In 2016, Anam Khalid and Wajdan Gul founded SQUATWOLF in a Dubai apartment with a single conviction: that a world-class performance wear brand could be built from the Middle East. Ten years later, that conviction has translated into a brand sold across more than 100 countries, backed by private equity and cited as a global growth case study by Meta, Google, and DHL for how a regional consumer brand can scale internationally through performance marketing, content, and direct-to-consumer infrastructure.
To mark its 10th anniversary, SQUATWOLF launches “YOU’VE BUILT THIS WITH US”, a global campaign and limited-edition capsule collection, From Dubai to the World, dedicated to the athletes, early adopters, and community that carried the brand from its earliest samples to its current standing as one of the most internationally recognised performance wear brands to emerge from the Middle East.
SQUATWOLF’s growth over the past decade has been deliberate and structurally staged — from a direct-to-consumer launch in the UAE, through wholesale and owned retail, to a franchise model now operating in Kuwait and Qatar. Saudi Arabia is managed directly, supported by a Riyadh warehouse that has strengthened regional fulfilment and underpinned an ongoing multi-store retail rollout across the Kingdom.
The decision to accelerate internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be among the brand’s most consequential strategic moves. Orders arrived from more than 100 countries within weeks, confirming global demand for a performance brand rooted in the Middle East. That momentum carried through to retail, where SQUATWOLF’s flagship opening at The Avenues in Kuwait broke the brand’s own single-day sales record twice within its first 48 hours.
Backed by early investor Disrupt.com and subsequently by private equity firm ASCA Capital, SQUATWOLF has built world-class teams across three continents, invested in performance-science innovation, and is now executing an omnichannel expansion plan with 30 new retail stores in the pipeline through 2030. The brand’s long-term ambition remains singular: to build the first truly global performance wear brand from the Middle East, rooted in Dubai and representing the UAE on the world stage.
“We never treated SQUATWOLF as a side project or a backup plan,” said Anam Khalid, Founder & Co-CEO, SQUATWOLF. “The mindset was always that this had to work and the business has built us as much as we’ve built it. Ten years in, the people who showed up early are the reason we’re still here. This anniversary belongs to them.”
“Dubai gave us the conviction to think globally from day one,” added Wajdan Gul, Founder & Co-CEO, SQUATWOLF. “You don’t build a global brand by waiting for permission. You build it by shipping, listening, and trusting that the community will tell you what’s working. That’s what the last ten years have been.”
That community remains central to how SQUATWOLF marks the moment. The limited-edition From Dubai to the World capsule, structured across three pillars of Train, Hybrid Run and Reset, carries messaging in both English and Arabic across every piece, a deliberate nod to the city and culture that shaped the brand.
The anniversary year will also see the founders return to their roots with a community workout in Dubai, honouring the athletes who were there from the beginning.