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Fashion Industry in Saudi Arabia Shows Off Local Heritage

A creation by Saudi fashion designer Hanan Al-Turki.
A creation by Saudi fashion designer Hanan Al-Turki.
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Fashion Industry in Saudi Arabia Shows Off Local Heritage

A creation by Saudi fashion designer Hanan Al-Turki.
A creation by Saudi fashion designer Hanan Al-Turki.

The Kingdom of Kindah, the city of Thaj, Tantora, and the Hejazi "Rawashin"… all these Saudi Arabian historic treasures are now woven on garments, and widely used in the fashion industry to recall stories from the past, and express the pride of Saudi women in their precious heritage.

“It’s not as easy as it seems,” says Saudi fashion designer Hanan Al-Turki, who uses her drawing talent to weave those landmarks and antiquities on female garments, mostly Abayas. Having a father with a wide interest and knowledge in archeology, Al-Turki obtains the information and historic facts she needs from his archive, which enhances her inspiration based on ancient civilizations in Saudi Arabia.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, the designer explains that many request her Abayas inspired by Saudi history, noting that her debut in the fashion industry goes back to 2006, when she coincidentally embroidered one of her drawings on an Abaya. The piece was displayed at the time and many loved the idea of it, which encouraged her to move forward in this industry.

"In light of our country’s significant interest in antiquities, I have increasingly focused on drawings inspired by our old heritage and historic landmarks," she said.

The Tantora Abaya, featuring "Qasr al-Farid" or "The Lonely Castle" from the Nabatean Tombs in AlUla region (western Saudi Arabia), is one of Al-Turki's best known designs. The history of Al Diriyah is also featured on one of her Abayas. The designer notes that she had to read many books on this city, its old buildings and the materials used in their construction, engravings, wooden windows, and iron pillars to draw the most beautiful details reflecting its history.

The "Rawashin" and "Mashrabiyas," a prominent Hejazi architecture feature, are among the most requested drawings, says Al-Turki. The designer has managed to seamlessly integrate Mashrabiyas' historic beauty and significance in her designs.

The Abaya inspired by the Kingdom of Kindah highlights the uniqueness of construction, jewelry, and pottery of that era. "It was like a dream. To design this Abaya, I had to watch a video so I can reimagine the picture in my head and assemble the unique details," she noted.

Al-Turki's rich collection includes designs that explore the history of Ḥaʼil, engravings from Al Ahsa region, and the Rashrash necklace (large gold necklace widely known in Saudi Arabia). The designer explained that she used a 3D design technique to integrate special engravings inspired by Najd region, and the Eastern Province as well.

There is also the Saudi Ardah Abaya (Ardah is a Saudi folkloric dance), described by Al-Turki as "bold," because of its vivid colors, and the Asiri Qatt Abaya inspired by the popular murals in Asir region. "I like the idea of delivering an artistic and cultural message in each design. Every piece I make comes with a little note that explains the details of the abaya," the designer said.

These efforts come from a growing enthusiasm among Saudi women to renew the concept of Abayas, and an eagerness to reflect their identity and the authenticity of their country's history in their garments. This trend encouraged many fashion designers to explore new areas that combine modern appearance with heritage, and to use fashion in promoting the value of the Saudi Arabian heritage.

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Fashion

Armani 2025 Revenue Fell 2.8%, CEO Hasn't Met Potential Buyers

FILE - Actress Cate Blanchett, from left, designer Giorgio Armani, and actress Julia Roberts pose for photographers upon arrival at the British Fashion Awards in central London, Dec. 2, 2019. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)
FILE - Actress Cate Blanchett, from left, designer Giorgio Armani, and actress Julia Roberts pose for photographers upon arrival at the British Fashion Awards in central London, Dec. 2, 2019. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)
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Armani 2025 Revenue Fell 2.8%, CEO Hasn't Met Potential Buyers

FILE - Actress Cate Blanchett, from left, designer Giorgio Armani, and actress Julia Roberts pose for photographers upon arrival at the British Fashion Awards in central London, Dec. 2, 2019. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)
FILE - Actress Cate Blanchett, from left, designer Giorgio Armani, and actress Julia Roberts pose for photographers upon arrival at the British Fashion Awards in central London, Dec. 2, 2019. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)

Italian fashion group Armani said on Wednesday its revenue fell 2.8% at constant exchange rates last year, weighed by a weak performance of its wholesale channel.

In 2025, the company's revenue totaled 2.2 billion euros ($2.57 billion), while total turnover, including direct licensee sales, was 4 billion euros.

"We face a possible structural change in the approach to luxury and fashion ⁠by current consumers ⁠and potential, which must be taken into account," Reuters quoted Armani group CEO Giuseppe Marsocci as saying in a statement.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 3.2% year-on-year to 152.7 million euros, while operating ⁠profit increased 2% to 52.6 million euros.

Trends in the first months of 2026 were in line with the previous year, with unfavorable currency movements weighing on performance.

Giorgio Armani, the group's founder who died last September, instructed his heirs to sell an initial stake in the company to players such as L'Oreal, EssilorLuxottica and French ⁠luxury ⁠giant LVMH.

In an interview with Italy's Sole 24 Ore published on Wednesday, Marsocci said there was no update on the group's shareholding structure, adding that interest in the Armani group remained strong.

"We have not started meetings with the three potential buyers, and there are no tensions among the family members," Marsocci said in a separate interview with WWD magazine.

Fashion

Ferragamo Expands Leather Mapping Efforts as EU Sustainability Rules Take Shape

James Ferragamo, a chief product officer for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, talks with journalists during an interview with the Associated Press, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
James Ferragamo, a chief product officer for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, talks with journalists during an interview with the Associated Press, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
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Ferragamo Expands Leather Mapping Efforts as EU Sustainability Rules Take Shape

James Ferragamo, a chief product officer for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, talks with journalists during an interview with the Associated Press, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
James Ferragamo, a chief product officer for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, talks with journalists during an interview with the Associated Press, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Italian luxury brand Ferragamo said it can map the country of origin for much of the leather used to make its coveted footwear and handbags, a first step in traceability according to experts.

The announcement comes during a wave of European Union sustainability rules that are increasing pressure on fashion brands to account for materials in their supply chains.

The family-run and publicly traded fashion house has been issuing sustainability reports for over a decade, but the 2025 report released March 31 is the first that contains figures on material traceability — notably for leather, which experts say is harder to trace than textile fibers such as cotton.

“We have been using leather in a more sustainable way,’’ James Ferragamo, the brand’s chief product officer and grandson of founder Salvatore Ferragamo, told The Associated Press in an interview last week. “I think it is one of the more sustainable materials in my point of view.”

Most of the tanneries working with the brand “control their water, have fair treatment of the workforce, monitor their supply chain ensuring that they’re buying leather from those who are not deforesting, and taking the right approach also in terms of breeding and animal welfare,” he said.

Traceability in fashion sustainability Traceability of materials is considered a first and necessary step for the fashion industry, which is facing a new EU framework that will require brands and their suppliers to ensure the items they produce are sustainable from the drawing board to end-of-life disposal. Precise terms are still being defined and compliance will be phased in over the coming years.

“Traceability is an essential factor, but it’s not sufficient,’’ said Francesca Romana Rinaldi, a sustainability expert and director of the Monitor for Circular Fashion at SDA Bocconi School of Management. “It enables the implementation of sustainability and circularity.”

She said that any company that is not tracing their materials “doesn’t know their supply chain” and “could be also criticized for greenwashing.”

EU regulations and directives are moving toward full circularity of materials to include measures extending the life cycle of garments, accessories and footwear through repairs and end-of-life management, including recycling and upcycling, she said.

The EU is also phasing in restrictions on destroying unsold apparel, accessories and footwear produced by companies with more than 250 employees and more than 40 million euros ($46.8 million) in annual revenues.

From breeding to assembly The family-run fashion house was founded in 1927 by Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence, after his return from Hollywood, where he had established himself as shoemaker to the stars with clients including Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland. Material scarcity during World War II pushed Ferragamo to experiment with alternatives, substituting wicker for leather and using cork for soles, the younger Ferragamo said.

In keeping with its origins, Ferragamo remains primarily a footwear and leather goods maker. Together, they comprised 86% of 2025 sales of 976.5 million euros ($1.1 billion).

Ferragamo launched its initiative on leather traceability with the calf leather used for its Fiamma bag, tracing it from breeding to assembly, the group announced in its 2024 annual report.

In 2025, Ferragamo enlisted tanneries supplying 80% of the hides it buys in a project to identify the country of origin of raw materials through supplier declarations. When including textiles such as cotton, silk and nylon, the company says 81% of its materials are certified under third-party sustainability standards.

“Today there is not one single solution, one single technological solution to trace the leather to the birth farm of the cows,’’ said Davide Triacca, Ferragamo’s sustainability director. “We got to that result through a very dedicated and consistent approach and today we are able to trace more than 80% of the entire leather that we supply and the vast majority of which comes from Europe.”

The EU does not require leather to be traceable. Sustainability experts underscore that approaches based on country-level mapping and supplier declarations do not establish a full chain of custody and instead reflect an early stage of traceability.

Ferragamo previously included a capsule collection with silky textiles made from orange fibers in 2017, one of its first research investments. More recently it used nylon from castor oil instead of fossil oil for a men’s tote bag, and its Back to Earth collection featured the brand’s trademark Hug handbag treated with vegetable dyes.

“Research keeps on going. It’s something that we’re doing all the time,'' Ferragamo said.

“We’re trying to find different ways of creating different materials. And sometimes the materials that we produce are not ready for market. But it doesn’t mean that we don’t experiment.”

Fashion

Adidas Shares Pop After Beating Nike to Sub-Two-Hour Marathon Milestone

Athletics - London Marathon - London, Britain - April 26, 2026 Kenya's Sabastian Sawe celebrates with an Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 shoe after winning the men's elite race and setting a new world record with a time of 01:59:30 (Reuters)
Athletics - London Marathon - London, Britain - April 26, 2026 Kenya's Sabastian Sawe celebrates with an Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 shoe after winning the men's elite race and setting a new world record with a time of 01:59:30 (Reuters)
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Adidas Shares Pop After Beating Nike to Sub-Two-Hour Marathon Milestone

Athletics - London Marathon - London, Britain - April 26, 2026 Kenya's Sabastian Sawe celebrates with an Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 shoe after winning the men's elite race and setting a new world record with a time of 01:59:30 (Reuters)
Athletics - London Marathon - London, Britain - April 26, 2026 Kenya's Sabastian Sawe celebrates with an Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 shoe after winning the men's elite race and setting a new world record with a time of 01:59:30 (Reuters)

German sportswear maker Adidas' shares rose on Monday after Kenya's Sabastian Sawe became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours in an official race, accomplishing his feat wearing the brand's Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 trainers. 

Sawe shattered one of athletics' most elusive barriers on Sunday as he stormed to victory at the London Marathon in one hour 59 minutes and 30 seconds. The sub-two-hour marathon has been one of sport's biggest goals for years. 

After the race, Sawe held up his $500 Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 trainer with "WR" and "sub-2" written on it in black marker pen. He ‌beat the previous ‌world record of 2:00:35 set at the Chicago ‌Marathon ⁠in October 2023 ⁠by the late Kelvin Kiptum. 

The win is a boost for Adidas against arch-rival Nike , after years of lab-backed experiments and near-misses looking to build a so-called "supershoe" to break the record. 

Nike's Breaking2 attempt at Monza in 2017 just fell short though Kenyan great Eliud Kipchoge ran under two hours in INEOS's 1:59 Challenge two years later. Yet those efforts fell outside the sport's official ⁠record books. 

Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha finished second in his marathon ‌debut and Tigst Assefa broke her own ‌women-only world record. All three were wearing Adidas' Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 ‌trainers, which are set to go on sale on Thursday. 

Using innovative foam ‌and carbon-plated soles, and ultra-light components, the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 weighs an average 97 grams, 30% less than its predecessor, and improves running economy by 1.6%, Adidas said. 

"The Adidas family is incredibly proud of Sabastian and Tigist's historic ‌achievements," Patrick Nava, general manager at Adidas Running, said in a statement. 

"This is a testament to the years ⁠of hard work ⁠and dedication the have made, alongside our innovation team". 

Adidas shares were up 2% in mid-morning although they are down 18% since the start of this year on concerns about the group's exposure to US tariffs and the impact of the conflict in the Middle East. 

Adidas released its Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 trainers in late 2023, after Assefa set a new women's marathon world record while wearing them at the women's Berlin Marathon. 

The third iteration of the shoe will be released for $500 a pair exclusively via the Adidas app, with a wider release in the autumn marathon season, according to the company's website, but the steep price tag puts them out of reach of most runners.