NJAL Partnership
NJAL Announces Partnership with Dubai Design District
NOT JUST A LABEL, the world’s leading designer platform for showcasing and nurturing today’s pioneers in contemporary fashion is pleased to announce a new strategic partnership with Dubai Design District (d3). As d3 continues to establish itself as the home for the region’s creative thinkers and a creative space that nurtures emerging local talent, NJAL is dedicated to accelerating d3’s development and harnessing the potential of the region’s primary destination for creative talent. The partnership will see both brands utilise this special opportunity by connecting NJAL’s global platform of designers to the forefront of emerging centres of creative talent at d3.
NJAL produces and organises projects tailored to its clients under the spirit of nurturing young talent and emerging designers. Through this partnership, d3 will be able to help NJAL reach prominent Middle Eastern designers to communicate their stories with a global audience. The brand alignment will see NJAL promote d3 regionally and internationally to garner further interest and investment in what d3 has to offer through editorial, digital and networking opportunities.
Mohammad Saeed Al Shehhi, Chief Operating Officer, d3, said, “As we continue to develop d3 as a leader in nurturing and supporting emerging regional talent, it makes perfect strategic sense to partner with NJAL, a brand similarly renowned for driving and supporting emerging creativity and designers. We are excited by the potential outcome of this partnership with NJAL, not only in driving the Emirate’s ambition to be a global centre for design and innovation, but also in establishing the d3 brand within the international design community.”
The establishment of NJAL and d3’s relationship to date has been an event of firsts on several fronts: namely the bringing together of the Middle East’s first community dedicated to the design industry, and NJAL’s first physical manifestation of its creative talent pool of over 21,000 designers from across 110 countries in the Middle East. At the recent ‘Meet d3’ event, over 30,000 guests were given fresh insight into 200 new NJAL designers from over 50 countries, highlighting the strength of this opportunity to showcase the array of designer talent in the Middle East through this partnership.
Stefan Siegel, CEO and Founder of NJAL said, “NJAL’s goal is to unite and champion some of the region’s top creative talent that up until now, has been largely scattered. Our partnership with d3 provides a definitive platform to build on this initiative.”
The partnership will see NJAL and d3 develop an e-commerce platform to assist the region’s designers in reaching a global audience as part of d3’s ambition to nurture and enable emerging talent The relationship supports d3’s vision to create a sustainable, innovative and thriving ecosystem for the region’s design industry, where creative talent can live, work and play.
The UAE is an established global retail hub, expected to be valued at over $53.7 billion in 2016 according to the research firm Euromonitor. The Emirate already has a particular strength in the luxury segment, but experts suggest there is increasing demand for innovative, best in class and unique retail concepts as the consumer’s spending power grows, along with the region’s population and local tourist numbers. These trends position d3 perfectly as a unique retailing destination and as a breeding ground for creative innovation, making the partnership with NJAL all the more relevant.
About Dubai Design District
Dubai Design District, better known as d3, is a home for the region’s growing community of creative thinkers. It plays a key element in Dubai’s vision to transform into an innovation-led economy, and it aims to engage, inspire and enable emerging talent, as well as providing a platform to showcase Arab creativity to a larger, global audience.
As a dedicated creative destination, d3 answers a growing need for the regional design industry, ensuring that this important sector is able to develop and thrive. It provides businesses, entrepreneurs and creatives from across the design value chain with an ideally located, purpose built and sustainable ecosystem, which leverages technology to integrate ‘smart’ solutions throughout the development.
d3 is the newest of TECOM Group’s communities, with 11 buildings making up the core of the site already delivered and being handed over to tenants. To support its many creative partners, d3 offers individuals and businesses the choice of operating either as a free zone entity or as an on-shore business, each with its own merits.
By 2018, d3 will feature a one million square foot Creative Community, which will act as the site’s cultural epicentre, inspiring emerging designers and artists, and attracting tourists to the area. By 2019, d3 will also boast a bustling Waterfront, a 1.8km esplanade running alongside the Dubai Creek, with international and design-led hotels, boutique retail concept stores and an outdoor events space, as well as a host of hospitality and leisure facilities. All of these various elements have been carefully designed to ensure that the creative thinkers using and visiting d3 every day have an energised and culture rich environment where they can coexist.
