A fashionable brand with a beautiful mission, Healing Makers launched less than a month ago. We got hooked listening to Marina El Khawand’s story, founder of NGO Medonations, who inspired us to become tiny changemakers.
Everything about Healing Makers is designed to heal; the cozy designs, the feel-good slogans, the soft toned color palette, the comfy fabrics and last but not least, their heartwarming mission. Marina launched Medonations three years ago at the peak of Lebanon’s crisis, right after the Beirut port explosion which devastated the entire city. Her objective was to find and distribute medicine for people who could no longer afford to. The project was personally funded and received support from individuals in Lebanon and the diaspora. In our torn country, Medonations became the go to purveyor of medicine for those who needed it. The NGO developed and is now launching a clinic with volunteer doctors treating patients for free. To sustain the project and cover the rising prices of medicine Marina came up with a new idea. She co-founded a fashion brand, Healing Makers with two of her friends, with all proceeds going to cover the costs of Medonations. They thought out a curated business strategy leveraging their graphic, marketing and social media experience from Social Pulse, a digital marketing company they are also partners of. Marina tells us with a smile that the first supporters of Medonations have been their Social Pulse clients. The 21 years old wonder maker who studied law, learned all things design on the job and is now even fascinated by the medical field.
Smooth colors, soothing messages and optimistic graphics, Healing Makers t-shirts and sweaters have a stylish effortless look. ‘If you can dream it you can do it’ for the Dreams collection, I’m (smiley face) for the Happy collection, or their signature ‘Tiny Changemaker’ with a heart on the i, each sentence is inspired by the journey of the founders. ‘It’s life quotes that we experienced along the journey like ‘keep life simple’; we had to learn to make life easier.’ The ‘Impossible’ collection is coming soon a reminder that impossible is a relative concept and limits can be broken. They chose to work with suppliers in Lebanon, and also to support talented women by collaborating with them to craft their products; embellishing a sweater with embroideries or creating an upcoming knit collection made of wool. Even for the holidays, the colors are chosen soft and relaxing with notes of bordeaux instead of bright red. With advice from their designer friends, the social entrepreneurs learned to nail a cut, a finishing and even their tag, designed on the fabric, with care to craft feel-good product; no tag to itch. The messages, colors and even the cut can be customized, ‘we want to make sure you like the piece you are wearing’. Their international clientele asked for something to remind them of their homeland and the Healing Makers are delivering a new line of Lebanon inspired graphics and slogans with dedicated embroideries. The ecommerce website is planned for the start of 2023 (you can now order via DM). Dynamic and resourceful Marina already envisioned a collection for spring, in light pastel colors; lilac, sky blue or calm yellow. It all started with one girl dreaming big, she is now joined by many tiny changemakers.
