What most businesses know about Islamic fashion is probably wrong

A linear thinking marked the 20th century: as modernity prevailed, religion was to assimilate into mainstream society; if not, it was going to become marginal to contemporary institutions.

Markets, for example, saw religion as something that required little or no attention. The turn of the millennium, however, has proved this thinking to be wrong.

New religious commentary emerged that neither rejected modernity nor assimilated to it, but engaged markets, party politics, and civic society by submitting them to religious sensibilities.

RISE OF ISLAMIC FASHION

The conservative apparel industry, in particular Islamic fashion, is one such place where this new style of religious engagement is quite evident.

Once paid little attention, the Islamic apparel industry is now projected to be worth around $300 billion in the coming few years, a number that has attracted even the Western fashion giants.

Indeed, the last two Ramadhans we saw DKNY, MANGO, Tommy Hilfiger, and Net-A-Porter modifying their mainstream designs to the religiously-informed needs of Muslim women.

While companies were quick to recognize the potential of the Islamic apparel industry, most have failed to understand what the coming together of hijab and contemporary fashion actually means.

This is not merely a question of intellectual curiosity; it has practical consequences for business professionals.

NOT ABOUT CONSUMERISM

A crucial mistake Muslim and Western actors alike make is that they reduce the rising Muslim interest in contemporary fashion to a new-fangled Islamic consumerism, spurred by increased wealth, globalization, and Muslim immigration, and spearheaded by a brand-conscious Westernized Muslim youth.

Yet, rather than an ostentatious appetite for Western-consumerism, the boom in the Islamic apparel sector is about increased Muslim participation in public life, spaces, and activities.

This is most evident for modest sportswear. 

Consider a thirteen-year-old Muslim girl. She loves playing basketball. She reaches puberty and now she is to cover.

The question that will determine whether she will continue to play —recreationally or professionally— is not: “Can I shoot a ball?”  Instead, it is: “What am I gonna wear now?”

Consider also this: a hijabi physical therapist writing for a Turkish lifestyle magazine advises Muslim women to choose swimming as an exercise to prevent joint injury.

For women who lack the option of gender-segregated pools or beaches, the same question arises: “…but what am I going to wear?”

Muslim women ask this question because markets do not provide them with adequate options.

So far, secular norms and aesthetics have dominated the fashion industry, especially sportswear: You have to wear a bikini to swim, or tight-fitting workout clothes to train.

Covering, in contrast, is viewed to be antithetical to sports; more broadly, hijab is seen as a barrier to public agency and life, whether this is in fashion and sports or education and the workplace.

This assumed binary has resulted in designs that are either appropriate to religion but not to sports activity, or that are appropriate to sports but not to religion.

In the last few years, however, Muslim women have been challenging this binary; they are still committed to religion while they are increasingly taking part in modern life.

For entrepreneurs, this must signal the need for innovative designs that can balance requirements of faith with that of contemporary life, spaces, and activities.

Indeed, there are businesses that have done precisely that.

ISLAMIC SPORTSWEAR AS ENABLER

Take the hasema, the first Islamic swimsuits. The first producer of hasema in Turkey, Mehmet Sahin, is known as “the man who made Muslim women swim”. This epithet clearly communicates the distance that used to exist between Muslim women and swimming as a cultural exercise.

The hasema brought in a revolution: the company did not simply sell swimming gear; it sold the possibility of engaging an activity -- swimming -- and public spaces (e.g. the beach) that used to be closed to Muslim women.

Another example is the bonnet produced by Sefamerve, which allows safe coverage even throughout intense physical activity. It has sold close to 1 million units.  

Products that solve actual problems of Muslim women will sell in large numbers as they help the women advance their everyday lives.

This is where companies will find growth and success.

THE REAL QUESTIONS BUSINESSES MUST ADDRESS          

For Muslim women, the question of “what am I going to wear?” translates to:

What activities can I engage in?

What spaces can I enter?

Can I become a professional athlete?

Hence, rather than expanding one’s fashion choices, fashion in the Islamic context is about expanding women’s life options and plans. This is why the Islamic fashion market is worth billions.

There is one final note: companies that insist to reduce the coming together of hijab and contemporary design to mere consumerism are likely and rightfully to be confronted by backlashes from Muslim segments: hijab is not a fashion item; it is a religious commitment.

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