005 | "Israeli + Palestinian Design Fashion that Repels COVID" (Michal at Hidas)

Jun 22

Today’s guest on the “Phil with Forbes 30” podcast is Michal Hidas – CEO of Hidas Fashion

Forbes List: Israel
Year: 2018
Category: Culture - Fashion

Michal Hidas is an exceptionally creative and forward-thinking global fashion designer from Israel. Her brand, HIDAS, is unique not only for its look, but how the collection aims to shine a light on complex and difficult global issues.

Michal made her professional breakthrough in partnership with a Palestinian architect from Gaza. She used his optimistic architectural freehand drawings as patterns that were then printed on lavish textiles to create the collection.

She’s won New York Fashion Week’s “Fashion Humanitarian Award.” And, her collections have been shown in cities around the world, including New York, Milan, Jerusalem and Taiwan. She has been recognized by numerous prestigious magazines including Vogue, Italia, Elle, and Harper’s Bazaar.

Michal graduated from the Istituto Marangoni in Milan, one of the world’s most prestigious high fashion academies. During her studies she ranked first among 40,000 contestants in the I-SKOOL digital fashion contest sponsored by ISKO, one of the largest denim manufacturers in the world.

Michal’s latest collection, Bridging, was created in collaboration with her Palestinian partner and a Jewish calligrapher from Jerusalem. Through this collection she hopes to raise awareness, spark conversation and action while giving voice to the desperate plight of Syrians.

Phil and Michal share a good laugh about Michal’s first learning about her inclusion in the Forbes Israel 30 Under 30 list.

Phil compassionately gets Michal to reveal her personal history including:

The pivotal moment in her life because of a terror attack; her story, the trauma and challenge.
How her personal identity struggles led her to learn from others that differ from her during the war between Israel and Gaza.
How a friendship developed into a fascinating story of sharing art in different forms that led to her collections. And for protection of the person she was inspired by, she cannot mention this person’s name.
Her innovation for developing a new way to look at garment design using beautiful materials that are self-sterilizing, repelling bacteria and viruses.
Michal’s goal of creating clothes that are inclusive and being inspired by another Forbes member, Ziv Shilon. Ziv is a hero of Israel, IDF who’s disabled, social activist, successful businessman, entrepreneur, and lecturer.
Michal’s next goal is sharing the incredible documentary from Shreya Patel called Unity. It’s an amazing documentary about people all across the world, what they are dealing with today and how all our lives are changing. It presents the narrative that we are all united in the same goal of world-wide healing. It goes back to the core fundamentals of relationships; how we enjoy each other’s company, learn and grow from each other. It shares our connection plus the need to help each other because of our common humanity.
Watch the DOCUMENTARY here: https://linktr.ee/UnityDocumentary

“Under 30 Seconds Round”

1. What is the book you’ve gifted more often than any other book, and why?

The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron

2. What’s one of the best investments and one of the worst investments you’ve ever made and why?

Best - My friendships and my religion
Worst - A bad yoga mat

3. What’s your guilty pleasure or favorite cheat meal?

Vegan cheese

4. Pretend you won the Peter Thiel Fellowship and you were going to get money to start a business instead of go to college, what’s the very first thing you’d do to start a new business?