Humble sandals to high street fashion: Meet the man who made this possible

With a Master's in clinical engineering from a US university, one would have thought that Mohammed Kazim would make a career studying and researching medical equipment.

But the mild-mannered Emirati had other plans. He quit a comfortable government job to embark on an entrepreneurial journey that is rooted in traditional values and focused on the study and preservation of the region’s rich cultural heritage.

Kazim started off with an unlikely item — a humble Arab footwear that dropped off the fashion radar around seven decades ago.

In 2013, he partnered with Muneera Al Tamimi, his friend from Saudi Arabia to launch Tamashee — a luxury footwear brand that gave a contemporary twist to the traditional sandal while retaining its distinct Arab identity.

“Only a privileged few could afford footwear in the past. They wore open-toe leather sandals that came from India. Since these sandals were rare, there weren’t any cobblers to fix them when their top came off due to wear and tear,” recalls Kazim.

“The only option people had back then was to send the broken sandals for repairs to a small town called Az Zubayr in present-day Iraq. Craftsmen would stitch back the top piece to the base using rings and camel hides, often adding geometrical patterns to the end product.

“This spawned a whole new style of sandals variously known as zbairiyas, medas or nadjeya,” says Kazim, who has extensively researched the subject.

Most Arab nobles and merchants wore zbairiyas before the footwear lost ground to naals (wedge sandals) in the fifties.

Kazim said he and Muneera worked with top manufacturers and designers in their bid to revive the zbairiyas and turn them into a fashion statement.

Of course, bringing the 70-year style out of obscurity was not easy.

“There were many challenges. We had to make the sandals comfortable and appealing while adding traditional elements into contemporary designs.” They added signature elements like turquoise-coloured heels after research showed that turquoise was the dominant colour of traditional attire back in the day. They also incorporated motifs like rock art and ancient inscriptions from the region (see below).

Tamashee's zbairiyas sandals, priced between Dh400 and Dh850, are now a rage among the young and old alike. The footwear brand also sells key rings, passport covers and leather notebooks, all of which are influenced by the fascinating history of the Arabian Peninsula.

“Everything we do has three core values – preserving identity, representing culture and colouring lives,” says Kazim.

“Many people view this region as a dazzling showpiece of urban delights, which is true, but it's also a treasure trove of culture and heritage. And this is what we want to promote. The idea is to create a soulful narrative from within the region that contribute to advancing the Arabian Gulf identity,” he says.