800 looms at its peak, and its weavers were renowned for their intricate, handwoven textiles. However, in 1948, everything changed. The weavers were displaced, and their descendants were scattered across Gaza and the West Bank.

Among those affected are brothers Husam and Waleed. In January 2024, Yasmeen, alongside Palestinian historian NA Mansour, launched a fundraiser to support them. The brothers had been displaced multiple times during the early months of the ongoing war in Gaza, with Husam’s weaving workshop and home completely destroyed.

As of the time of reporting, more than $100,000 (£80,000) had been raised, allowing Husam, his wife, their children, and two of Waleed’s children to escape Gaza and reach Cairo. Meanwhile, Waleed was still awaiting medical evacuation, with his wife and two other children remaining behind with him.

Speaking about the second group of weavers, Yasmeen explains that Nöl Collective also collaborates with women from the Naqab region, who practise the ancient art of floor-loom weaving. These women create intricate rugs, tapestries, handwoven goods, and even woven bags and statement pieces for Nöl Collective’s collections.

Despite the richness of this craft, Yasmeen acknowledges that the craft of weaving is under serious threat.

She points out, “The younger generations aren’t as interested in learning these crafts. Weaving is labour-intensive, and people can make more money doing something else.” 

This challenge is made even harder by the fact that many artisans remain severely underpaid.

Yasmeen explains, “The reality is that these women are often paid pennies for their work; they can spend days or even weeks making something, only to be offered next to nothing for it,” noting that at Nöl Collective, fair wages are a priority.

“If the work is worth $50, they should be paid $50 — not $10,” she emphasises.

'Still so much to do'

Beyond these challenges, Yasmeen faces the major difficulty of working in the West Bank, where violence against Palestinians continues and has intensified since the October 7 attacks.

“The biggest challenge is just trying to do business in the West Bank,” Yasmeen explains.

She adds, "Pre-war, our main challenge was not being able to accept payments here — PayPal and most gateways don’t operate. For anyone building a website to accept payments, the chances were almost zero. I’m able to do so because I have an American bank account, thanks to my US citizenship, but even then, transferring funds from the US to Palestine was difficult."

As the war continues, running the fashion brand has only become more difficult, Yasmeen admits.

She says, "Most banks have stopped transfers from the US to Palestine, and Western Union has also stopped working here — unless you're directly related by blood. These limitations make it almost impossible for businesses to function normally.

"Shipping costs have skyrocketed. They were already expensive because we had to pay shipping costs not just to Jordan, but also to Israel. So we’re essentially shipping from two countries, which doubles the cost compared to what other brands would pay in any other country."

Yasmeen points out that another challenge is importing materials, as many substances required for natural dyeing are prohibited from entering Israel. This forces Nöl Collective to find alternative methods for preparing fabric, adding further complications.

Upon reflection, Yasmeen says that all these challenges seem small compared to the impact that the war has had on women and their families.

She says, "Many of the embroiderers we work with had husbands who worked in 1948, and then after the war, they were kicked out. At some point, we found out that their fridges were near empty. They couldn’t afford to send their children to university or buy school supplies; they were selling off their gold. It was just a horrific metamorphosis into something that I think no one ever imagined they would have to experience."

Despite the obstacles, Yasmeen remains determined. She continues to grow the brand, support the artisans, and explore new areas of Palestinian craft, just like she did recently by collaborating with Palestinian dyers.

“We want to keep learning and supporting more crafts. The next steps are to bring in crochet, knitting, and other lesser-known Palestinian crafts into our collections. There’s still so much to do,” Yasmeen says.

“The ultimate goal is to keep learning and bringing more people into the ecosystem of this work,” Yasmeen concludes.

Zainab Mehdi is The New Arab's Associate Editor and researcher specialising in governance, development, and conflict in the Middle East and North Africa region

Follow her on Instagram: @zaiamehdi_/@zainabmehdiwrites_