Families, young professionals, tourists and fashionistas were out in force at the DSF Market Outside the Box (OTB) over the weekend, as the region’s very first sustainable fashion and
lifestyle marketplace opened up to rave reviews from visitors and retailers alike.
Market OTB, organized in collaboration with Emaar the venue sponsor, was launched on 23 January at the Burj Park, Downtown Dubai and will continue until 1 February.
The trendy outdoor market is one of the highlights of the 2014 Dubai Shopping Festival’s calendar of fashion events, attracting an eclectic range of sustainably produced fashion labels, artisanal accessory stores, online boutiques, art galleries and organic food cafes – all stylishly set up in refurbished cargo containers across the grassy lawns of Burj Park.
“This is something that Dubai has never seen before – the city never ceases to amaze us in terms of its innovativeness. There’s an amazing energy and a very diverse crowd. For independent retailers it’s a great opportunity to grow our appeal among a whole new target audience,” said Sidrah Zahid, co-owner of Aina – a brand of funky home accessories such as embroidered fabric cushion and laptop covers.
Maha Gorton of Little Farasha – a brand of Middle Eastern accessories for glamorous yet modern mums and trendy babies – said DSF Market OTB is an “amazing idea” to enjoy the great outdoor weather and offers fantastic exposure to independent retailers like herself. “We’ve seen a real mix in the audience including a lot of tourists,” said Gorton. She added that her signature line of keffiyah-inspired baby bibs have proved a huge hit among young mums.
Retailers collectively praised the market as a platform for attracting lovers of the more “underground” fashion labels as opposed to commercial high-street brands and the market’s ability to open up their audience to families with kids who may not usually come across their products.
“The concept of DSF Market OTB reminds me a lot of LA and it has a really fantastic community atmosphere. For online boutiques such as ours, it’s a great platform for publicity for the independent local and regional design labels we carry,” said Payal Patel of Fashlink.com, adding that visitors have snapped up almost all their tongue-in-cheek T-shirts featuring slogans like “Yalla Habibi” and “Got Laban” in the span of a couple of days. “There’s huge pride in Made-in-the-UAE brands and it’s a great way to get them out there,” she added.
Voglia, a brand that combines a minimalistic Scandinavian design aesthetic with more extravagant local brands said the concept of the market was something that was very popular in Europe and a breath of fresh air for the local Dubai market. “It’s got a fantastic vibe and it has been really interesting to see the crowd that has been attracted to it over the opening weekend. It’s a great new concept and we hope it grows bigger in the years to come,” said Linda Mortensen, creative director of Voglia.
Market OTB is hosting 35 local and international retailers showcasing a diverse range of fashion items, artisanal accessories, jewelry, shoes, bags, home lifestyle products, stationery, vinyl records, art and beauty products, with home-grown organic food concepts providing delicious refreshments to visitors.
The retail stores, cafes, and food kiosks at Market OTB is a green concept that is being introduced in Dubai for the first time with the aim of giving local and regional retailers the opportunity to showcase and sell their non-mass produced sustainable fashion and lifestyle products and offer visitors an open-air shopping experience.
Emirati concepts at Market OTB include Be You boutique owned by Sheikha Maitha Hasher Al Maktoum that supports Emirati and local designers and FN Designs, an art gallery owned by Sheikha Wafa Hasher Al Maktoum that helps promote local artists. Market OTB also houses five restaurants and a container with two floors featuring The Magazine Shop that is run by Ahmed and Rashid Bin Shabib. One of the F & B outlets, Mama Thani that is being run by Maitha and Omar Al Shamsi serves modern Emirati cuisine.
Of the 10 kiosks located within the compound of containers, Sougha is an initiative to promote and sustain local Emirati craft by the Khalifa Fund.
Other activities at Market OTB include Arts and Crafts workshops for children adults conducted by The Jam Jar during weekends, a Yoga market in the morning on weekends, live music by talented local artistes, a skate ramp for skater and bikers, as well a GeekFest on Wednesday featuring talks by successful entrepreneurs from Dubai on technology, innovation and sustainability.
Market OTB is open throughout the week from 4pm to 10pm and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday it is open from 12noon until midnight. The initiative is yet another highlight of the unique fashion events and activations during DSF 2014 which featured the Vertical Catwalk and Abbati Show, and also includes the Fashion Squad, The Cocoon and the IT Closet.
Source:- DTCM
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