Evolving Patterns: Abu Dhabi's Fashion Ecosystem at the Crossroads of Heritage, Innovation, and Sustainability

This report explores Abu Dhabi’s fashion ecosystem through a focus on those practitioners who, through their skills, entrepreneurship, and creativity, contribute to the enhancement of this ecosystem in the emirate. The report also supports the objectives of the UAE’s Culture & Identity Framework, aiming at creating an economically self-sustaining fashion sector that brings together creatives, entrepreneurs, and skilled workers to materialise ideas into functional and aesthetic products. This approach translates into:
(1) social and economic contributions provided by fashion practitioners to Abu Dhabi’s fashion ecosystem;
(2) the interconnectedness existing amongst a variety of ecosystems defined and transformed by the fashion ecosystem itself;
(3) the articulation between the ecosystem and broader regulations to guide sustainable practices and inform relevant policies.

The report is divided into three sections focused on the following topics:
(1) exploration of Abu Dhabi’s fashion practitioners (i.e., artisans and designers),
(2) understanding of sustainable practices in Abu Dhabi’s fashion ecosystem (i.e., bio-practices and home-based economic practices), and
(3) identification of specific capacity building areas (i.e., education and entrepreneurship).

The first section centres on tailors and designers contributing significantly to the emirate’s cultural and economic sectors through practices combining tradition and innovation. The second section examines the importance of natural and cultural heritage in shaping the fashion ecosystem in Abu Dhabi in the form of bio-practices. This section also uncovers informal and formal economic practices by presenting home-based and SMEs businesses. The third section investigates the importance of education and entrepreneurship enhancement as key drivers in fostering capacity building within Abu Dhabi’s fashion ecosystem.

The findings of this report align closely with the 2024 UNESCO Framework for Cultural Statistics (UNESCO, 2024). Moreover, by promoting sustainable production and consumption patterns (SDG 12), and by documenting the unique cultural ecosystem articulated through fashion in Abu Dhabi, this report offers an original contribution to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

The report’s recommendation areas are aligned with the OECD outputs elaborated in the ‘Boosting Innovation and Productivity through Cultural and Creative Sectors’ report (OECD, 2024). They also outline those geographical benchmarks that would favour opportunities for collaboration with domestic, regional, and international stakeholders.

This is the fourth qualitative deep-dive report, part of the CultureSTATS-AD programme, implemented in 2020.