This past year has been incredibly tough, but I feel guilty even admitting it. How can we complain about our own hardships after witnessing the suffering of Palestine and now Lebanon? Growing up in Tunisia, the Palestinian cause was always close to my heart, with deep-rooted solidarity. In 2006, I even wrote a song called Falastin Dammi Lik as a rapper. When I started Luetti 1980, our very first designs included the Palestine stamp tees.

After October 7th, we promised ourselves not to release any designs unless they were in solidarity with Palestine. But now, Lebanon is facing the same fate, and we knew we had to extend that solidarity. We’ve been met with hate—accusations of being both terrorists and Zionists—but we remained steadfast. We continued creating, donating, and speaking up. Some months, there were no profits to donate, but we gave what we could.

Seeing the love from our community felt good, but even that brought guilt. It’s never about me or the brand—it’s about using fashion as a tool to ignite conversations, to make people take a second glance, to draw attention to the atrocities unfolding. A year has passed, and we’re still pleading for the world to care, still defending ourselves as simply being anti-genocide, not anti-anyone. Now, as Lebanon faces a second genocide while the first expands in the West Bank, our mission remains clear.

Thank you to our community for standing with us. We are renewing our vow—no business as usual until both Palestine and Lebanon are free.

 

Firas