Dubai: Royal tailor Shaikh Abdul Rahman Shafe'ei Al Madani may be getting on in years, but age has not diminished one bit his ability to weave magic from fabric.
The 80-year-old ‘shaikh', a title inherited by virtue of being a royal tailor, has been making kandouras (traditional Arab dress for men) for Dubai's Ruling Family and leading businessmen from the time of the late Shaikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, grandfather of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Early choice
After finishing Quran school, Shaikh Abdul Rahman chose tailoring as his craft in 1945, at a time when youngsters had few career choices.
Shaikh Abdul Rahman, who has 40 grandchildren from his eight children today, remembers how he used to go to Shaikh Saeed's palace in Za'abeel to take the measurements of his royal customers. This distinguished background shows in his work. "They know my clothes when they wear it - compared to those made by others," he said.
He recalls the time he started off with a shop in Al Ras at the mouth of Dubai Creek under his uncle's tutelage. His business acumen and talent came to the fore when he set up National Tailors, a modest tailoring shop in Deira. It was here he incorporated several design elements into the kandoura.
The business has since grown into about 40 shops across the UAE, employing over 300 people and producing more than 1,000 kandouras daily.
Shaikh Abdul Rahman still remembers his first Singer sewing machine and the subsequent ones sold to him by Russian pilgrims in the '50s, before oil was discovered in Dubai. "I started my business when there was nothing in Dubai," he said.
His shop soon turned into one frequented by members of the Ruling Family, including the late Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum. Today, he counts several prominent Emirati business families among his customers. "Even this crisis is just a passing cloud," he says of the present situation. "In the late '70s and '80s we saw something similar. I also lost money at one point during that period. We just have to be patient.
"We've seen worse days - when there was no water and no electricity in Dubai. On the eve of Eid, to meet a huge order, I sewed at night using just kerosene lamps [either] alone or with very few workers," he said.
Most of his master-cutters come from India and Pakistan. "I taught them how to cut initially, because though they knew how to put together a salwar kameez [a traditional dress worn by both women and men in South and Central Asia], they had no idea about the kandoura," explained Shaikh Abdul Rahman.
Today, his company has gone beyond kandouras - branching out into fashion, food and construction.
His eldest son, Mohammad Al Madani, a US-trained petroleum engineer who retired from Dubai Petroleum Co in 2000, now runs the Abdul Rahman Al Madani Group (AMG) which has over 60 outlets in the UAE and other Gulf countries.
Pointing out to lessons he picked up from his father, Mohammad, 54, said: "Days before Eid, his shop would be swamped with orders for kandouras so he and his workers would literally work 24 hours to meet the demand. He started home deliveries of kandouras too, long before home deliveries became a standard."
"His dedication to work and putting customers first are part of his work ethic," said Mohammad, now the chief executive of AMG. "And he doesn't know what retirement means."
