Inshallah there will be more to come from these generous sisters, so keep an eye on them.

To enter, please send 1) a picture of yourself in SHUKR clothing to contest[at]shukrclothing[dot]com (no larger than 500kb and in .jpg format), and please include 2) your full name and hometown. Then, 3) become a fan of our new Facebook page! We will soon be migrating away from our Facebook Group, but don’t worry–we won’t disappear entirely.

We will then add your photo to a new photo album (soon to be created and linked to) on our Facebook Page of our wonderful SHUKR fans. We do ask that typical standards of Islamic modesty be observed, or we may be unable to post your photo. Also, if you do not want us to display your whole name, just let us know. Finally, if any of the requested elements above are missing, unfortunately, you will not qualify for the random drawing. By entering, it means that you give us permission to post your photo.

The winner will be chosen randomly and announced on our Facebook page and blog on July 1st. That person will then receive an electronic gift certificate which they can use at their choosing, and does not expire.

Inshallah, this is just the beginning, as we have much more planned for you!

P.S. Please let us know what SHUKR garment you are wearing in your picture.

To what extent has internet shopping become an important tool for those who want to combine fashion with faith? How is modesty defined in different faith communities? And how far are religious identities and appearances being re-shaped through the market?

These are just some of the questions that are arising in relation to increased participation in modest fashion. LCF Professor of Cultural Studies Reina Lewis and Dr Emma Tarlo, Reader in Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London, invite you to a special event to mark the launch of a new AHRC/ESRC- funded research project on modest fashion. With increasing numbers of women choosing to dress modestly due to their religious beliefs, a distinguished panel will discuss whether a new market is emerging for consumers from different faith groups. In addition, they will explore the potential impact for inter-faith dialogue of these shared dress practices among Muslim, Jewish, and Christian women.

Joining Reina and Emma in the consideration of these important questions will be LCF Visiting Professor Annelies Moors, Professor of contemporary Muslim societies at the department of anthropology and sociology, University of Amsterdam, and principal investigator of an international NORFACE research programme on ‘The emergence of Islamic fashion in Europe’, and Professor Niloofar Haeri, Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, and author of Sacred Language, Ordinary People: Dilemmas of Culture and Politics, currently studying comparative concepts of modesty in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Following the discussion, there will be a reception to celebrate the release of Emma Tarlo’s book, Visibly Muslim: Fashion, Politics, Faith (Berg, 2010). We at SHUKR were honored to be mentioned in her book as part of her investigation of how fashion and faith interact for British Muslims. This exciting new book has already been given some excellent reviews (see below) and we highly recommend it.

“Beautifully written and compelling, Emma Tarlo’s new book finds a way to be fair-minded in the political minefield that surrounds the dress of visibly Muslim women in the UK. Animated by the nuanced detail of sartorial biographies and documenting changes in hijab fashion, Visibly Muslim provides a sophisticated examination of the dramatic increase in covered dressing and the reasons why it continues to matter so much to its practitioners and observers. This makes an essential read.”

–Reina Lewis, Professor of Cultural Studies, London College of Fashion. Author of Rethinking Orientalism: Women, Travel and the Ottoman Harem.

“Tarlo’s finely written analysis of Muslim women’s dress choices in Britain is sensitive, thoughtful and measured– a refreshing counterpoint to the two dimensional media coverage of the subject. She examines such choices from multiple angles: personal, aesthetic, social, religious and political, while making sure that we understand the dynamism inherent in decisions about dress.”

–Niloofar Haeri, Professor of Anthropology, John Hopkins University. Author of Sacred Language: Ordinary People, Dilemmas of Culture and Politics in Egypt

We are indeed repeating the items below, but they will not be in the next shipment as I stated. Rather, it may be a month or two. Sorry for the confusion!

****Update!****

Missed some of our new arrivals? Then we have good news for you! For the next shipment, we will indeed be restocking the Pleiku Tunic (US, UK, Canada) , the Light Jersey Maliki Hoodie (US, UK) and the French Cuffed Tunic (US, UK, Canada). Look for them around the end of March.

For lovers of Tencel (US, UK, Canada), in about two month’s time, we will be getting some new stock in.

If these are items on your wish list, then please take this opportunity to sign up for our mailing list on the appropriate country page of our website, www.shukronline.com. That way you’ll receive our “new arrivals” email, indicating that the new stock is available to purchase. First dibs will be all yours.

The Pleiku Tunic (US, UK, Canada)

Clearly, cotton tunics are the winner!

We used to repeat styles over many seasons, but now like most professional clothing companies, SHUKR now has an in-house design team to product new designs every season. Therefore, this list may not reflect your personal favorites that you’re longing to see again.

What are the designs that you love and want to see more of? Are there any that SHUKR should consider bringing back?

10. The 100% Cotton Embroidered Hera Tunic (currently out of stock, but available in Linen without embroidery: US)

9. The 100% Cotton Light Tunic Shirt (currently out of stock)

8. The Hooded Moroccan Zaytuna Cloak (USA, UK, Canada)

7. The Asymmetrical Flared Skirt (USA, UK, Canada)

6. The 100% Cotton Pintucked Tunic (currently out of stock)

5. The Laced Tunic (USA, UK, Canada)

4. The 100% Cotton Cocoon Tunic (USA, UK, Canada)

3. The Princess Dress (USA, UK, Canada)

2. The Trompe L’oeil Tunic (USA, UK, Canada)

1. The Contrast Tunic (USA, UK, Canada)

We’d love to hear your feedback on your favorite styles, fabrics and designs.

Fabrics made from the same fiber (for example 100% rayon) can have different appearances, feels, and drapes because of their weave. A fabric weave is simply the pattern for manufacturing a fabric. Weaves can be simple, complicated, artistic, or even incorporate different kinds of materials in order to change their flexibility, strength, stability, durability, and texture, among other qualities. Oftentimes, weaves and fabrics are often mistaken for each other. One good example is Jacquard. This is actually a type of weave, not a fabric, and can be made from polyester, rayon, silk, etc. (For more info, see this article from the Textile Exchange).

In order to find out more about fabric in general, please visit our intensive explanation page about fabrics on our site called the “Fabric Guide.”

In the meantime, I’ll provide a brief overview of the most common types of each fabric we stock, and then give examples of each one from our website. This will likely be most helpful to those already familiar with our garments; however, we hope it will be useful for new SHUKR customers as well.

On each item webpage on the US site, like for the Selina Dresstop with Pockets (US, UK, Canada), you will see a ‘More info’ tab to the right of the main image. When you click on it, the first thing listed is “Fabric Type.”

So, what does that mean?

1. Code. SHUKR, like all companies, often uses the same fabrics for many designs. Repeat customers may like a fabric of a particular garment they purchased in the past and would like to know what other products are available in this same fabric. In order to help customers we have now included a code for all fabrics that we use. In this example, the code is R16. Other garments made with this fabric are the Cowl Neck Trapeze Top (US, UK, Canada) and the Embroidered Short Moroccan Djelleba (US, UK, Canada).

2. The weight and thickness are fairly self-explanatory. This particular garment is ‘light’ weight, and is “thin.’

3. The third category, “class” deserves a little more explanation. “Class” refers to the fabric construction, meaning either ‘woven’ or ‘knitted.’

A woven fabric is made nowadays by high-tech specialist weaving machines, which interlace 2 distinct set of straight threads, one running lengthwise (warp thread), the other crosswise (weft thread). There are 3 basic types of weave: plain, twill and satin (yes, satin is actually a type of weave and not a type of fabric).

A knitted fabric, on the other hand, is made by a machine that directs the yarn on a meandering path, forming symmetric loops symmetrically above and below the mean path of the yarn. Knitted fabrics normally have a lot more elasticity than woven fabrics. Jersey is a popular type of knitted fabric which SHUKR often uses.

Here is a list of the most common fabric codes that SHUKR uses, along with some examples of garments from each:

Cotton:

C1 –The Inspiration Blouse (US, UK, Canada) and the 100% Cotton Cocoon Tunic (US, UK, Canada)

C3 – The Guardamar Twill Cotton Jilbab (US, UK, Canada).

C12 –The Princess Dress (US, UK, Canada)

C18 – The Long Corduroy Shirt (US, UK, Canada)

C24 – The City Hoodie (US, UK, Canada), The Racing Stripes Hoodie (US, UK, Canada)

Denim:

D23 — L.A Denim Jilbab (US, UK, Canada), Najma Jeans (US, UK, Canada), Leah Denim Shirtdress (US, UK, Canada)

Linen:

L11 – The Linen Shangri-La Dress (US, Canada)

Rayon:

R16 – The Cowl Neck Trapeze Top (US, UK, Canada), The Embroidered Short Moroccan Djelleba (US, UK, Canada)

R3 – The Embroidered Sleeve Duster (US, UK, Canada), The Cowl Neck Abaya (US, UK, Canada)

R8 – The Sporty Top (US, Canada)

R22 – The Gia Lai Dress (US, UK, Canada)

R19 – The Shawl Cardigan (US, UK, Canada)

Tencel:

R21 – The Tencel Denim Duster (US, UK, Canada)

I hope this was helpful. What are your favorite fabrics/weaves? What would you love to see from SHUKR?

Salam,

I nearly placed an order on a site because their items were so similar to yours. I then realized that the pictures were from your previous seasons. (I think so anyway). The site is called

barakallah.com.

Are these your resellers? If so I apologize.

However I have read very negative feedback for this site from Muslimah blogs.

Allah hu Alim

Regards,

(A very nice sister whose name we would like to protect)

P.S. I bought my items from Shukr instead, Alhamdulilah

We would like to thank the sisters and brothers who brought to our attention the fact that these websites are using our photos (without our permission). May Allah reward you.

Only certified SHUKR re-sellers and affiliates have the right to use our photos.

Currently, those re-sellers are:

(USA) al Muhajabat

(USA) Hijab Fashions

(Canada) Bahiya Collections

(France) Iqra Shop

(France) Orientica

(Singapore) al Qismah

(UK) The Islamic Establishment

(Germany) Silk Route Design

Any other websites, including Barakallah.com, are not affiliated with us. The photos on other sites have been taken without our permission, and the clothing they are selling is not related to our products. SHUKR quality is only guaranteed when it is sold through our website. You can identify genuine SHUKR clothing simply by looking at the label. All of our clothing features SHUKR’s distinctive label at the neck with our logo on it. If the garment doesn’t have our label, it isn’t genuine SHUKR clothing.

Every collection that SHUKR features on our website has an extraordinary amount of hard work behind it. Each product starts in the sketch pad of our designers before it moves to the pattern cutters and the garment workers. We have a quality control process where every garment is inspected. We package and ship these products overseas for sale. When we photograph our garments, we hire a professional photographer, pay models, rent locations, and provide transportation and food. The photos are then processed for the website by our staff. In all, the work of approximately 100 people, from sewers to graphic designers, goes into the products and photographs you see on our website.

When others take advantage of the hard work the Muslims at SHUKR have done without permission or compensation, those Muslims are harmed. SHUKR works hard to create a product and brand that is unique. We feel sure that companies that aim to serve the Muslim community would not knowingly harm other Muslims. Each company has something unique to offer the Muslim community and should do their own work to highlight and showcase that unique something, rather than relying on the work of others.

Please be careful when ordering from online sites. It is an excellent idea to ‘Google’ them for reviews before you commit yourselves to any transaction.

If there are every any questions about whether or not a product you see online is actually a SHUKR product, always feel free to contact us through our support site or to call us. In the UK we can be reached at +44 208 090 7151, and in the US, you can reach us at (203) 304-2379.

Our main store in Syria is in the capital Damascus, in a historically conservative religious area called the Midan, just a few steps away from al-Hasan masjid.

We stock pretty much all the styles that you see on the website. The local taste is very similar to that of customers in the West, although Syrians are a lot more crazy about pants and not so keen on dresses.

One of the benefits of a physical store is that it enables us to display the clothing in color-coordinated sections, giving customers ideas about what outfits might look good matched together.

We also have a section of a new mall that has opened up in a countryside area of Damascus called Harasta.

Finally, our 3rd store is in the student area of Damascus called Rukn al-Din. This store is used mainly to stock slightly imperfect items which are sold for a discount. This was the first store we opened in Damascus and is well known amongst the foreign students here.

~ Anas, Managing Partner

In terms of selection, the site is new and obviously doesn’t have the huge selection of the US website.  However, a greater selection of styles will be available as time goes on, insha’ Allah.  To stay informed of new arrivals and other Canadian lists, please subscribe to the SHUKR Canada mailing list on the SHUKR Canada Homepage.