Despite the seemingly chaotic state of the world from a political and globalized perspective two people are trying to bring some cultural inspiration to the globalized chaos with a brand. The brand is 1 Ummah and its creator Amr Al-Sheikh says it borrows common positive elements from world cultures to mold a common idea of peace. Set up by Al-Sheikh in 2002 after graduating from Websters University in Switzerland, 1Ummah was not fully realized as a product until four years later when he was able to dedicate more of his time to it. “I was inspired by my life at Websters, where it was a very OC kind of life. A very multicultural atmosphere with so many nationalities, very relaxed, nobody complained about their lives. I wanted to recreate that on a larger scale,” said the 28-year-old Al-Sheikh. “For every difference there are 10 similarities. If people focus on the differences it's going to create problems. But if people focus on the similarities we can ‘Come to Common Terms,'” said Al-Sheikh quoting one of his shirts. The shirts have sayings such as ‘Faith', ‘Come to Common Terms,' ‘Peace,' written using Arabic characters shaping English characters. The brand, co-founded by Al-Sheikh and his childhood friend Helal Aman takes the concept of globalization away from customer service jobs in India and African tribesmen using blackberries and back to the philosophical idea of unity amongst the world cultures. Both of the founders, are in a sense, embodiments of their own ideology centered product. When I asked Al-Sheikh where he was from his response was refreshingly non-specific. “I've got Syrian, Saudi, British, Egyptian and Spanish in me.” Helal had a similar response. “I'm actually from Afghanistan but I was born in Germany and I've lived in the UK for 25 years.” Both their backgrounds are a reflections of a younger generation not defined by nationalist ideals but by global perspectives of togetherness. Unlike the attempts to stimulate awareness for social issues like the GAP ‘Red' campaign several months ago and the anti-cancer Livestrong, 1Ummah seemingly strives for something far more unattainable and yet made so cliché by beauty pageants everywhere. The brand is based both in Jeddah and in London, however Al-Sheikh says the London part of the franchise has not been fully launched yet. Despite the universal appeal of the ideology, behind the “movement” as Al-Sheikh describes 1Ummah, how they've spread the message has been as unconventional as they come. “Our whole strategy has been to go against the principles of marketing, to go against the book,” Al-Sheikh said with a smile. “We are a brand that promotes peace. Other brands promote peace with bright lights, flowers, daisies and lots of white light. We drop it like it is. We live in a (messed) up world. Times are hard.” To start the brand after college Al-Sheikh said he convinced his father, Mazin Al-Sheikh to invest SR50,000 to start the company. In a telephone interview Mazin Al-Sheikh said he decided to invest in his sons company because he saw how much Amr Al-Sheikh was invested into making the product work. “I saw he was very dedicated to it and it had a positive message so I wanted to help him realize it.” After achieving moderate success in Saudi Arabia, some of Al-Sheikh's promotional work caught the attention from a member of the Saudi royal family, Prince Khaled Bin Abdullah. Al-Sheikh said the 1Ummah is more than a line of shirts. “We want to have three different parts of the company. One is the fashion side which we hope to expand even more. The other would be a charity part which we have already started. The last would be a record label which releases albums with artists performing music they feel is representative of the 1Ummah. They would mix both Western and Eastern forms of music. People have already tried that but it doesn't have the same appeal we are looking for.” Additionally 1Ummah does not have an advertising campaign. The closest they come to advertising is through the use of local celebrity endorsements. Several of the first Saudi rap artists such as Don Legend, of Jeddah Legends, dons 1Ummah during performances as well as appearances on MTV Arabia. The most recent performance was two weeks ago during the Jeddah Summer Festival. Al-Sheikh is referring to the posters, which he said have been criticized for implying more dark messages than peaceful ones. The posters are mostly dark, inscribed with Arabic letters written in English characters and English letters written with Arabic characters have as a central theme the 1Ummah bringing light to the darkness. Al-Sheikh said that 1 Ummah borrows images from cultures not religions. He said he wants his brand to promote the original idea of the Ummah. “The ummah wahed means one nation in Arabic. In a way we have the same ideas as the United Nations to bring peace to the world.” Al-Sheikh said he was accused of attempting to form some sort of Mason-esque/illuminaty ideology, in a recent television interview. In an age where terrorism is as common as the air we breathe and the everyday blasts in Iraq or riots over cartoons in Denmark the world is in short supply of people like Al-Sheikh and Amman. People who preach a culture clash of peace and co-existence. __
