About H5 lab
H5 lab is a concept store built around archival designer clothing, with Issey Miyake, Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto as its main pillars.
The lab was founded by Mustafa Al Hammad, a Saudi creative who spent his formative years in Australia before building a career in Dubai fashion retail, working his way from sales assistant to buyer. That experience showed him the other side of fashion: overproduction, seasonal pressure and endless markdowns.
H5 lab started as a pop-up concept. Showing archival pieces in temporary spaces gave him control over the operation and a way to sell clothing without adding to excess product. The pop-ups found a community, much of it from the art world: artists, curators and gallerists who are drawn to form, history and point of view rather than logos.
Today the lab lives in Warehouse 32A on Lane 4 of Alserkal Avenue, and the yellow is hard to miss. Alongside the rails there is a café, weekend flowers, a shelf of Japanese magazines and a programme of screenings, pop-ups and book meetings.
How we work
One of one
Archive pieces are single items. When something sells, it is gone.
Form over logos
We choose pieces for cut, material and story.
Less, not more
Small drops instead of seasons and markdowns.