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From www.halaljournal.com Other Editorials
What do you get when you synthesise passion for haute couture and religious obligations? An exciting maelstrom of two money-making bipolar ideologies. Halal is the new green. When that is translated to Islamic fashion, the green could have a kaleidoscopic shade of lime, leaf, jade, emerald and tropical. Throw in the likes of Marc Jacobses and Stella McCartneys of the Islamic fashion scene and your chances of getting noticed by at least 1.5 billion Muslims around the world are huge. If you take into consideration 5 billion non-Muslims who seek modesty in their outfits, the success rate is preponderantly astronomical. Until now, fashion has been all about how much of flesh you dared to reveal. In the past few ephemeral cycles of the haute couture trendmill, we have seen split-to-the-waist Chanel goddesses come and go. Invisible tapes vanished from the backstage shelves. Micro mini-dresses and gravity-defying décolletage will soon become things of the past. “The new look is all about covering up. Modesty is back,” reports the Sydney Morning Herald’s online daily last December. Well, modesty is certainly not unique to Islam – just like you do not have to be Japanese to enjoy sushi. Malaysia has understood the colossal potential of Islamic fashion by thinking out of the box. Halal, which signifies all that is clean and pure, is not just about food. It is a 360-degree radius concept covering business practices, trading and marketing methods, financial structures, systems and good governance. And fashion. “I do not like the way Islam has been pigeon-holed and stereotyped. It is too universal for that,” said Jumaatun Azmi, coordinator of last August’s talk-of-the-town International Islamic Fashion Show (IIFS) 2004, in a previous interview with The Halal Journal. Perhaps, because of its rather limited range of participating designer houses, namely from Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, it fell short of a true international status like the recent Mercedes-Benz-sponsored Malaysia International Fashion Awards 2004. IIFS 2004 stirred curiosity more than it revolutionised the Islamic fashion scene, but its effort to include fashion in the vast spectrum of halal is absolutely laudable. IIFS 2004 started the ball rolling for another international event organised by a Malaysian company last December. Themed ‘Elegance in Modesty’, the International Muslim Women’s Textile & Apparel Conference 2004 – organised by Positive Grooming - was aimed to showcase and highlight the latest trends in the Muslim women fashion world as well as to provide a suitable trade and marketing platform for industry players. According to a document presented during the conference by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, exports of textile and clothing amounted to RM8.5 billion in 2003, ranking it as one of the top ten export earners for Malaysia. Textile and apparel accounted for 2.1 per cent, more than processed food and rubber products at 1.4 and 1.3 per cent respectively. Exports of this sector are expected to grow by more than three per cent in 2004-2005. “Fashion can bring in money,” said Malaysian Tourism Minister Datuk Dr Leo Michael Toyad when launching the Kuala Lumpur – Asia Fashion Week 2004 in November. Though there are no official figures proving that Islamic fashion industry can benefit from the thriving textile and apparel industry, one could imagine the economic ripple effect it would create. “We believe that you have to create the right textile for the right apparel,” said Positive Grooming’s founder-director, Yasmin Siddik. The textile and fashion industries, according to her, are not working together, which results in fashion designers creating out of whatever is available in the market. Turkey may be a perfect example for Malaysia and other countries keen to tap into this vast Islamic fashion market. The clash between haute couture and religion could not be more obvious in the overwhelmingly Muslim but staunchly secular Turkey. Its strategic location between Asia and Europe provides it with the better of two cultures. Turkish women, who seek to be fashionable and religious, don head scarves to cover their golden locks – but also watch televised prêt-à-porter fashion shows in Paris and leaf through Italian fashion magazines. “98 per cent of Turkish population is Muslim,” says Umit Tanit, commercial counselor of the Turkish Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, “but people have the freedom to choose whatever fashion they want to follow”. This specific necessity in fashion has been the leitmotiv behind the creation of a Turkish company called Tekbir Giyim, founded by Mustafa Karaduman, who spotted the Islamic chic market more than two decades ago. Karaduman, a somewhat Turkish Yves Saint Laurent, is the founding director of the most successful Islamic fashion house in Turkey called Tekbir Giyim. “[Turkish Muslim women] want to be as chic as French women while preserving their religious values,” said Karaduman in an interview with canoe.ca. The fact that Turkish textile and apparel industry is one of the most important sectors in its economy, in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), employment and exports, make its Islamic fashion scene more advanced compared to Malaysia. The share of this sector in the country’s GDP, is around 10 per cent. There are approximately 55,000 manufacturing companies, which employs a total of 690,000 employees. Turkish textiles and apparel industry has a share of 21.5 per cent in Turkish total manufacturing sector. So, how big is the industry actually? Very big, indeed. In 2003, the Turkish textiles and clothing exports reached a behemoth amount of US$15.1 billion, which represents a 25 per cent increase compared to the previous year. Turkey ranks fourth in world exports of knitted clothing and seventh in woven clothing with US$5.7 billion and US$3.8 billion worth of exports respectively. “People can have different choices [in fashion] and these choices have to be addressed by the business community,” says Tanit. Karaduman did just that: he catered to the needs of Muslim women, who were flocking the work force in 1984 when the Turkish government encouraged traditional women to work. “[With Islamic fashion], you both retain your morality and build a modern image for yourself,” said Ayse Saktamber, professor of sociology at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, to canoe.ca. Imagine how easy it gets for women from traditional homes to work in the modern sector – the fashionable cut to their clothes lets them feel comfortable in a secular office, while head scarves, long sleeves and skirts let them retain their families’ respect. The rest, as they say it, is history. Karaduman’s Istanbul-based company grew from a workshop with two sewing machines making 100 garments a week – to a blooming business that produces 10,500 garments a week and own 10 stores in Turkey and one in Saudi Arabia. Tekbir and its sister brand D-8 are the leading names in Islamic fashion, with sales in outlets throughout Turkey and Europe. In a country like Malaysia where the majority of Muslim women are moderately covered, the potential of expanding local Islamic fashion houses is substantial. Pair that with the ongoing efforts by the government to establish Malaysia as an international halal hub, and you will have an all-encompassing concept that can be the centre of puissant market force. © Copyright 2006 by halaljournal.com |
