Local Partners

nillens is Egyptian every step of the way!

We are 100% local, from the creation of our prints and patterns by young Egyptian designers, to the making of our fabric and the production of our pieces. We believe that Egypt has top quality fabric, amazingly talented designers, and wonderful craftsmanship and we will continue to create 100% of our products in Egypt. We believe in working in a way that actively recognizes Egypt's great resources and helps our community. By producing locally we will support jobs in places where they are needed and encourage Egyptian production.

On top of that, we work with several organizations that educate and empower others (women especially), giving them opportunities to support themselves and their families. Working with such cause-driven organizations changes our society for the better. Read more about who we work with below...

 

 

A.P.E

A.P.E (Association for the Protection of the Environment) is an awesome charity organization that works with the "Zabaleen" (meaning garbage collectors in Arabic) of Cairo. A.P.E's aim is to help this community find creative ways to recycle and re-use waste, thereby helping the environment and generating income for tons of families. We love them because they employ and educate, which is fantastic!

nillens has collaborated with A.P.E on a number of our handmade products, including kilims, place mats, laundry bags, cushions, blankets, throws, oven mitts, and the nillens Animal Collection (see below).

Our work with A.P.E is in line with our mission of giving back to our community and seeking new and creative ways of making our products. We have generated over 60,000 EGP in income for A.P.E in the last year through our nillens/A.P.E products, and we donate all our fabric off-cuts to the organization.  

 

 

 the nillens Animal Collection

From lions to elephants to camels, every animal is handmade with love by a woman who works with A.P.E.

The Animal Collection is an ongoing project we are working on with A.P.E and 100% of the profit on the animals goes back to the organization.

We've made hundreds to date, providing an income to several families. The animals are available at our Zamalek store.

An additional bit of info that you might not have known:  The Zabaleen are able to handle over 40% of Cairo's waste! Given Cairo's enormous size, we find that quite impressive! While the Zabaleen do dispose of a bunch of garbage, they are also able to recycle almost 85% of it, a rate higher than most cities in Europe and North America! We are so proud of the work A.P.E does for the inhabitants of Cairo.