Its founder, Zain Ahmed, took the new year as an opportunity to talk about the brand’s rapid growth in 2025 and the difficulties that came along with it in a post on the label’s Instagram account.
He said last year had been ‘one of the hardest years of our lives’. Ahmed said that there were times when he had lost sight of the very purpose of ‘Rastah’.
He, however, did acknowledge that the year had been great for business, with doubled growth and monthly sales nearing a million dollars in November and June. He also launched its first showroom in Paris. Ahmed also said several stars used his work, he collaborated with cricketer Wasim Akram, and made the ‘Gentlemen’s Quarterly’ print edition.
All of that came with extraordinary challenges, however, as the team bit off more than they could chew at times. Talking about the heavy volume of sales in November, he said cracks began to appear in the system when a lack of resources and manpower hit the brand and their logistics infrastructure collapsed.
“We didn’t deliver the experience our community deserved, and that hurt,” Ahmed admitted. “There’s no dressing that up. We fell short.”
The founder said this year reminded his team why Rastah exists in the first place — “It’s not the glamour, the headlines or the celebrities. It’s honest work, real craft, storytelling and pieces that mean something.”
Ahmed vowed that 2026 was the year Rastah would do better by its supporters and put its “customers and community at the centre of everything”. He also promised there wouldn’t be a repeat of last year’s delivery problems with the brand’s upgraded warehousing and supply systems.
Rastah was founded in 2018 in Lahore, Pakistan. The founders originally planned to sell Pakistani hand-woven fabrics under the Rastah brand, but instead turned to creating clothing that incorporated Pakistani culture into streetwear. They have used traditional Pakistani techniques for the creation of some of their clothes, including using Pakistani hand looms and wood block printing. The brand’s creative director, Zain Ahmad has described the city of Lahore as inspiring the designs found in their clothing. Ismail Ahmad came from the marketing background, while Adnan Ahmad from the business and finance. Aslam Mirza serves as an artisan.
In a March 2021 update of PUBG Mobile, Rastah costumes were introduced for the players.[5] In 2022, Zain Ahmad was featured on Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list for globally representation of the Pakistani fashion.[6] In 2023, Rastah became the first Pakistani brand to be featured at London Fashion Week.[7] In 2024, the brand won the Hum Style Award for Designer of the Year — Pret Wear.
The brand has been worn by international celebrities as well,[9] including rapper French Montana, singers Zayn Malik and Justin Bieber, actors Timothée Chalamet, Diljit Dosanjh, Iman Vellani (in an episode of Ms. Marvel[10]) Barry Keoghan, Anil Kapoor, and Riz Ahmed, filmmaker Karan Johar,[11] and wrestler Seth Rollins.
He studied political economy at the University of British Columbia before launching Rastah in 2018. In 2023, Rastah became the first Pakistani brand to be featured at London Fashion Week. It has been worn by A-list celebrities including Zayn Malik, Timothée Chalamet, Barry Keoghan, Justin Bieber and Anil Kapoor.
Ahmad is now working towards the opening of a private showroom in Lahore. He is also gearing up to open Rastah’s debut store in New York at the start of 2026.