Chaudary Abdul Hameed, founder of Ravi Restaurant back in 1978, puts it simply: Collaborating with Adidas on the RAVI SUPERSTAR may be the proudest moment of his life.
“Happiness lies in a lot of things, and we have seen a lot of prosperity. But we are especially happy that Adidas approached us for this collaboration. What could make us happier than that?” Abdul Hameed tells Esquire Middle East.
Together with his three sons, Waqar, Waseem and Waheed, Chaudary has for decades kept Ravi Restaurant accessible to all and turned it into a beacon of Dubai’s authentic heart in the process, a favourite of locals and Snoop Dogg alike.
The restaurant’s iconic status may have come as a byproduct of years of tireless work and strong principles, but it was by no means the result of happenstance.
“When I opened the restaurant in 1978, I wanted it to be a humble place. I wasn’t familiar with the restaurant business but it was a passion project for me. God has blessed us with a lot of prosperity. We have become widely respected in Dubai over the years. This place has been a great source of support for us, that’s how we’ve earned this prosperity,” says Chaudary Abdul Hameed.
When the family was first approached by Adidas to be a part of its global Adilicious campaign, for which Adidas has selected a single long-running homegrown brand in select cities across the world to work with, they were in absolute disbelief.
“After I got the email, I went into Waseem’s room to tell him, and he did not believe it,” says Waheed.
“I thought it was a prank, to be very honest,” says Waseem. “Then, after we had the meeting with Adidas, the second they left, we all just screamed our lungs out.”
Capturing that heart—the heart of Dubai, the heart of Pakistan, the heart of the Abdul Hameed family, and the heart of Ravi Restaurant—was key to Waqar, Waseem and Waheed as they collaborated with Adidas on the sneaker, a shoe accented in Ravi’s iconic green, features the restaurant’s menu under the tongue, and wrapped in a subtle off-white leather.
“Pakistan is our country, but the UAE is our home. The culture is special here, and it’s in this culture that we built this business. How we keep both of those cultures together on this shoe was everything. That needed to be ingrained in everything,” says Waseem Abdul Hameed.
The reaction to the collaboration across the UAE was bigger than anyone could have imagined, quickly turning the shoe itself into a symbol of how far this city has come, and the bonds that unite the many people who live here. Chaudary and his sons have been humbled by the outpouring of love that the city has paid them as a result.
“We have received a lot of phone calls, congratulatory messages, flowers, and cakes from so many people – looking back, this is the best partnership we could have entered,” says Chaudary.
While the collaboration with a globally respected brand is a beamingly proud accomplishment for each of them, the family hopes this marks only the beginning of a new chapter. While shoe collaborations are an unpaid venture, the four are hard at work at utilizing this moment to take the brand to heights it has never before reached.
“Recently I’ve started to encourage them to take on a more hands-on role in the business. I’m trying to inspire them take the brand forward internationally. I tell them that we’ve secured such a good partnership, and they should leverage this to help us grow to new heights,” says Chaudary.
First and foremost, however, their commitment remains to the UAE.
“Ravi Restaurant will go international, but before that, we want to entrench ourselves more into the market we are in right now. We haven’t branched out to any other emirates besides Dubai. We want to do more in the UAE,” says Waheed.
“We were approached before for all of this, but I don’t think we were ready for it then, to be very honest. I think now—now is the time,” Waheed continues.
“Now is the time,” both Waseem and Waqar echo.
The adidas RAVI SUPERSTAR goes on sale at 10:00 AM on June 23, 2022. Find details on how to buy it here.
Producer: William Mullally
Photographer: Aqib Anwar, @gibsterg
Fashion, styling and production: Laura Jane Brown, @laura.jane.brown
Hair & make-up: Sara Yunis, @sara.ymakeup
Videographer: Faisal Hashmi @faisalhashmifilm
Translation: Marziah Rashid, @marziah_r