STAND Up! has selected 10 textile and fashion start-ups to join the access to finance in Lebanon. After the call for applications that was closed on the 21^st of March 2022 Berytech, which is the Lebanese partner of the project, selected a group of entrepreneurs to develop their financial literacy skills, get knowledge on how to raise funds and get chances to meet with local and regional investors to potentially secure funding opportunities.

The selected entrepreneurs will participate in a 10-days-long training that will focus on building the financial projections of their start-ups, understanding readiness, trends and opportunities in the investment landscape. The training program in Lebanon will be followed by two events organised in the country to provide investment feedback to the entrepreneurs and receive local and regional exposure with potential investors.

Among the selected participants, 50% have participated in the capacity building phase and the incubation phase. Find more information about the contents of the training and the pitching events in this article.

Meet the 10 start-ups selected that will access to finance

Vea: It provides a full range of high-quality design that are made from upcycled rubber tubes from tires which are disposed of as waste. The products they produce such as bags are featured as being handmade, durable and trendy.

Swae: Swae empowers working women by giving them the style they crave with comfort they never witnessed before, while running around in heels all day. Swae provided them with all while staying affordable and giving the luxury feeling. When women are done wearing their Swae shoes, they take it back and upcycle it when possible and provide the customer with a discount on her next purchase.

N Design: They’re launching do-it-yourself multi-functional products that help users spend less and have more. Applying the concept of slow fashion and, in order to reduce over-conception, they give users the option to buy one modular bag that they will wear to work, gym, beach and luxurious dinner parties.

Maro Scrunchie: Using fabric leftovers from furniture industries, they are designing hair scrunchies at low costs. Their product will fill a huge gap in their local market and meet the needs of their customer’s database.

Z eco-boutik: Used plastic bags in Lebanon end in sea and landfills where they kill sea and land animals by indigestion or entanglement, also decomposing into micro plastics that enter our food chain. Z eco-boutik upcycles plastic bags into raw material to create unique products which are trendy and handmade by skilled artisans.

Grade A+: This start-up creates sheep wools blankets instead of dacron materials which contains polyester and it is highly unhealthy. These raw materials are local and it creates a new income to farmers. They are reducing the sheep wools waste and upcycling it to provide new values.

Gaelle Ghattas: Everything started with an old, damaged shoulder strap. Gaelle decided to create her own handmade bag strap with basic materials found at home. She evolved her designs to include geometric architectural patterns, holding on to innovation, and exploring vegan leather, which today is the ‘Gaël Ghattas’ world of straps. She aims to reduce pollution out of fast fashion products by selling plain bags that can be customized with different straps depending on the occasion.  

UWYTA (Upcycle What You Throw Away): They upcycle chips and chocolate wraps that can’t be recycled due to their many layers, into aprons, tote bags and pouches.  

Climber Space: It was founded to offer climbing products and resoling services (when the entire sole is pulled off and completely replaced when the rubber wears down or the shoe has a hole) for climbers in Lebanon and the Middle East, as no one is producing products or delivering the services climbers need, with the aim of making the life of these products longer.

NATWORLD: It’s a sustainable fashion-forward clothing brand for women of all shapes and sizes. They seek a seamless experience for both the team and the customers by adopting cutting edge sustainable technologies and textiles. NATWORLD provides the customers with the optimal 3D design before initiating production. This would minimize all types of waste incurred: time, cost, fabric quantity and energy.