UNDER YOUR ABAYA: Make a Statement with a White Stain Tee

“WhiteStain is an expression of how necessity and fashion meet.” This is the motto of a team of young Arab male designers here in Doha who have teamed up and launched their very own tshirt label - White Stain.

Forget the LBD, a statement white tshirt is now hot property thanks to this group of designers who have mixed practicality with style and attitude to produce a collection of white tshirts for both men and women, with everything from the graceful and elegant to the edgy and directional.

What's great about them is that they can be teamed with anything and look great - skinny jeans, bootcut jeans, harem pants, tapered trousers, colour bloc-ing trousers/jeans, maxi skirts and bold stuctured tulip skirts - anything goes.

"Fuschia" 400 QR - silk shoulder pads embellished with gold buttons

Here's my exclusive interview with one of the designers, and face of the label, Ahmed El Sayed:

So what exactly is White Stain?

White Stain is a tshirt brand based in Doha, Qatar. White stands for the color of tshirts we use as the base for our designs, and the stain is the print/color we add to each individual look to give it its own character.

And who are you?

White Stain consists of a team of Arab male designers; I am the only one that is under the spotlight and the others chose to remain anonymous as they would rather be known for their work.

How was your label born?

We basically all got together and started experimenting with what can we do to leave a footprint in the fashion industry here in Doha. We noticed a HUGE trend in tshirts being the next BIG thing, and so we decided to have our own take on it. We all have different design backgrounds, some guys have it from buying luxurious items and knowing what is good quality and what isn't. And I have four years educational background resulting in a BFA in Fashion Design.

How does the concept of "staining" tshirts work?

So as I mentioned earlier, white is the base of our work, and we brainstormed for weeks with different types of ideas on what looks strong in our collection and what would not, and what would sell and also what would give us a good image to keep our loyal customers coming. So once that was finalized, we would take our ideas to the print shop, see them printed and then think of what would make this more interesting, what would make it POP, and hence us also adding accessories to the design. So it's no longer just a printed Tshirt that is being sold.

Tell us about your debut collection - what went into designing the tshirts and what sorts of designs, motifs and embellishments did you use?

While some of us were here scouting shops for buttons and accessories here in Doha, a few others were travelling abroad, and so we took their travelling as an opportunity and had them also scout factories looking for accessories that would be sold in bulk as we would be getting several orders on each item.

Will White Stain eventually expand to include other garments?

In the meantime, White Stain will be launching a new collection every 2 months. Depending on the demand, we would eventually branch out with each new collection and introduce something slightly different than tshirts, and see how our customers react to it. The only way you can know your market is by testing it, and it's a matter of whether or not you have the patience for it, and whether or not you want to take a risk. We look around us, and we see plenty of tshirt lines here in Doha that after a while still bring the same idea, and we both know that if you want to survive in this industry you have to evolve and understand trends and try to capture as much as you can in each collection to offer versatility to your customers.

Well said Ahmed!