Walk into any gym today in the Middle East, and chances are, someone’s wearing SQUATWOLF. But just a few years ago, the idea of a purpose-built gym wear brand emerging from this region was, frankly, laughable to many.
This isn’t some fictional tale of overnight success. It’s a raw, unfiltered story about grit, rejection, creativity, and community. It all started not in a boardroom, but in a cramped living room-turned-studio, and a mission to build something that didn’t exist: a gym wear brand that spoke to the Middle East.
The Spark: "Why Does Everyone Look the Same?"
The gym wear landscape back then was simple: every gym looked the same, not just in terms of equipment, but in the people and their clothes. The gear was monotonous—people were wearing the same few brands, whether they were lifting weights, doing yoga, or just trying to sweat it out. There was no personality. No identity.
The idea that people might want to wear something stylish in the gym was almost laughable. Who dresses up for the gym, right? But this perception hid a glaring gap in the market.
While Europe and North America were already seeing niche gym wear brands tailored to specific sports—brands that communicated commitment and identity—the Middle East had nothing.
No brand that understood the region, the climate, or the growing fitness culture. And that’s where the mission began to take shape: build something local, something meaningful, and something deeply connected to the fitness community.
When the World Says No
Starting from scratch is never easy. Especially when the world doesn’t exactly open doors for you. The brand's early journey was a series of rejections—from factories, from industry insiders, from anyone who thought a gym wear brand from the Middle East couldn’t work.
The calls went unanswered. Emails were ignored. Rejections piled up. Why? Because the region had no gym wear brands. The factories they reached out to, ones that manufactured for giants like Nike and Adidas, didn’t take them seriously.
At just 26 and 27, they were pitching to massive manufacturers, but all they got in return was “no.” Every rejection was a hit, but also a lesson. And the more the world said no, the more the brand’s founders believed that they were onto something.
But, after months of setbacks, one Chinese factory finally agreed to make the first samples. The catch? They were terrible.
Reality hit hard. The samples were far from what they envisioned, but rather than giving up, they saw it as just another hurdle. Dozens of tweaks, long months of back-and-forth, and countless revisions followed. It felt like the dream was slipping away. But quitting wasn’t an option.
Belief, Passion, and a Name That Meant Something
What kept the brand going wasn’t experience or funding—it was belief. There was no backup plan, only an unshakeable commitment to creating something that the fitness world in the Middle East didn’t have: gym wear that spoke to the community, to the athletes, to the people who were lifting, running, sweating, and grinding every day.
The brand wasn’t just about clothes. It was about building a pack—a community that lived and breathed the gym culture. A culture that demanded strength, discipline, and movement. The name SQUATWOLF came from that very spirit. "Squat" wasn’t just a word—it symbolized strength, discipline, and movement, while "wolf" represented the power of community, the pack mentality that gym culture lacked.
Even the logo had a story. After rejecting countless cheesy wolf-face designs, the logo was stripped down to just the eyes—intense, focused, and powerful, just like the people the brand was built for.
The First Howl
From the very beginning, SQUATWOLF’s journey was defined by a DIY grit and determination. Photoshoots were held in parking lots, dodging security guards, and in living rooms turned into impromptu studios.
There was no glamour. No fancy marketing. It wasn’t about the frills; it was about the passion, the persistence, and the belief in a vision that was bigger than just selling gym clothes.
What SQUATWOLF built wasn’t just another brand; it was a community. A place for serious athletes and beginners alike—a brand that didn’t just make clothes, but made a statement.
And despite starting with zero funding, zero credibility, and zero contacts, they had something stronger: a vision that the world is only just starting to catch up to.
This is the story of SQUATWOLF: a brand born from rejection, persistence, and a relentless commitment to create something that spoke to a growing community. It’s the first howl of something that’s now part of gym culture in the Middle East—and beyond.
This is just the beginning
Episode 1 shows us the real beginnings, click here to watch the full episode, but the story doesn’t stop here.
Stay tuned—because the pack is only getting stronger.
🎧 Full Episode Transcript Below
(0:00) We had zero experience, zero funding, just an idea and no clue what we were doing,
(0:07) but we wanted to fix one problem. We would walk into the gym, it was all vanilla. People would
(0:19) be wearing just the same two or three brands, no matter what they're doing and what kind of
(0:24) workout they're doing.
Anybody who we would talk to that we are starting a gym wear brand
(0:30) that people would wear those clothes in the gym and they were like, who wears nice clothes into
(0:34) the gym? You know, all of us wear like our old t-shirts and old shorts and that's what we wear
(0:43) and that's what we walk, especially the men, right? That's what the gym fashion was. You know,
(0:48) you would just pull out the oldest t-shirt that you have that you would not wear on the weekends
(0:53) and you would wear it into the gym. Or the other skeptics were, there are such big brands out there
(0:59) in the market, why would somebody buy anything from SQUATWOLF? Why would they not buy from the
(1:05) Nike's and the Adidas of the world? Why would they buy from you? So there were a lot of skeptics
(1:11) and that made us doubt ourselves as well, like are we really on the right track? Are we really doing
(1:15) the right thing? But you know, we saw the gap, we saw that this is not happening.
If you look at
(1:20) things outside of the Middle East and if you look at things in Europe, if you look at things in North
(1:24) America, this is not what is happening. Actually, people are looking for newer brands, people are
(1:30) looking for brands that specialize in their sport and that's what they want to wear, because they
(1:36) want to come across that I'm serious about the kind of training I'm doing. So they would wear a brand
(1:41) that's really specializing to CrossFit, they would wear a brand that has nailed yoga, they would wear
(1:46) a brand that has nailed weightlifting and training, because they want to wear that brand because they
(1:52) want to send a message to the people that I'm serious about the sport that I'm in or I'm serious
(1:57) about the kind of training I'm in.
There wasn't anything like this over here in this region and
(2:03) that's where we felt like okay there's something like this missing over here and both of us really
(2:07) wanted to challenge our status quo. We were like why isn't there anything that's local, a brand that
(2:11) this region can call its own, a brand that is born out of this region, that really understands the
(2:17) needs of the athletes of this region.
(2:26) It was after I think four years of starting our careers, Waj was first time in a job. So he was
(2:33) working for someone else, because when he graduated he started working with his friends and he started
(2:39) three startups, tech startups in Pakistan. It was the first time because I had moved to Dubai
(2:45) and we were engaged when I moved to Dubai and I liked it over here a lot. So then you know I told
(2:50) him why don't you move over and come over to Dubai and he moved. So this was the first time he was
(2:55) working with the co-founders of fitness entertainment business and he was enjoying for the
(3:00) first time in his life. Like he never imagined himself working for someone else and he was and
(3:05) he was having a good time. He was like you know I'm like settling down, I'm learning about Dubai,
(3:10) I'm learning about the culture and everything and I had this idea and I was like Waj I see you
(3:15) being an entrepreneur, like always I've seen you as an entrepreneur and I will see you as
(3:20) in the future as well. Yeah just pushing me into it again it was like you know we're built to do
(3:26) something something bigger so let's let's think about it and she was the one who really pushed
(3:32) us into you know starting something of our own. I always I would ask him you know what is your
(3:37) life goal? What do you want to achieve? You know not a lot of people know but I think it's a
(3:43) it's a it's a great opportunity to to share this you know with everyone out there that
(3:48) actually it was her idea to come up with an idea of SQUATWOLF. I am a crazy optimist and I think I had
(3:55) for a very long time this uninformed optimism that we will make it we will make it there is no other
(4:05) but it wasn't easy I think if it was easy everybody would do it. We're looking for a name
(4:15) for a name that has a ring to it and it has a community element so community was very important
(4:22) because this was another gap that we identified that for every sport there is a community but then
(4:27) for gym goers there is no community element like nobody's working on this side of the fitness
(4:32) industry. The community element was transformed into pack element so wolf is a pack animal and
(4:39) that's how we came up with the the wolf side of the name and then squat is the most effective
(4:44) exercise so it engages most of the muscles in the body so and it had a ring to it so squat wolf
(4:49) right so we came up with the name and then the next stage was to come up with the logo and then
(4:54) we hired an agency randomly from freelancer.com I think and we gave them the assignment to come up
(5:01) so like anyone who would think of squat wolf would be a wolf face so a lot of different
(5:06) styles of logos came and they were all very cheesy they were all wolf faces drawing
(5:13) and we were like okay this is not working this is not going to work at all
(5:17) so we looked at one of the logos and we started literally removing the face
(5:22) Once we were done it was just the eyes — that’s how the logo was born.
(5:26) It’s the wolf eyes with the face logo.
(5:37) In the early days, factories were not willing to trust us.
(5:42) We would send them some of our cards and ask them to do this sample for us — I still remember.
(5:47) In the early days, they wouldn’t… the factories wouldn’t entertain us.
(5:52) There wasn’t anyone reaching out to them from the Middle East or UAE specifically.
(5:57) We were contacting factories in Asia saying, “We are starting the next big activewear or gym wear brand in the world — please help us create these samples.”
(6:03) We received rejections after rejections after rejections.
(6:08) The factories wouldn’t even answer our emails.
(6:14) They would just say no, you don’t have enough quantities, you don’t have enough capital.
(6:22) They weren’t even used to getting any requests or inquiries from the Middle East at all.
(6:29) They’d be like, “Okay, you’re calling us from Dubai?”
(6:35) Dubai? Nobody calls from Dubai.
(6:41) There were no brands. Zero local brands.
(6:46) And we were the first ones who were contacting these factories.
(6:52) We were naive. We were kids.
(6:56) I was 26, Waj was 27 years old when we were starting Spotful.
(7:04) We would just pick up the phone and reach out to the factories that were making for big brands out there.
(7:09) After months and months of trying to find a factory, we felt like we needed to give up.
(7:13) We thought, “I don’t think we can ever do it. I don’t think anybody would trust us.”
(7:18) Fortunately, one factory in China replied and said, “Okay, we’re gonna do the samples.”
(7:22) They saw the vision.
(7:29) They saw what we were trying to do. They read the email, they saw the first collection.
(7:33) They said, “Okay, we’re gonna support you.”
(7:40) They did the samples — they were horrible.
(7:47) Again, we felt like we needed to give up.
(7:53) It just wasn’t going to happen.
(7:56) But after months and months of trying to get that sample right, to get that product right — it was just not working.
(8:00) So we got our first set of samples, and finally, after six months of back and forth, we were happy with it.
(8:07) One thing we were very clear on was the quality.
(8:12) We were like, okay — this is Dubai. People will not accept any brand or product that is below par.
(8:17) So we have to get the product right. It has to be really good quality.
(8:24) We were obsessed — the quality has to be really strong.
(8:30) We went into production.
(8:36) We invested all our savings into it.
(8:41) I still remember, we were really nervous.
(8:45) The quantities were huge.
(8:50) How are we going to manage it?
(8:55) Our house turned into a warehouse.
(9:00) Boxes everywhere. One bedroom was just full of boxes.
(9:06) We had the e-commerce shoot in the living room — the first photo shoot was e-commerce first because we had to get the website up.
(9:12) One of our PT friends — we asked him, “Would you be okay to model for us?” And he accepted.
(9:17) I had a friend who was a photographer — he also accepted to work just for free, to support us, to support the brand.
(9:24) So it was in the living room. We did the whole setup.
(9:30) The PT friend we got in as a model — his mother came, because we couldn’t afford a stylist.
(9:36) His mother was actually putting makeup on her son and making sure he looked good.
(9:41) Me and Waj were also helping out with everything.
(9:45) The same day, we did the campaign shoot as well.
(9:50) The campaign shoot took place in the parking lot of our building.
(9:55) That was also very funny because we would go back up, change, come back down, do the shoot.
(10:00) Hiding from security — because obviously it’s not allowed to shoot with a camera there.
(10:06) I still remember — it was so good.
(10:12) We were just trying to make things work with very, very low resources — almost nothing.
(10:20) First time when we created the website, it was on WooCommerce.
(10:26) WooCommerce was basically developed out of WordPress, which is a blogging platform.
(10:31) That’s what I was comfortable with.
(10:35) I said, “We’re going to develop the website on WooCommerce.”
(10:40) If I tell anyone right now that we started Squadra on WooCommerce, they’re like — who starts an e-commerce website on WooCommerce?
(10:48) Who does that?
(10:53) Well… we did it.
(10:58) We started a pre-order campaign with our products even before we had the products.
(11:02) We went out with a message — “Born in Dubai. Engineered for Gym.”
(11:06) That was the message on our socials, that was the message on our website, that was the message on our ads.
(11:12) We went out to the community: “We’re born in Dubai, engineered for gym.”
(11:19) We don’t have the products right now. The products will be available in one month’s time.
(11:25) But — do you want to be the first ever people who own the first ever piece of clothing from the first ever homegrown brand from Dubai?
(11:35) We remember — it was the 16th of May.
(11:40) We got our entire website ready. All the social media, everything was ready.
(11:47) We launched the website. We did our first post. We launched our ads on Instagram.
(11:53) And we said — we’re ready for the world.
(11:58) We want to take the orders.
(12:03) By the time we launched the website and did everything, it was around 2 or 3 a.m.
(12:08) We went to sleep really fulfilled — that we finally launched this beast.
(12:15) We slept, and we were like — we’ll wake up in the morning and we’ll have hundreds of orders from all around the world.
(12:23) We’ll be happy.
(12:27) And by the morning — we’ll be millionaires.
(12:32) We woke up in the morning…
(12:35) There wasn’t even a single order.
