If you’re in your twenties today, it’s likely that, growing up, Libya was only mentioned in the context of war or unrest, painting a one-dimensional image of a country far more complex and rich than headlines made it seem. As if creativity and culture couldn’t possibly co-exist with conflict, as the situation on the ground slowly began to evolve and shift, so did the story. The same generation once dismissed as lost to years of trauma and turmoil is now reclaiming its voice after years of forced silence. And it is across different regions, cities, and even rival governments, that a new spark is being ignited, spearheaded by young Libyans stepping forward to show the world that the past doesn’t define them. The future does, and it is theirs to own. Enter: ZLEZA, an androgynous fashion brand founded by childhood friends Islam Farraj and Fakhreddine Qarman in 2021.
Last year, for the first time in nearly a decade, Benghazi reclaimed its role as a cultural hub by playing host to the Benghazi Summer Festival. Over the course of 15 music-packed days, Libya marked its re-entry onto the global stage, allowing a new wave of creatives— not limited to musicians— to step into a spotlight that was long denied to them. And that was the context in which we were introduced to ZLEZA, one of the many emerging collectives trying to represent the place they call home from a different standpoint.
Born out of a hunger for self-expression and a refusal to be confined by outdated narratives, the co-founders of ZLEZA, who met in primary school before reconnecting again in high school, are on a self-appointed mission to alter how their country is perceived and understood. “(Fakhreddine) went to Egypt, and came back around 2017, and that’s when our friendship really grew,” Farraj told MILLE. “That’s also when we started thinking about creating a brand. At the time, there were maybe only two clothing brands in Libya. So we took the matter into our own hands and started brainstorming from there,” he added.
The name, borrowed from a casual nickname between friends, pays homage to Libya’s ancient mosaic floor tiles as a way to reclaim a tradition that may seem outdated, even uncool, by their generation. By reimagining this traditional ornament through fashion, the duo set out to make it not just relevant, but resonant. “Finding the name was hard, we were really stuck until we thought of ZLEZA,” said Farraj. “We were a bit skeptical about the fact that people might make fun of us for it, or constantly ask us why we’d call it that to begin with. But then we thought: that’s the point. Let’s take something people see as lame or too traditional and make it cool. And we did. I’m so proud that we made ZLEZA something meaningful and worth paying attention to,” he continued, explaining that as they had no blueprint to follow, the duo applied a DIY mentality to every step of their process— from sourcing fabric and teaching themselves design software to how to dispatch parcels from a country where the posting system isn’t as straightforward as elsewhere.
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Between questions, the two boys recounted a story from one of their earliest drops that is still stuck with them to this day. They had just received their first international order, but had no clue how to ship it. Excited and genuinely thrilled at the idea that someone outside their bubble had caught onto their vision— and wanted to own a piece of it— they were equally anxious as local restrictions and limited infrastructure made it nearly impossible to fulfill the order. In the end, a friend traveling to the UAE offered to carry the item with them and ship it from there.The moment speaks volumes of the extra hurdles Libyans are required to go through simply to be seen, let alone succeed. For Farraj and Qarman, it was a learning experience, from which others are beginning to draw inspiration from to create something of their own.
“There’s a first time for everything, that was and still is our mindset. There’s always a first artist, a first musician, a first journalist, a first magazine. So we thought: let’s be one of the first streetwear brands. Let’s do something good. Let’s influence the people who come after us. And now, so many people are asking us how to start a clothing brand in Libya. It’s really hard, but it’s possible”, Qarman emphasized, stressing on how their respective stubbornness allowed them to move past each obstacle that came their way.
“We’re very stubborn, and proud of it,” he mused. “You don’t grow by just breaking through the wall. You have to build another wall, a taller one, so that people are forced to see you and recognize what you do. That’s what we started doing in 2023. Everyone wishes it was easier — starting from ourselves— but the truth is, it’s not going to be. You have to do it anyway. When you start from scratch, from zero, it’s not easy. But we did it, just like that,” he added, explaining that they chose to design and manufacture all of their garments in Libya to build a path for those that may want to follow in their footsteps.
“The point we’re trying to make is that we don’t need the outside. We need to make it all happen here. And honestly, it’s motivating — not just for us, but for potential investors as well as the next generation. Even if it’s more expensive and harder than producing abroad, we still want to open the gate because someone has to, and if that’s us, then so be it,” the designer said.
When Qarman says “just like that,” some might assume ZLEZA is selling out every drop, gracing the pages of every hypebeast-driven magazine, that it’s basically the Libyan Corteiz. But what the young designer really means is the act of making something sprout as a creative is already rewarding, and even more so in a place where every odd seems stacked against you.
With a handful of collections to their name, the design duo brand has made ample cuts and unisex silhouettes the backbone of their visual, and of course, sartorial, language. In a space where visibility is hard-won and community hard-built, inclusion isn’t a trend, it’s a necessity. Every piece they release speaks to the people often left out of the conversation, stitching together style with a sense of belonging that doesn’t need to ask for permission. Raw and rooted, this spirit runs through every thread, notably through their tag line: “Make Libya Great Again.”
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“We want to send a strong, clear message to people, that anyone, boy or girl, can wear this without hesitation. The designs aren’t hard on the eye. In fact, they’re easy to look at, they’re catchy. It’s fashionable, but in a very unique way that hasn’t existed here before,” Farraj shares.
“When we came up with the slogan, it felt like a mission statement. And that mission has evolved through different phases. Last year, it started as ‘Let’s Make Libya Great Again.’ Then we dropped the ‘Let’s’ because people saw that ZLEZA was making Libya great again — through fashion, through art, through this whole creative industry. In the future, we want to drop the word ‘make’ so it becomes ‘Libya Great Again.’ Eventually, we’ll remove ‘great’ too until it’s just ‘Libya.’ ecause by then, people will get it. They’ll know that ZLEZA stands for Libya not just as a place, but as something much bigger,” he enthusiastically explained.
“It’s not always about war. It’s not always about how unsafe it is here. Libya isn’t just about conflict, it’s about the people, the history, the heritage. And that’s powerful. That’s what we’re trying to show. Our mission is to take parts of our culture, our stories included, and bring them into a modern context through fashion,” Qarman concluded.
