With more inspiration than ever, the boys at NAS are combining fashion wtih meaninful values that preserve Egyptian culture.
Today Egypt is moving with steady steps towards democracy, the president is gone, people around the world are talking about Egypt and Egyptians, Tahrir square is known worldwide and Egyptians are turning to the values fomented in Tahrir.
Tahrir witnessed many odd events that we never thought could happen, many sad but others joyful. On 6 February a wedding took place in the square, paving the way for several others. The groom,psychiatrist Dr Ahmed Zaafan got married wearing a NAS trends t-shirt with the word "Masri" emblazoned on the front.
Asked how NAS is relaing to post 25-January Egyptian society, the company's public relations manager, Ahmed Reda, said NAS trends are community driven “by NAS for NAS”, meaning by the people for the people.
One of the theme songs of the revolution, and the song that helped the organizers keep going is a song by Hamza Namera called Ehlam Maaya or Deam with Me. Wael Ghonim himself said on a TV interview that while detained by national security he kept on singing this song to himself to stay sane. The singer already has a long-standing relationship with Nas–Namera wears their t-shirts in most of his concerts and NAS sponsored his concert at AUC a year ago.
Reda mentioned a “Palestine will be free” t-shirt produced for the Namera concert. That got me a bit confused, since I thought that NAS was all about being Egyptian.
“We value our identity, however NAS values are global values, which basically sum up to basic human rights and morals,” says Reda. Asked whether there was an "Egypt will be free t-shirt" in the making, Reda said Egypt's situation is different. It’s more of Egyptians versus Egyptians, so the word freedom never crossed our minds, says Reda.
To honor the revolution, NAS put their spring collection on hold and did a revolution collection instead. For their new collection they revived three old designs that say "masri", "freedom" and "revolution". They also created seven new logos to honor the revolution. T-shirts normally cost LE120, but the revolution collection will be sold for around LE75 to spread the Tahrir values and honor the revolution. Reda says, the collection will be out in two to three weeks and will be sold in special booths at various universities including AUC and Cairo University as well as booths at El Sawy Culture wheel and City Stars.
Since NAS is all about adding value to society, I asked Reda how he saw NAS’s role in the future in Egypt. He believes that NAS should help spread values that people want to see in the new Egypt like no bribery, no nepotism, respect, no sexual harassment and safe driving.
The company's founders participated in the Tahrir demonstrations. When asked if he saw Tahrir values spreading in Egyptian society Reda said “People who went to Tahrir changed forever.”
NAS clothing is sold online at www.souq.com and by Go Casual in Heliopolis.
