Saudi designer Arwa Al Banawi talks her Adidas Forum Lo sneaker collab

In the past few years, Arwa Al Banawi has quickly become one of Saudi Arabia’s most recognized designers, bringing a style and sensibility with her brand not too distant to what Virgil Abloh brought to Off White.

While the focus of her brand has thus far focused on women’s pieces that blend traditional tailoring and a Middle Eastern sensibility with contemporary streetwear aesthetics, Arwa is dropping her first major collab with Adidas today—the Arwa Al Banawi Forum Lo sneaker.

Esquire Middle East caught up with Arwa Al Banawi this week to discuss the origins of the understated shoe that blends Eastern and Western style touches for a sneaker that will surely be a hit both in the Gulf and across the sneaker world.

It’s a shoe that takes inspiration from Saudi Arabia’s artisanal and agricultural traditions, balancing strong everyday materials with premium embellishments and overlays that combined are a strong ode to the region’s history, a status marker of the ascendent Saudi fashion scene, and a message to the world about the region and our need for a sustainable future.

“I want people to understand that our region is very multicultural, that’s for sure. There are so many inspiring stories that are happening here, and we’re proud to share them. I hope the world gets inspired by that,”

The Arwa Al Banawi Forum Lo sneaker is available in women’s and limited men’s sizing and can be found here, at select retailers, and at Adidas stores across the GCC.

Read our full interview below:

When did the collaboration between you and Adidas begin?

We were working on this collaboration for almost two years now. And, yeah, like it’s been an amazing experience working with the design team in Portland and getting this design to life.

How did the project evolve over those two years?

The Arwa Al Banawi brand has been a friend of the brand of Adidas for a while. In my past five fashion shows, I used to get the latest sneakers from Adidas to style the looks for the shows. We used to collaborate on my activities and stuff like that, but I was more of a friend of the brand. This is my first official collaboration with Adidas. Due to Covid, most of our work was done via Zoom, but it was fun. Like, we were just going back and forth between myself and the design team.

What was the philosophy behind the materials you chose for the shoe themselves, in terms of mixing canvas with suede, for example?

I really wanted the design of this nature to be a bit eclectic. To be elegant, but fresh and urban, to be practical, but also that you can wear it from day to night.

With that intention, the use of fabrics and materials came in to basically reach that overall look and feel and to have that solution for people when they wear it.

Many people have speculated that part of the inspiration was the shemagh, or traditional head cloth of Saudi culture. Was that what you drew from?

It’s not actually a shemagh. A lot of people think that because of the red and white colors, but it’s not. It’s actually a classic pattern called houndstooth. It’s a very well-known pattern used in tailoring and my brand is all about that blend of East and West.

What attracted you to that pattern?

Houndstooth has been used since Chanel was designing suits. It’s a very old classic patterned fabric. The red and white gave people the impression that it’s a shemagh. That’s where the blend of East and West came in, the look and feel and the overall aesthetic. And that was really the purpose. You know, that’s what I wanted to really achieve in this design, to have really the blend of East and West merge.

The shemagh was an inspiration, but I’m a designer at the end. I want to play around with materials and fabrics and patterns and come up with something. I didn’t want to just bring the shemagh fabric and use it as a pattern. The creative process is to actually have that blend and the use of this classical pattern houndstooth and have it in a red and white color. I wouldn’t just get a shemagh fabric and put it on a on a product. I did do that in some of my items at the Arwa la Banawi brand when we used it in hoodies and jackets, but it wouldn’t be the only element in the in the design, so it was complemented, not the main design.

In what other ways did you deliberately take inspiration from Saudi culture?

Definitely one aspect is the gold foiling on the shoe. I think that’s a very cool, very special touch that in the sneaker. Gold, I believe, is a color that for me really represents the region. It’s used in many forms in Saudi, either when you come to visit any heritage site, or in the embroidery that is used in the traditional garments in the region. Gold is a color that really is deeply linked to the region. So that use of gold was also a nod to an inspiration from the region.

Also, the Arabic calligraphy on the sneaker, the word Capra in Arabic. Capra translates to ‘mountain goat family’.

What is the significance of ‘mountain goat family’ for you?

In the region, it’s very common to go visit a farm house, to go to your friends’ farms. It’s part of the lifestyle, to live organically, to be around animals, to get fresh eggs from the farm. It’s instilled in the culture, and has been for a long time. These are things that we don’t really think of, really. We forget about them. I’m only reminded of them when I go back home.

When I go home, my mom tells me about the fresh milk we got from our cousins farm, and I just think, wow, this is such a cool thing that we have. It’s a reminder of sustainability and to be around nature and take care of your surroundings. It’s just a beautiful thing to be grounded. The symbolism in the photoshoot in an open area with farm goats around was a reminder to get inspired by your roots, a reminder to not forget who you are. It’s a reminder to take care of our environment. It’s always inspiring to believe in everything around us from nature, from what God created. It’s a reminder to keep learning about what’s around us at all times.

You also worked on launching the sneaker at Al Ula, the Saudi heritage site. What was the impetus behind that?

Before all this, I went to Al Ula on a stargazing experience. And I seriously have never seen anything more beautiful and powerful than what I’ve seen there. Just the amount of stars in the skies at night, with not one light is stunning. The stars just light up the whole area you’re in. It’s really one of the most beautiful, inspiring places I’ve ever visited.

I get a lot of inspiration from Saudi, from the region, and it was such a beautiful idea that Adidas Originals did the installation there. It’s very cool. I love that this whole collaboration has been added to afterwards. It’s really a brand that is always fresh, and comes up with such awesome and creative ideas.

If you look at sneaker culture worldwide, collaborations with local designers and boutique brands are an incredibly important part of the scene’s development.

We’ve seen other collaborations such as the Habibi Dunk over at Nike make waves across the shoe world. What do you hope people outside of the Gulf take away from the shoe?

I definitely, hope that internationally, people would get inspired by our region, to get to know our region, get to know our culture. I’m a designer that’s very proud of where I’m from, I’m very proud of our culture. I always find it inspiring, as I always love to communicate Arab culture and the brand and to empower women through the brands as well.

I want people to understand that our culture is very multicultural, that’s for sure. There are so many inspiring stories that are happening from here, which are coming up from here, and we’re proud to share them. I hope they get inspired by that.

There’s also that detail on the sneaker where it’s embroidered, the three classic Adidas stripes, you’ll find there’s a red embroidery detail within them. That’s also to appreciate artisanal embroidery.

In Saudi, in our region, there are still highly-appreciated artisans that are doing a lot of amazing work. And so much of it is used in traditional garments, so that detail is a very important aspect that is done to empower the artisanal community of Saudi Arabia and our region. It’s also part of the message of sustainability in fashion and sustainability in production.

In terms of these sorts of collaborations, some designers often go very garish with their designs in order to make their mark on the shoe very obvious. This sneaker is very understated. Was that deliberate as well?

For me, I love sneakers. I’m not really someone that is always in heels. I wear sneakers all the time. Over the years, I’ve looked at a lot of amazing collaborations, and it’s been very inspiring to me to see what people have done, but I really want to put my touch and I’m someone by nature that is minimalistic in my designs and aesthetic. Even with my brand, we’re very daring and bold, but there is a balance. Minimalism is an important factor as well.

The Forum Lo sneaker is an iconic silhouette. It’s classic. And for me, I was inspired by the sneaker as well. It was definitely in part of my design process to have that balance in showing that the sneaker and the Adidas Originals brand is the anchor in my inspiration as well here. It was part of my design process.

I didn’t want to just go all over the place. That’s not my design strategy, especially in collaboration, where it’s a marriage, and there needs to be balance. You need to stay true to the source of the inspiration.

What do you have planned for the future? Is this a one-off collaboration, or do you have more things in the works?

I hope there’s more collaborations to come. I’m someone that’s a huge believer in collaborations. I have already have done previous collaborations in the past even outside of fashion. I also did music collaborations with two artists. I believe in collaborations, I believe that sharing a story from two narratives is a very powerful thing. I’m hopeful that inshallah there will be more collaborations to come in the future with the Arwa Al Banawi brand.

How do you see the design and fashion landscape evolving within Saudi Arabia, and how do you see your future within that?

I mean, it’s changing tremendously in the last couple of years. And it’s really amazing to see that there are also a lot of designers coming up. There’s a lot of schools as well that are opening that are teaching fashion, and it’s great. It’s a really amazing time to be celebrating that. I do believe that it’s really empowering. And that’s why we’re seeing a lot of designers rise right now. I’m not sure what other plans are gonna come up in the future, but I’m sure we’re gonna hear about them.

I’ve been working in design for almost six years now. I am where I need to be and I work from where I am. I’m in Saudi, I’m in Dubai, I’m in Europe sometimes. That’s where I get most of my fabrics. I’m someone that enjoys the move. And as I go, that’s part of how I get inspired by my design.