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Doha (AFP) – Watching Sunday’s World Cup remaining, Ahmed al-Salem was extra emotional than most soccer followers when Qatar’s emir positioned a black and gold cloak over the shoulders of Argentina’s victorious captain Lionel Messi.
The garment Messi wore as he lifted the soccer trophy was a $2,200 ‘bisht’, a standard robe worn by males for weddings, graduations and official occasions — and it was made by Salem’s household firm.
The gesture has sparked worldwide debate on social media over whether or not it was acceptable.
Salem watched Argentina beat France in a restaurant close to the household’s retailer in Doha’s Souq Waqif market, having earlier handed two of the fragile handmade cloaks to World Cup officers — one in Messi’s diminutive dimension and one to suit the taller French captain Hugo Lloris.
“We didn’t know who they have been for and I used to be shocked,” he informed AFP of the second when the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, dressed Messi within the cloak.
Salem recognised his firm tag and is now celebrating his personal World Cup victory.
The Al-Salem retailer, a longstanding bisht provider to Qatari royalty, usually sells eight to 10 clothes a day.
On Monday, the day after the ultimate, gross sales shot as much as 150, together with three copies of the top-of-the-range bisht made well-known by Messi, mentioned Salem.
“At one stage there have been dozens ready exterior the shop”, he mentioned.
“They have been almost all Argentinians,” he added as he watched eight supporters of the brand new world champions sing their “Muchachos” (mates) anthem and take footage of themselves whereas sporting a fragile bisht and carrying a replica of the World Cup trophy.
Bisht growth
A stream of followers got here into the store as Salem spoke to AFP, and all of them applauded the emir’s gesture.
“We have been all completely satisfied after we noticed that, it was a present from one king to a different king,” mentioned Mauricio Garcia as he tried on the cloak, however determined the worth tag was too excessive to purchase.
Some commentators, predominantly European, criticised Messi’s shirt being coated for the trophy presentation.
However the second was welcomed by Arabic social media customers.
Salem and different Arab commentators defined the intention was to “honour” Messi and that the gesture had been misunderstood.
“When a sheikh clothes an individual in a bisht, this implies honouring and appreciating this particular person,” Salem mentioned.
It was a “crucial second” for Qatar because it seeks a World Cup publicity increase, mentioned Carole Gomez, a professor of sports activities sociology on the College of Lausanne, in Switzerland.
“These footage are extensively unfold about, conserved and reissued,” she mentioned.
Salem mentioned when World Cup officers went to his retailer “they wished the lightest and most clear material”.
“I used to be stunned as a result of we’re in winter, so evidently the aim was to indicate the Argentine uniform and never cowl it,” he mentioned.
Whereas the bisht is worn in lots of Gulf nations, Al-Salem is the most important of about 5 Qatari producers, using about 60 tailors.
Every bisht takes every week to make and goes by a seven stage completion, with completely different employees including completely different traces of gold braid to the entrance and arms.
For Messi’s bisht, the gold thread got here from Germany and the Najafi cotton material was imported from Japan.
© 2022 AFP