Born and raised in Spain, Rima and Dina Zahran are two sisters who have always been fashion junkies who wanted to rock the fashion industry with a new and innovative vibe. They started out in 2006, and soon they were making headlines in every fashion magazine in the Arab world.
It takes two to tango, and for Dinz, it also takes two to come up with these little pretty things. Dina is the designer; meanwhile Rima takes care of everything else from buying, to distributing, to press. Today, Dinz is based in Dubai and produces clothing for men, women, and even children. The items include t-shirts, polo shirts, jeans, bracelets, earrings, neck scarves and jackets. The sisters are constantly coming up with new ideas and being inspired by their surroundings to create new items which not only make a statement, but also represent the people wearing them.
What new tastes you want to add to the fashion industry?
We want the fashion industry to have more Arab influence. Our culture is so rich but you only know this if you have been to the Arab world, we want the whole world to see this.
What are you inspired by?
So many things. Most inspirations come in the most unexpected times when not working. But traveling, new places and interesting people are our biggest inspiration.
Who are your fashion gurus?
Definitely our mother! She has the most incredible sense of style, pure elegance and what a woman should be. She’s also unbelievably talented. Every time we’re stuck we go to her.
Name 3 features that define your fashion label:
Loud, Arab, Edgy
What are the main pillars of becoming a successful fashion designer?
Talent, HARD WORK and passion.
What’s on your wish list for the upcoming 5 years concerning Dinz?
We want to open at least 1 or 2 stores in the Middle East. Once the recession is over, we want to be in the US as we believe there is a huge market for us there.
In your opinion, who is the best dressed Arab celebrity?
Well she’s not a celebrity, she’s royalty. I would say HH Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, Sheikha of Qatar. She is pure elegance and dresses appropriate, conservative and for her age. What a real Arab woman should dress like. We would love to see her casual side though. But she is royalty so we understand she doesn’t have a casual side, although Dinz would look great on her.
These days, we see lots of Arab fashion designers engaged in charity work, have you done this or not yet?
Yes, from day one when we started we always have one item in every season where 100% of all proceeds go to charity. We also have the Palestine bracelet all year long and of course 100% of proceeds go to Palestinian kids in need.
Where do you see the fashion industry in Egypt heading?
The fashion industry in Egypt is still at its beginning stages. It has great potential and will be huge in the next coming 10 years. Egypt has an incredible history and amazing talent from hundreds of years ago, where all the elegance, class and talent came from in the Arab world. Unfortunately, due to political reasons that was lost for many years but we can see it coming back very soon. Obviously we don’t live in Egypt so we don’t know as much but that’s how we feel.
What is a fashion must have for any woman?
The perfectly fitting jeans!! That’s why we created Dinz jeans.
So do you guys know what women want?
We women want a lot of things! There’s probably nothing more important than those perfect pair of jeans though. We all want and need confidence more than anything and with the perfect pair of jeans, perfect heels and the ‘IT’ bag we would say a woman is happy.
