Founder Says He Sold The Giving Movement

Dominic Nowell-Barnes , the founder of Dubai streetwear label The Giving Movement , says he sold the company to its existing investors in a deal that closed a full year before he spoke about it publicly. According to a personal Instagram post attributed to Nowell-Barnes and first surfaced by regional business outlet Smashi Business , the founder wrote that he chose to sell the brand in May 2025 "for much less than its value" after what he described as a "very personal situation". He added that his health was more important than chasing new targets, and thanked the retail and online teams he had built over the previous five years. The post has not been independently verified by LeBusiness. Smashi Business reported the buyers were the company's existing backers rather than a third party. The Giving Movement has not issued its own public statement on the change of ownership at the time of writing. From One Dubai Store to a Regional Footprint The Giving Movement launched in Dubai in 2020 with a sustainability-first pitch built around recycled and organic fabrics, plus a donation of four US dollars from every sale to partner charities including Dubai Cares and Harmony House India. By the time of the reported sale, the brand had grown to thirteen stores across the Middle East and was shipping to more than 150 countries, with retail locations across the UAE, Iraq, Lebanon and the wider GCC, according to Smashi Business. That regional footprint is part of what makes the change in ownership relevant well beyond Dubai. The Lebanese presence in particular ties the brand directly into a market that has seen very few new fashion entrants since 2019. The Cap Table Behind the Brand Principal investors in The Giving Movement are reported to include Lucy Bruce and Gaurav Sinha , the founders of charity platform Harmony House, which is one of the brand's donation partners. The company also raised a 15 million US dollar Series A in 2022, led by Abu Dhabi-based Knuru Capital , with par