Walking the walk: the UAE’s love affair with buying shoes

You know the saying: “Life is short, buy the shoes.” But what is it about shoes that keeps us at heel and on our toes? We jump at the opportunity to snag limited-edition trainers and savour the feeling of strutting about in designer soles.

Many of us often have moments when, while scrolling through our Pinterest pages or Instagram feeds, we come across a photo of a bedroom-sized walk-in wardrobe and can’t help but pause – not because of the colossal size of the wardrobe, but because of the mesmerising array of shoes, meticulously lined up on shelves from floor to ceiling. It’s a moment where envy and ambition cloud our minds, and we aspire to grow such glorious collections of our own some day.

During these dreamy shoe-wardrobe-admiring sessions, our eyes are drawn to certain designs in particular – call them “it shoes” if you will, which, in recent years have ranged from jewelled Manolo Blahnik and glittery Jimmy Choo heels to Charlotte Olympia kitty flats and Chanel espadrilles. Nowadays, these include trainers, too – pristine white Adidas Superstars and unspoilt Converse Chuck Taylors sit alongside pointy stilettos.

Switch scenes to the Middle East Film & Comic Con that was held a few weeks ago. A sweaty throng of video-game geeks and manga fans dressed in Princess Zelda and Hobbit costumes mingle and challenge each other to card games. This isn’t the crowd that pines over Pinterest photos of pretty shoes, and it sure isn’t the most likely setting for a shoe debut. But it’s where the Emirati toy designer Mo Abedin launched the Pursuers, making him the first Emirati man to design a pair of trainers. The prototype is a unisex black-leather trainer with white soles and a wing-like extension at the ankle. “I’ve always been a massive sneaker fan, but I’m also a sucker for [stories about] time travel and manga, so I wanted to make a pair of sneakers that looked unique, stylish and aesthetically well ahead of its time,” says Abedin, who has been designing toys since 2008.

His role as a shoe designer is not all that different from his experience in inventing toys. “I prepare the designs and concepts and then start working with the shoemaker on how it could work practically,” he says. Abedin has teamed up with Amin Virani, a third-generation shoemaker in Dubai who has been creating footwear at the Italian Shoe Factory since 1995. “His experience, craftsmanship and advice is gold,” Abedin says.

Original article by Hafsa Lodi

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Walking the walk: the UAE’s love affair with buying shoes