An Italian clothing firm recently revealed plans to market a unique line of jeans designed especially for Muslim worshippers. The jeans, which will be softer, more flexible and more durable than standard blue jeans, will facilitate repeated kneeling during prayer while offering several added features for observant Muslims.
The northern Italian company which will produce the jeans, “Al Quds” hopes the new product will be a hit on the market with Europe’s 18 million-strong Muslim population and especially with Italy’s growing Muslim population of 1.1 million.
The jeans’ widened leg will allow stretching room during Muslim prayer, while all stitches on the jeans will be green, symbol Islam. In addition, they will have additional pockets so to carry prayer beads in.
Head of the Muslim culture center in Milano, Abdel Hamid Shaari, said that such a product has a potentially vast market in Muslim countries and within the world’s growing Muslim population.
“Around 90 percent of Muslims, at least those not looking for labels like Armani or other brand names, want durable, comfortable and low-cost jeans,” explained Shaari, adding that regular jeans can easily tear and are often stiff.
Commenting on the jeans’ unique design, Luca Kuradi, who ultimately came up with the design for Al Quds, pointed out, “As far as we know, we are the first to come up with such a design.”
Kuradi went on to explain that he came up with the idea for ‘Muslim jeans’ after seeing a newspaper photo of crowds of Muslims bending to pray in jeans. After a month of initial market research, Al Quds decided that no jeans existed that enabled Muslims to pray comfortably.
The jeans’ final design was arrived at only after nearly a year of research in which Muslim worshippers tried praying in various styles of jeans.
The jeans are manufactured in a factory outside of Karachi, Pakistan. “I decided that if these are the first jeans ever to be manufactured for Muslims,” adds Kuradi, “then they ought to be manufactured by Muslims as well.”
