Benzene began in the store room of Saif’s pharmacy in Ramallah. The embroidery machine he installed in that store room was the most recent addition to that tradition.
The first garments stitched on it were for STS, his first brand, then they were made for Sa7ten, a mutual aid initiative started by Omar, and sold to fund the work.
The constraints of making clothes in that context were clear, and they wanted to continue without them. Streetwear was the natural path with Omar’s history is in skateboarding and food, with Cendrillon, his restaurant; Mouri’s main work was with BLTNM, the first hip hop label out of Palestine; and Saif had already done it once, with STS.
They decided to build benzene as a means to escape the absurdity of this world, the loop they were already in, and to build something on their own terms.