Messi's bisht maker sees business boom after World Cup

Customers looking to buy replicas of robe worn by Argentina's captain throng store in Doha's Souq Waqif

Al-Salem store in Doha's Souq Waqif supplied the bisht worn by Lionel Messi after the World Cup final. AFP

Watching Sunday's World Cup final, Ahmed Al-Salem was more emotional than most football fans when Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, placed a black and gold bisht over the shoulders of Argentina's victorious captain Lionel Messi.

The robe Messi wore as he lifted the football trophy was a $2,200 bisht, a traditional gown worn by men for weddings, graduations and official events, and it was made by Al-Salem's family company.

Al-Salem watched Argentina beat France in a cafe near the family's store in Doha's Souq Waqif, having earlier handed two of the delicate handmade bishts to World Cup officials, one in a smaller size for Messi and one to fit the taller French captain Hugo Lloris.

"We did not know who they were for and I was stunned," he told AFP of the moment when Sheikh Tamim dressed Messi in the cloak.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, drapes the bisht over Lionel Messi's shoulders as Fifa president Gianni Infantino looks on. Reuters

Salem recognised his company's tag and is now celebrating his own World Cup victory.

The Al-Salem store, a longstanding bisht supplier to Qatari royalty, normally sells eight to 10 garments a day.

On Monday, the day after the final, sales shot up to 150, including three copies of the top-of-the-range bisht made famous by Messi, said Al-Salem.

"At one stage, there were dozens waiting outside the store," he said.

"They were nearly all Argentinians," he added, as he watched eight supporters of the new world champions sing their Muchachos anthem and take pictures of themselves while wearing a fragile bisht and carrying a copy of the World Cup trophy.

Bisht boom

A stream of fans came into the shop and all of them applauded the emir's gesture.

"We were all happy when we saw that, it was a gift from one king to another king," said Mauricio Garcia as he tried on the cloak, but decided the price tag was too high to buy.

Some commentators, predominantly European, criticised Messi's shirt being covered for the trophy presentation. But the moment was welcomed by Arabic social media users.

Salem and other Arab commentators explained the intention was to "honour" Messi and that the gesture had been misunderstood.

"When a sheikh dresses a person in a bisht, this means honouring and appreciating this person," Al-Salem said.

It was a "very important moment" for Qatar as it seeks a World Cup publicity boost, said Carole Gomez, a professor of sports sociology at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

"These pictures are widely spread about, conserved and reissued," she said.

A transparent fabric was deliberately chosen for Messi's bisht, so that the Argentina team uniform would be visible underneath. AFP

Al-Salem said when World Cup officials visited his store "they wanted the lightest and most transparent fabric".

"I was surprised because we are in winter, so it seems that the goal was to show the Argentinian uniform and not cover it," he said.

While the bisht is worn in many Gulf countries, Al-Salem is the biggest of about five Qatari producers, employing about 60 tailors.

Each bisht takes a week to make and goes through a seven-stage completion, with different workers adding different lines of gold braid to the front and arms.

For Messi's bisht, the gold thread came from Germany and the Najafi cotton fabric was imported from Japan.