
5 Middle Eastern Shepreneurs Merging Fashion with Sustainability
By: WE Staff | Sunday, 15 June 2025
Shahd AlShehail, Abadia
Shahd AlShehail is the co-founder and CEO of award-winning ethical luxury brand Abadia, which has its roots in Arabian heritage and craftsmanship. A Global Fellow at Acumen and MBA from Johns Hopkins University, she also co-founded Project JUST for driving transparency in fashion supply chains.
Inspired by the Rana Plaza tragedy, Shahd founded Abadia in 2016 to empower women artisans throughout the Arabian Peninsula, conserve traditional crafts and generate sustainable income through luxury dead stock and traceable materials. Through her vision, Abadia became the first Saudi luxury brand on Net a Porter and has grown to eight cities around the world.