History of the Famous "Herbawi Factory"

The herbawi factory is located in famous city of Palestine “Hebron” which makes keffiyeh. 76 years aged- Yasser herbawi is the founder of this company. He set up the company in 1961. His famous black and white keffiyehs became symbol for the Palestinian freedom struggle. The factory used to produce 150,000 keffiyehs per year by using 15 machines till the early 90’s. At start, 15 men and 25 women were employed for the production of keffiyehs in Herbawi factory. Mr. Herbawi has credit for making a cloth piece that became representation of Palestinian National struggle. The keffiyehs became the benchmark for the effort. Politicians and people struggling for freedom started wearing them in Palestine. Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat made the keffiyeh an official symbol of Palestinian freedom struggle when he started wearing it till his death. Palestinians always wear keffiyehs as a symbol of struggle but this is due to the high quality Herbawi’s keffiyehs that they now are become fashion statement all over the world. Even the people who have nothing to do with freedom struggle and even those who does not know about the keffiyehs history now start wearing it just for a fashion to look chic and trendy. 

According to the owner, Keffiyeh is now globally popular so their family business is now facing decline. As the Chinese nailed the market with their lower prices, the herbawi factory which used to make almost one thousand keffiyehs per day are now producing less than 100. Herbawi factory is making keffiyehs by using just two machines now; producing 300 keffiyehs per week. This is the last running keffiyeh factory now in Palestine. They were up in the market in 70’s but by mid 90’s; they started falling off as the Chinese imports took over the market share. Mr. Herbawi and his two sons are struggling to recapture the market.  They are struggling to keep the ship in the sea but Chinese imports are all on. It is a fact that Chinese keffiyehs are lower in prices but lower in quality as well. Herbawi’s keffiyehs are 100 percent cotton made but the Chinese Keffiyehs are not purely cotton. Mr. Herbawi terms Chinese keffiyehs as garbage.  Mr.herbawi says that his machines are in good condition and he just needs a market to sell out keffiyehs. There are many other reasons of his downfall except Chinese import like declining Palestinian economy due to unstable political situations and Israeli roadblocks and military checkpoints.

Mr. Herbawi says that Chinese makers use poor quality fabric in making keffiyehs. But Herbawi factory is still famous for the high quality keffiyehs as standard in the world. Herbawi’s keffiyehs come in original pattern shapes and color combinations. They range from light black, dark black, dark red, full white, and palestinian flag pattern keffiyeh. Mr. Herbawi is hopeful that if heavy taxes are imposed on China made keffiyehs then the local market can again rise with quality keffiyehs that are globally recognized. The Herbawi’s are sad that the product that ruled out on world for long is on its knees now.

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