Adidas surprised us when they announced a collaboration with Dubai-based Pakistani restaurant Ravi to introduce a pair of limited-edition Superstar sneakers for the Pakistani community.
For the special edition shoes, Superstar Ravi, the brand has customized its classic Superstar trainers with a bright green accent. All three branches of the restaurant in Dubai feature the same color accent on the sneakers.
Khaleej Times reports that the green stripes on a cream background represent the heritage of the owners. The liner of the socks also features a hand-drawn map that represents the meaning of the name Ravi, which is derived from the Ravi River.
The heel tab of the shoe also includes the year in which the restaurant opened. One shoe has the name and the year written in English while the other is in Arabic.
According to the publication, the restaurant was opened in 1978 by Chaudary Abdul Hameed. The restaurant has served as a hub for local families, friends where they come together to enjoy food like home.
Today, the culinary destination is a tourist and local favorite. The hotspot has also been visited by a number of celebrities, including American rapper Snoop Dogg, British singer Craig David, American band One Republic, and Bollywood stars and cricketers.
Additionally, the shoes include six ‘hero’ Ravi dishes selected by restaurant owners – mutton Peshawari, chicken biryani, chicken tikka, daal fry, karak chai, and Punjabi lassi. There is an Arabic and English name on the tongue of each shoe for each of the six dishes.
Each pair of shoes are delivered in a special edition packaging that imitates a takeaway style box and comes with a detachable hangtag with the restaurant’s logo on it.
Currently, the restaurant is managed by Chaudary’s sons, Waqar, Waseem and Waheed Abdul Hameed.
Waheed told Khaleej Times, “We chose the six hero dishes because not only are they a community favourite, but we believe these are the must-haves at Ravi restaurant. Our six special dishes are featured on the limited-edition sneakers.”
“Our first input was selecting the Superstar sneaker, an iconic adidas silhouette, for the collaborative sneaker. We shared our vision with the global adidas design to help bring the sneaker to life. Our story is prevalent through the sneaker, and we’re so happy with the outcome,” said Waseem.
Commenting on the collaboration as a whole, Waqar said, “As our restaurant is one of the city’s most nostalgic and culturally relevant restaurants, the match was perfect.”
The Superstar pair with Ravi written at the back will be available at select Adidas stores and online on June 23 exclusively in Dubai.