Why We Created BALADNA 1981™

Some stories begin with a place. This one begins with a journey.

In 1981, my father, Mohamed, left Yemen and arrived in New York. He was one of countless immigrants who crossed oceans and borders in search of opportunity, carrying little more than determination, hope, and a belief that a better future was possible.

Like many immigrant stories, his wasn't extraordinary because it was unique. It was extraordinary because it was shared by millions.

The details change from family to family. The countries are different. The languages are different. The neighborhoods are different. But the story often feels familiar: leaving home, starting over, working long hours, building community, and creating opportunities for the generations that follow.

That journey made my own possible.

I was born in Brooklyn, spent part of my childhood in Yemen, and later built a life in Istanbul. Along the way, I came to understand something that many people in the diaspora know intimately: home is rarely just one place.

It lives in the food we cook, the languages we speak, the music we remember, and the stories our families tell. It exists in the neighborhoods that raised us and the places our parents left behind. Sometimes it feels like a city. Sometimes it feels like a memory.

In Arabic, baladna (بلدنا) means "our country," "our hometown," or simply "our place." It is a word that can describe where we come from, but also where we belong.

That idea became the foundation for BALADNA™.

The BALADNA Collection is a tribute to the people who carry multiple homes within them. It is for those who grew up between cultures, between languages, and between expectations. It is for the children and grandchildren of immigrants who inherited stories, traditions, and identities that cannot be contained by a single label.

BALADNA 1981™ marks the year my father's journey to New York began. More importantly, it honors the countless journeys that made our communities possible.

The design draws inspiration from classic collegiate sportswear because those garments have long symbolized belonging, pride, and community. We wanted to take that familiar visual language and tell a different story through it—one that acknowledges the immigrant families, workers, small business owners, and dreamers who helped build the cities we call home.

This is not a nostalgia project.

It is a reminder that the story of immigration is not only about where people came from. It is also about what they built.

For our family, that story started in Yemen and continued in Brooklyn.

For yours, it may have started somewhere else.

Either way, we're glad you're here.

— Raja Althaibani  
Founder, Arab Hyphenated™