Indonesia, having largest Muslim population in the world is on the way to become the global Islamic fashion capital, especially for Muslim women. Indonesia has a population of over 250 million, of which 85 per cent are Muslims. Indonesian Muslim women, including young girls, are increasingly wearing Islamic clothing as they are fashionable, decent, practical and comfortable.
According to Deputy Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Emilia Suhaimi, Indonesia is designated to emerge as the worlds Islamic fashion capital by 2020, and that the country is close to achieving that target. Besides being the largest Muslim populated country in the world, says Suhaini, Indonesia’s Islamic culture is open to modernisation, tolerance, pluralism and diversity.
Malls and shops specializing in selling Islamic clothing are also on the rise in Jakarta and other cities such as Thamrin City, Tanah Abang, and Cempaka Mas Malls. Specific shops offering high-quality Islamic fashion are the Shafira, Al-Fira, Al-Misa, Kisa, Zara, Zahra, and Rabbani, among others. And online shops like Hijabenka HijUp, Saqina, Muslimarket, Zoya, Zalora, Elzatta, Idhijab, Rahma o-shop, Artizara, Inayah, and Modanisa are now actively retailing Muslim fashion. Islamic fashion shows are also organised in the city every year to promote the domestic Islamic fashion industry at the international level.
Such events include Indonesian Muslim Fashion Week (IMFW) which was organised in Bandung, West Java, from July 18-20, 2014, the annual International Indonesian Islamic Fashion Fair held in September 2015 at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) organised by the Indonesia Islamic Fashion Consortium (IIFC). Muslim fashion designers from the country also participate in overseas exhibitions.
The sector will be worth $327 billion by 2020, according to the State of the Global Islamic Economy report. The 1.6 billion Muslim consumers spent $266 billion on clothing in 2013, and are projected to spend $484 billion by 2019, according to a report by Thomson Reuters and Dinar Standard, a Muslim market research firm.
