MT @ ISNA

Asalaamu Alaykum everyone,

Hows it all goin? It’s back to school for me, and I’d like to say that its nice being back on campus. Although the weather has been sliiightly unpredictable, [thanks to global warming! but thats another story for another rainy day] seeing everyone after a long summer, and taking some pretty nifty classes – has mos def been chillin.

So – as AbdulAziz mentioned in the post below, MuslimTees will be at the annual ISNA convention in Chicago this weekend, inshaAllah. We’ll have the long-sleeve tees juust for sisters AND some new designs, iA. Also – watch for information about BringChange$, a fundraising program juust for MSA’s & youth groups. We’ll be at booth #1911, so come introduce yourself and see what MT is all about.

I’ll have to say, I’m pretty excited for ISNA. Since it’s the largest Muslim gathering in North America, at LEAST 10,000 – 20,000 people praying together is something we don’t see too often. I knew someone who started praying simply after seeing this sight. People seem to forget this aspect quite often. There’s big populations of Muslims in big cities around the U.S. such as Houston and New York, but mid-size and small town Muslims don’t always get the chance to experience this.

 MT is all about uniting all types of Muslims in America with a common culture, and ISNA is a good place to start to achieve that, iA.

Well, see ya’ll there inshaAllah!

wa salams
-nora

Long-Sleeved Sister Shirts. Introduced. Explained.

AA,

Big news. Tell all your friends… 

Yes, you read correctly. Sister shirts are finally here! After collecting your valuable input (http://muslimtees.com/blog/2006/11/) we found that there were strong feelings about certain shirt characteristics. Right now we have about 95 shirts made and ready to be rocked! We only made 100 because we’re still broke, we just graduated from college! InshAllah, we will be releasing the shirts at ISNA 2007 Bazaar (booth #1911), so get there early and buy your favorite shirts because sizes will not last very long. The shirts will be available online mid-September inshAllah. This blog post is dedicated to the rationale behind why we decided to go with American Apparel’s long sleeve shirt.

Now, I know a lot of you have been wondering why it took so long for us to get long-sleeved shirts printed. Well, besides being full-time college students at the time (did I mention that we graduated!?), we were literally on a shirt hunt for almost 4 months. After spending three months collecting some really great and honest responses from sisters around the world our main criteria for the shirt was (in order of importance): fit, cuff styles, fabric quality, and color options.
                          
We kind of knew that fit was going to be the most important. Sisters told us that they were sick of drowning in unisex long-sleeved shirts that, as one sister put it, had as much shape as a “potato bag.” Many of you also expressed the concern that you wanted something that was form-fitting but not too revealing. Finding a shirt that matched this was really difficult because people’s preferences vary largely. We think we did a fair job to accomadate and ask for shared responsibility on how the shirts are worn. We’ll have a lot of pictures online to show you how the shirt fits. If you are concerned about the fit you may want to up a size to be sure. Feel free to email Nora (nora@muslimtees.com) for sisterly advice.

We had NO idea that cuff styles were so important. None whatsoever. Apparently the scrunchy, elastic-like cuffs on unisex long-sleeved shirts were as annoying as they were unappealing. We made sure that our cuff was a natural extension of the sleeve and had no scrunchy, elastic-like cuffs on them whatsoever.

Fabric quality was another surprise, for guys, on average,  I think the biggest important factor of fabric quality is if it is wrinkle resistant. Sisters informed us that they wanted fabric that was light, breathable, and not transparent basically something that could be layered. We hit all three with the American Apparel shirt; it is not your run-of-the-mill shirt. It feels a lot softer and the quality is noticeably higher than our regular line.

Finally, sisters told us that they love color. While maintaining a nice set of basics (reds, blues, blacks, and whites) sisters encouraged us to try some newer and bolder colors (purples, oranges, greens, and yellows) which we would like to do as we slowly grow our sister’s collection.

Now, the drawbacks. You know we weren’t going to make the perfect shirt given our in-debt-recently-graduated-from-college-trying-to-start-a-business-budget! First, you’ll notice that we’ve limited the number of old designs that have been created as long-sleeved shirts. The old designs that we’re using are Islam-Africa, La Tree (black), ARTiculate, Skyscrape, and a brand new design just for sisters. We are limited by budgetary constraints and the fact that we want to see how well the shirt is received to decide if we should continue to use it. This was strictly a capital allocation decision.

The shirt is a little more expensive than our short-sleeve shirt. Our margins are the same on both the long-sleeved and the short sleeved shirt; we don’t make more off of the long-sleeved shirt. If we sold the long-sleeved shirt at the short-sleeved price we would enjoy a loss on every shirt (that is to say, we wouldn’t enjoy selling them nor would we be able to for very long). That’s the price rationale.

The biggest drawback of the shirt is probably the length. They are probably not as long as some sisters require their shirts to be. Now, that doesn’t mean that they are short it is just a fair warning that they do not go down to one’s mid-leg. If MuslimTees becomes financial mature to walk on it’s own feet then we definitely would revisit our desires to actually make our own shirts. But at this point of time, in our lives and the life of the business it is just not possible.

However, you should know now that we would not just end it like that! Ohhh no. Modesty is chic and here to stay! With that, it is my great pleasure to announce that MuslimTees will be releasing a “Style Guide” which will showcase new ways to rock MuslimTees gear (especially long-sleeved shirts) with the latest fashion. If anyone is heavy on the fashion sense shoot us an email or pictures (service@muslimtees.com). But if no one does don’t worry because I, Aziz, once had a subscription to GQ for a while….if that counts for anything…probably not so help!

There you have it. We’ve laid all our chips on the table, you now know what happened, how we thought, and why we thought it. So, now that you know…what do you think? There are no wrong answers. Let us have it.

Salaam.Z.

ALiM Reflection

Asalaaamu alaykum MT’ers!  

Nice to meet you all. I love MT, looking forward to repping all the sisters out there soo just holler! 

I recently returned from a month-long Islamic Studies intensive program known as ALIM ( American Learning Institute for Muslims), located in Livonia, Michigan. It was an amazing experience to say the least, alhamdulillah. I met so many Muslims from all over the US and created the start of life-lasting bonds of friendship and sisterhood, inshaAllah.

I wrote a short reflection which was compiled along with the rest of the students’ reflections into a booklet. Before I sound any more like an infomercial, here’s my reflection; enjoy, and feel free to leave comments/ask questions/etc.

ALiM is one of the few things in my life that I made myself attend, for a couple of reasons. Aware that I wouldn’t be attending a spiritual retreat in the mountains and eating organic food, I was prepared for an academic month of cafeteria food and non air-conditioned dorms. However, incredible scholars filled the days with sessions, encouraging dialogue and provoking thought with earnest students. Controversial topics of discussion were often delved into as one peels a grapefruit past sourness to the sweet center.

Just as one nervously flips over a tanjara of Maqlooba, we hoped the form would stay, that the rice, eggplant, cauliflower and chicken – all important components of this favored middle eastern dish – stayed intact and didn’t create an absolute mess of Mafroota, so that we could enjoy the sprinkled pine-nuts on top, as a final touch.  

I am a firm believer that knowledge is power and we often tend to underestimate this. When one seeks out the knowledge found at ALiM, they will have only opened the doors to understanding Islam and Muslims in America. Towards the end of the program, the notion of Islam in America was not even a question, but rather it had become the answer.

This turned out to be one of the most important choices I’ve made in my life. It has opened the door to many horizons, to possibilities that previously seemed to be part of another realm. Sometimes we may be quick to put our guard up, regarding knowledge that gives us the chance and opportunity to identify and confirm who we are – Muslims Americans, no contest involved. ALiM gave me the chance to face everything, stare reality in the face and just take it all on. I encourage anyone who has time to attend the summer program or the winter programs, which are held in different places each time. 

until next time, iA!

wasalams

-nora

The other side…

AA,

My current residence is Dharahn, Saudi Arabia and one thing that has recently caught my attention is heavy use of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia. I’ve always known it, I’ve seen it on all my visits but the way I think about it is a bit different.

The thing that has prompted this posting is the shock of seeing foreign workers that physically resemble some of my Desi acquaintances in the US. The resemblance on some of my friends is uncanny. I still can’t get over it (don’t worry guys, I won’t name names…until I get a picture of me with them and tag it on facebook ;P buwahhahahaaa ). Seeing third worlders that looked just like first worlders (if that is correct terminology) made me wonder how easy it would be for any of us in the US to be in their shoes. I mean, think about it. What if our parents never came to where we reside today? What would we be like? What opportunities would we have or, more importantly, not have? At the end of the day, what really makes us different from our counterparts in developing nations?

I should be careful of what I recommend. Asking “what if” might not be the best questions to ask yourself because you can ask a million crazy “what if” scenarios. Maybe a better question to ask is “what opportunities can I take advantage of in my current situation that I would have had to foregone if I was in the old country?” I ask this question remembering how many times I complained about college course work, my job, MuslimTees road bumps, but in reality I should be humbled by having the opportunity try all these things and put forth even more effort.

I was expressing these ideas to my father when he mentioned that for these workers, the opportunity to work in Saudi Arabia is a dream. It was a difficult idea to realize. This is the nature of economies, the dance of economic proponents that filter themselves to areas that pay out a relatively higher monetary output regardless of the unattractiveness of the work. My father also pointed out that if Pakistan had the oil instead of Saudi Arabia, you would see a large number of Saudis working in Pakistan. Basically, just as you can not choose the family you are born in to you can’t select the economic environment that you are born in to.

But where you start off does not determine where you will end up. There are numerous stories and examples of people taking their economic fate into their own hands (we will talk about these strategies later on inshAllah). The driving point that I wanted to get at today was for myself to re-categorize the challenges that I have before me. I no longer want to think of them as burdens or even challenges but as opportunities. I no longer want to complain about studying but rather be motivated to learn and to teach those who have not been given the same opportunity. I want to be part of the solution and help leveling the entrance barriers for ambitious people.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed, tired of school or work, and tired of whatever think of how your life would be on the other side…

Salaam.Z.