Spring-Summer '23 - 'Common Goals'

Through each of our collections at Adish, we attempt to bring awareness to the many layers of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the daily struggles and suffering the occupation generates. For our new Spring-Summer ’23 collection, Common Goals, we looked to sports.

Sports have the ability to empower us-as individuals, as teams, and as societies. Sports demand us to strive harder, to build character, to work together, to learn skills and lessons. Sports, and the teams and organizations surrounding them, can also create a sense of national identity, not only influencing societies but helping to shape them.

Palestine has a rich history of athletics, most notably football, but other sports include track and field, swimming, weight lifting, wrestling, and table tennis, among others. Prior to 1948, the Arab Palestine Sports Federation (APSF) operated as the principal governing body of sport activities, with over 55 of the total 65 athletic clubs as members.

Since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, the APSF and the vast majority of athletic clubs have been disbanded. The clubs that do exist today encounter incredible struggle and sacrifice. Their movement is limited by checkpoints and borders, preventing athletes and clubs from easily organizing competitions and activities amongst themselves. Exit visas to represent Palestine in international competitions are very difficult to obtain, with several athletes and entire teams being denied by Israel, forcing them to forfeit. Many athletes have been arrested, injured, and killed by Israeli forces.

Our new collection aims both to celebrate Palestine’s sportive history and to bring attention to the daily effects of the occupation on Palestinian people, its culture and society. Sport-inspired cuts and designs such as cotton rugby shirts and ripstop track suits are employed in bright new colors, evoking the spirit of competition and community. Graphics and symbols throughout the collection take inspiration from Palestinian sports clubs of the past.

With preservation of culture through craft at the core of Adish, we are proud to continue our longstanding partnership with craft workshops in Occupied Palestine and Israel, including the hand-weaving and embroidery workshops in Lakiya, the Majdal hand-woven fabric manufacturer, and the Palestinian embroidery women from the West Bank.

We’ve also furthered our endeavors in craft with a new partnership with the lifestyle brand iota. Founded in 2014, Iota focuses on preserving the handcraft of crochet through the creation of new aesthetics and unique designs. As part of iota’s knitting project, Adish jointly developed a hand-knitted jumper crewneck in four colorways, made in collaboration with iota’s knitting community in Istanbul.