Eid is around the corner, and many families are looking for the perfect Eid outfit for boys to wear on their big celebration. Toby is one of the bestseller thobe brands in the Gulf region and now they are releasing a line for stylish young men.
Toby Junior was released in 2011 when designer and founder of Toby, Hatem Alakeel, found an inspiration in his nephew. “Salman is eight and he has great taste in fashion and style. I thought there must be a million children exactly like him and this is how I came up with the idea of Toby Junior line,” he said. “Salman is the face of the line in my boutique in Prince Sultan Street in Jeddah to celebrate the collection,” he added.
Toby started out as a personal requirement according to Alakeel. “I decided to modernize the traditional thobe and give it a more polished look. I have a certain aesthetic when it comes to fashion so I wanted to implement my style and come up with a traditional garment that has all the elements I was looking for: Fashionable, quality and comfort,” he said. “It was all my personal requirement, so I decided to change the look of the traditional thobe and I found men were picking it up and then I opened my boutique,” he added.
Alakeel’s first fashion show showcased his first collection and was positioned side by side with leading fashion brands from Bahrain, Dubai and Kuwait. “I was very lucky because I had passion for fashion and I had to do whatever it took to get my designs out there. I am my brand; I am very western and at the same time I am very proud of my roots so whatever it is that I learned from my travel was twisted and turned into Toby,” he added.
Toby thobes stress a lot on quality and comfort. “I invest the most on the fabric, although I might spend more on it but at the end I think comfort and quality has no price,” he said. “I also design shirts and it’s doing quite well now, and I believe this is all because of the quality of the fabric. The reason why my brand and products are going great is because I pour all my heart and energy into them,” he added.
Toby Junior is another successful line designed especially for boys who have a strong opinion about their style and clothing. “For the junior line I used silk, tafta satin on the detailing and mixed Italian cotton, as well as some stretch fabric to allow them to move around easily. There is also a lot of embroidery and for some reason I was inspired by smurfs this season,” he said. “One of my favorite thobes from this collection is a smoking color that looks like a dinner jacket designed into a thobe; there is another version with sky blue and that seems to be quite popular,” he added.
Alakeel also released the Toby peace project, which is a bracelet that was designed by him for a good cause. “These bracelets are worn by celebrities and public figures, and we post pictures of them on our website. We utilize celebrity and popularity to spread awareness and for people in need,” he said. “I don’t make any profit from them; they are made for helping the Palestinian children release group. They are SR175 and orders are placed on my website,” he added.
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