Is it a clothing brand? A Marketing Agency? A collection of Creative Artists and Sneakerheads? The answer to all these questions is a resounding “Yes”. They truly are All of the Above. Where there is a story, there is art. Storytelling is at the heart of everything done at AOTA and we sat with Tareq Qaddumi, the founder and Creative Director of Out the Box (OTB) and lifestyle concept All of the Above (AOTA) to have a glimpse of the story behind the brand and the journey which has taken him to this point today.

Storytelling is a term thrown around by many, but it’s rare to actually see the story just by looking at the products. With AOTA, each product speaks to you and gives you a glimpse of the story behind the brand, which is an integral part of AOTA’s DNA. Initially gaining a following under @outtheboxww with their much-anticipated merch drops, AOTA is a brand where you can shop through their oversized tee’s, shorts, sweaters and other clothes that all hold a unique message.

OTB was established in 2019 and has built the reputation of being a marketing agency. Abdel Kader “AK” who holds the title of Director of Client Servicing plays an integral part with the agency’s overall strategy. Sid is a pure creative and known as the “Jack of all trades” who takes care of OTB’s photography division. Mas, their lead videographer is a graphic designer in his own right and is known as one of Kuwait’s pioneers in pushing the sport of basketball all through creativity.

However, a lot of OTB’s ideas never had anything to do with the brands they worked with, and therefore, many of the concepts translated into clothing drops released sporadically. Concepts such as “No Skill Set” and other ideas with merch released every three to six months did garner a massive following, but understandably also raised some confusion among their customers: Is this an agency? A clothing brand? What are they?

Enter AOTA. All of the above arrives as a refusal to be boxed into just one category or label. Designed by OTB, they are a bit of everything and that idea not to be classified by just one term or title has provided the freedom to really take their creative minds to all types of places without feeling the need to put boundaries under the five pillars that really built the brand: Philosophy, Art, Integrity, Community, Justice.
“With Philosophy, you’re going to see the Non-Compete, No Skill Set and No Free Ideas collection. With Art, it’s something that I love and it makes the world a better place. We have been able to translate our love for basketball and hoops into art.” Tareq explains.

“Integrity is more of a personal fight that I had against the ‘algorithm’ and how I refuse buy likes or boost posts. It’s linked to me choosing not to sell out on Instagram amongst other things.” Tareq continues. “Another pillar is community and whether we like it or not the community in Kuwait is small and we have this Instagram community within the space of influencers, sneakerheads, and other people who know each other although we’ve never met.”

Once viewed as a Social Media Influencer who primarily posted about sneakers and outfits, he was determined to prove that there is a lot more behind who he is. Everything was taken to the next level and he began creating concepts and projects that truly showed the wide range of his mind and the team around him.

“We also talk about justice. This is where my head is always at whether the social injustices in Palestine or anywhere else. I have created a few art installations and content that builds awareness and I wanted to tell the story through the collection even regarding corruption, money laundering and women’s rights. All that falls under justice and I’m very excited for this collection.”

Tareq’s commitment to justice was seen with the Slingshot, which is a project he worked on and featured handmade Palestinian embroidery which he created to say that we need to fight back against the rising evil in the world, not only in Palestine.

When speaking to Tareq, it’s difficult not to quickly hear the passion behind his voice. With every word he says particularly when focusing on AOTA and OTB, there is genuine love for what he does and motivation to take it as far as he possibly can. He wants to turn the stories that he has lived through or has seen around him into messages through his brand and he quickly realized that these are stories that many people can relate to. However, it wasn’t without hardships along the way.

“We are currently working with a manufacturer in Turkey but that isn’t how things started. Initially, we were in talks and finalizing everything through a manufacturer in Vietnam and everything was going to plan. There was a lot of back and forth with the sampling, critiquing, changes, etc. We reach the stage where we were less than four weeks away from our debut at Sole DXB in Dubai and we get a call from our manufacturer informing us that the person we were dealing with in Vietnam was basically embezzling money and all work had to stop as he decided to also close down the factory. There was no other way and he directed us to people in Turkey.”

Of course, that is just the beginning of quite an intriguing story!
“We find a manufacturer who tells us he can do it but there is no time for sampling so we decide to take the risk and go ahead. I come back to Kuwait to prepare for Sole DXB and one of our team members was supposed to go to Turkey to ensure all is being done well but she then breaks her leg in a freak accident and can’t travel! So, I went to Dubai while my wife went to Turkey to ensure things were being done and she somehow finalized everything and met us with suitcases of our products at Sole DXB on the morning of the opening!”

This was just one of the many bumps in the road that only added to making Tareq and the team know not only the struggles that they will be expecting along the way, but also how much they wanted this to truly work out. It did at Sole DXB where people were falling in love with this new concept which resulted in everything being sold out by the end of the event.

There are a lot of personal stories behind each piece that AOTA puts out and that is what makes this brand very different, because as humans we are all different. However, we can all relate to each other in various ways and AOTA builds that bridge between us through their messages and products.
This is just the beginning of AOTA and we are extremely excited to see where this road takes them. Keep an eye out on all their upcoming collections as it promises to include ideas that directly relate to you!

Follow Tareq on his Instagram @KicksTQ, AOTA on @AOTAWW and Out the Box on @OutTheBoxWW to stay updated with all their upcoming news! Visit www.aotaworld.com to check out their full collection.