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LONDON: For Anas Sillwood, a British convert to Islam who moved to Jordan in the 1990s, Shariah-compliant fashion started out as a way of supporting himself while he studied Arabic and religion.
Sillwood, who founded Shukr LLC in 2000, said he saw a gap in the market for elegant, understated clothing that would appeal to Western Muslims. Fifteen years later, his company designs, manufactures and sells clothing online and through three stores.
“My goal is not to be a full-time merchant,” said Silverwood, who plans to open five to 10 more outlets in the next five years, in a telephone interview from Amman on Tuesday. “But then it snowballed. By 2005 and 2006, our sales started to grow dramatically, and it became clear that there was a lot of potential in this industry.”
The industry, which for centuries was dominated by small family-owned businesses, is now attracting interest from Islamic finance centers. Duty-free design centers have been set up in Dubai, including Islamic fashion. STC Ventures, a venture capital fund backed by Saudi Telecom, said in February that it had invested in Modanisa.com, a Turkish Islamic clothing website. The Islamic Fashion Festival was held in Kuala Lumpur in 2006 and has held fashion shows in 17 cities including London, New York and Jakarta.
Interest is growing as Muslims around the world choose to spend and manage their finances in a Sharia-compliant manner. The global halal industry, which includes food, textiles, tourism and healthcare, is set to double to $6.4 trillion (Dh23.51 trillion) by 2018 from 2012, according to the Malaysia International Center for Islamic Finance. Islamic banking assets are also expected to double to $3.4 trillion by 2018 from 2013 levels, according to Ernst & Young LLP.
Brand Gap
“The Muslim fashion and lifestyle business is still seen as an underdeveloped retail space,” said Abas A. Jalil, chief executive of consultancy Amanah Capital Group Ltd. in Kuala Lumpur. “We haven’t seen many famous or well-known global Muslim fashion brands selling in different countries,” he said in an April 3 email interview.
According to the 2014-2015 State of the Global Islamic Economy report by Thomson Reuters and New York-based research firm Dinar Standard, spending on Islamic clothing and footwear will grow 82 percent to $484 billion by 2019 from 2013. The increase in spending is underpinned by a Muslim population of 1.6 billion, which Pew Research Center predicts will grow at the fastest rate of any major religion to 2.9 billion by 2050.
dubai hub
The Dubai Design District is part of the emirate’s plan to become the global capital of the Islamic economy. Companies located in the center will receive tax breaks, according to the district’s website.
“The lack of global Islamic clothing brands presents unique opportunities for Emirati fashion designers,” Abdul Rahman Saif Al Ghurair, board member of the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Center, said in an email interview on April 7.
Shariah-compliant fashion websites have mushroomed in recent years, with Dinar Standard estimating that Muslims bought $4.8 billion in clothing and accessories online in 2013. Turkey’s Modanisa.com offers Islamic clothing and headscarves, Australia’s Ahiida.com sells burkinis and Malaysia’s Nashata.com sells Sharia-compliant sportswear.
London-based online Muslim fashion retailer Aab opened a boutique in the city last month and plans to expand to the UAE within 1-1/2 years, Aab’s creative director Nazmin Alim said in a call on March 31. said in the interview.
funding limit
Access to capital can be a problem for smaller fashion companies, according to Samak Consultants LLP, an Islamic finance consultant in London. Only 17 percent of lenders in the Middle East and North Africa that serve small businesses offer Shariah loans, Samina Akram, Samak’s managing partner, said citing data from the Washington-based International Finance Corporation.
“SMEs are on the rise, eager to get a piece of the pie and break into the market,” she said in an April 6 email interview. “The challenge for entrepreneurs is to find financing opportunities that match their beliefs, business ethos and needs.”
Retailers are targeting a wider audience with products aimed at dispelling the perception that Shariah-compliant clothing is gloomy and predominantly black. Designers are launching women’s tunics and headscarves, embellished with colour, embroidery and fringe, and men’s jackets with gold trim and brightly colored scarves.
“It has to cross the line of catering to Muslims only,” Islamic Fashion Festival founder Raja Rezza Shah said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur on March 25. “The only way to do that is to make it look more stylish than religious.”
exciting market
Malaysian designer Lee Khoon Hooi, who presented an Islamic collection at the festival three years ago, said he was surprised by the number of inquiries he has since received. Muslim clothing, including floral hooded kaftans and ankle-length silk skirts, could double this year to about 10 percent of his sales, he said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur on March 30.
“The Muslim fashion market is an extremely exciting and lucrative market,” said Romanna Bint-Abubaker, chief executive of fashion website Haute Arabia, in an April 7 email from London. “A generation of young, confident and tech-savvy Muslims feeling satisfied and proud of their faith” is driving demand, she said.
– Bloomberg
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