Europe's practicing Muslims have finally found their fit: An Italian clothes firm is producing jeans that are tailor-made for the Islamic world.
The trousers, licensed by an Udine-based firm named Al Quds, are the brainchild of Luca Corradi, an Italian stylist.
"I couldn't help noticing that Muslims bend down to pray several times a day. This movement is not very common in our culture," Corradi told reporters last week.
Higher waist
Corradi realized that Muslims would find Western jeans uncomfortable. So he came up with trousers that are less tight and have a higher waist.
Because Muslims usually take off their watches, glasses and other personal objects during prayer, he also designed larger pockets.
Finally, the seams are made in green -- a sacred color in the Islamic world -- while the shabby look so popular in Western Europe is snubbed.
On Italy's shelves as from last week, the jeans cost 18 euros (US$21).
Because they are being sold by a major French supermarket chain, they should soon find a distribution channel in other European countries as well.
But Al Quds, which is the Arab name for Jerusalem, has also set its sights on the Middle East.
"Our stylist is looking for some help among his Arab colleagues. We hope they will help us start producing a wider range of trousers in the not so distant future," Cavalli said.
Strictly commercial
Asked about the current controversy which surrounds the publication by Western newspapers of cartoons of the Muslim prophet Mohammed, Cavalli said that the Al Quds initiative was "primarily commercial, rather than political."
However, she said that it was time to put an end to the traditional association between jeans and the US.
"Not many people know that jeans were first invented in the Italian city of Genoa, some 200 years ago," Cavalli said.
The jeans should find plenty of buyers among Italy's 700,000 Muslims.
RECYCLE: Taiwan would aid manufacturers in refining rare earths from discarded appliances, which would fit the nation’s circular economy goals, minister Kung said Taiwan would work with the US and Japan on a proposed cooperation initiative in response to Beijing’s newly announced rare earth export curbs, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. China last week announced new restrictions requiring companies to obtain export licenses if their products contain more than 0.1 percent of Chinese-origin rare earths by value. US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent on Wednesday responded by saying that Beijing was “unreliable” in its rare earths exports, adding that the US would “neither be commanded, nor controlled” by China, several media outlets reported. Japanese Minister of Finance Katsunobu Kato yesterday also
‘DRAMATIC AND POSITIVE’: AI growth would be better than it previously forecast and would stay robust even if the Chinese market became inaccessible for customers, it said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday raised its full-year revenue growth outlook after posting record profit for last quarter, despite growing market concern about an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble. The company said it expects revenue to expand about 35 percent year-on-year, driven mainly by faster-than-expected demand for leading-edge chips for AI applications. The world’s biggest contract chipmaker in July projected that revenue this year would expand about 30 percent in US dollar terms. The company also slightly hiked its capital expenditure for this year to US$40 billion to US$42 billion, compared with US$38 billion to US$42 billion it set previously. “AI demand actually
Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), founder and CEO of US-based artificial intelligence chip designer Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Friday celebrated the first Nvidia Blackwell wafer produced on US soil. Huang visited TSMC’s advanced wafer fab in the US state of Arizona and joined the Taiwanese chipmaker’s executives to witness the efforts to “build the infrastructure that powers the world’s AI factories, right here in America,” Nvidia said in a statement. At the event, Huang joined Y.L. Wang (王英郎), vice president of operations at TSMC, in signing their names on the Blackwell wafer to
Taiwan-based GlobalWafers Co., the world’s third largest silicon wafer supplier, on Wednesday opened a 12-inch silicon wafer plant in Novara, northern Italy - the country’s most advanced silicon wafer facility to date. The new plant, coded “Fab300,” was launched by GlobalWafers’ Italian subsidiary MEMC Electronics Materials S.p.A at a ceremony attended by Taiwan’s representative to Italy Vincent Tsai (蔡允中), MEMC President Marco Sciamanna and Novara Mayor Alessandro Canelli. GlobalWafers Chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said the investment marked a milestone in the company’s expansion in Europe, adding that the Novara plant will be powered entirely by renewable energy - a reflection of its
RSS