Even though he didn't study fashion design, Al-Arabi has his own brand line, "Tuhami," where his collections include women and men clothes, bags and male accessories. His collections target young men and women customers (between the ages of 18 and 40), well-cultured groups, actors, singers, famous sport players and the average woman who has an interest in fashion.

"The Kingdom's new generation is considered very special and different from the old generation. That is why we have to tell the world what we are thinking, wearing and designing,” states Al-Arabi.

Al-Arabi began his journey in the fashion world after obtaining his degree in pharmacy from Canada and after working at several marketing companies. It suddenly hit him that he really was interested in fashion designing. As a result, he started doing just that and produced a number of design collections that deliver a message of modernization plus civilization in order for the Western world to see Saudi designers in a new image. 

"I wanted to specialize in one area such as clothing, accessories or bags. But, after I raised the topic to one of my close friends, he told me to imagine an octopus with only one leg. That encourage me to continue designing in several categories in addition to painting," explains Al-Arabi.

Al-Arabi is currently working with Saudi company, Eleganza, in producing thobes with a modern touch. The thobes — traditional Arab ankle-length dresses with long sleeves — will target young men looking for something new, but at the same time address the taste of the Western world.  At the same time, he will be soon launching his new sporty thobe collection in cooperation with Lotto, an Italian company. His designs vary between sporty and dressy, but they all ultimately give the traditional thobe a new and modern look. For example, some designs have a zipper, making it look like a sports jacket, while others have the same details of a dress shirt with buttons and details on the sleeves, making it seem more fancy.

"I used to produce thobes in funky colors, especially after Amercian designer, Rick Owen, featured thobes in his fashion shows," said Al-Arabi. In fact, he designed black and dark blue thobes in three out of his 14 thobe designs. However, he mostly designs white thobes due to the hot weather in the Gulf countries since dark colors attract more sunlight.

Al-Arabi already has stars wearing his collections. One of the top three singers in the Middle East (whose name was kept hidden by Al-Arabi) will be wearing one of his necklaces in his upcoming video clip. Additionally, former Saudi football player, Mohammad Khoja, wore one of Al-Arabi's new sporty thobe collection in a promotion aimed at delivering an anti-racism message.

"I chose to have Khoja as my model to deliver anti-racism message since he is dark and not like the conventional model," explains Al-Arabi.

Al-Arabi doesn't just design thobes, but also shemaghs (Saudi traditional bandanas) and keffiyehs (traditional Palestinian headdresses that are also worn fashionably in the Western world as scarves).

"Designing the shemagh become an urgent requirement because of its wide expansion and popularity, especially after the war on Iraq and Gaza. Many young and old people started also wearing the keffiyeh," he says.

This encouraged Al-Arabi to also design accessories that symbolize Palestinian and Iraqi issues. "My accessories carry very important meanings, such as: peace, love and honesty. That is why many Saudi men and women like them," he says.On another note, Al-Arabi also uses pop art in many of his collections, which was the art back in the 1950s in London, the US and Britain with a focus on collages. "I used to depend on the pop art in most of my collections, for example in using figures that directly related to the public," he says.

By using pop art in his paintings and picture design collections, Al-Arabi is able to portray messages to his audience.

"Here, I used the picture of skull to indicate the war on Gaza. I then chose the famous character, Batman, to be the collection slogan to send the message: 'Batman could not fly.' In other words, the war hero is a normal hero and he cannot use his superpowers," he explains.

Apart from his many projects, he is also currently preparing to soon launch a collection that has a touch of the ancient Egyptian civilization. His future plans include producing sports clothes with an international company.

Al-Arabi's success proves that more and more people are interested in the merge between Western and Eastern fashions. As a result, he urges Saudi designers to prove themselves — just like he did — through cooperating with international companies in order to leave fingerprints of Saudi designers to the rest of the world.