Resolute RGL Debuts Tatreez Collection at the United Nations

A Palestinian made-to-order brand made its U.S. debut with the women who embroider its collection at the center, even though they couldn’t be in attendance.

There’s been alot going on at the UN lately but who would have guessed the launch of a fashion brand? Yet that’s where Resolute RGL, a Palestinian brand, chose to make its U.S. debut. On September 22, a room at 777 United Nations Plaza filled with sneakers, sandals, and hand-embroidered panels, but the people most responsible for them weren’t there. The women of the Women’s Weaving Cooperative of Masafer Yatta in the West Bank, who embroider every piece Resolute RGL makes, were kept from traveling to New York by ongoing violence and travel restrictions.

The evening, titled “The Lasting Thread: Memory. Identity. Future,” introduced Resolute RGL’s made-to-order collection, built on tatreez, the 3,000-year-old embroidery tradition. The brand was shown at Paris Fashion Week in 2025, and this was its first dedicated U.S. moment.

L-R Jazzmine Carthon, Velonika Pome’e, Cameron Russell, Andreea Diaconu, Nina Sicha Gualinga, and Rasha Nahas.

Craft as Ownership

Every Resolute RGL piece carries a tatreez panel embroidered by hand by one of the cooperative’s more than 250 members. The women are also the company’s majority shareholders, alongside co-founders Basel Adra, Joseph Levin, Maria Chacour, and Nicholas Jacob. Each sale, the brand says, benefits the cooperative and its wider community directly. Final assembly is completed in Portugal.

Kifah Adra, who founded the cooperative in 2003 and leads it today, shared what that structure has meant. “For years, the women here had the skills and the knowledge, but very few opportunities to earn from them,” she said. Women can now work from home and support their families, she explained, and know the craft passed down by their mothers and grandmothers has value. “Today, we are not only making embroidery—we are building something that belongs to us.” This last point is major: frequently artisans are employed by brands but rarely do they have majority ownership.

Presence without Travel

Since the cooperative’s members couldn’t attend, the program was built around their voices. It opened with recorded messages from the women, and each video was introduced by a presenter with a personal connection to the woman featured. Those presenters included actress Cynthia Nixon, model and Model Mafia founder Cameron Russell, singer-songwriter Rasha Nahas, activist Nina Sicha Gualinga, models Velonika Pome’e, Dilone, Andreea Diaconu, and Jazzmine Carthon, photographer Mareeka Dookie, and impact professionals Aditi Somani and Nadine Apelian Dobbs.

“We ensured every part of this week in New York showcases their handiwork, their photographs and stories in intentional, nuanced ways,” said Chacour, who co-founded the brand. “Their perspectives are essential to customers understanding the brand’s identity.”

The panel, from L to R: Rania Batrice, Shepard Fairey, Maria Chacour, Omar Shakir, and Emilie McGlone

The evening was emceed by campaign strategist Rania Batrice. A panel followed with Chacour, artist Shepard Fairey, Peace Boat’s Emilie McGlone, and Omar Shakir, who is identified in the brand’s materials as executive director of DAWN. They discussed art as cultural preservation, women’s authorship and autonomy, and fashion as a tool for advocacy. Guests were also invited to consider what the Sustainable Development Goals mean when viewed through the lived experiences of Palestinian women. They examined the embroidery up close and browsed the current sneakers and sandals, plus a preview of boots and flats due to launch soon.

The Haifa

In 2025, Basel Adra, Resolute RGL’s co-founder and Kifah Adra’s son, accepted the Academy Award for No Other Land, described as the first Palestinian film to win an Oscar. Made in collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, the documentary follows Adra as he records the destruction of his hometown, which Israeli forces have designated for military training. The story is set in Masafer Yatta, the same region where the cooperative’s women live and stitch. Much of it turns on Adra’s friendship with Yuval Abraham, a Jewish Israeli journalist who helps him reach a wider audience. Adra wore a pair of Haifas, the brand’s first sneaker, to the ceremony.