Welcome to the official Brown Man Clothing Co. blog site. The powers that be at Brown Man Clothing Co. assigned me with the task of creating a blog. That is what us marketing people do, we get the jobs that no one else wants to do! But don't tell them that I said that! So what am I to do? I guess tell you all about Brown Man Clothing Co. . and what we do and how we do it and who we do it for, etc. Wow, that may take some time. So relax, sit back, have a samosa, have some chai because here we go!
When people ask about Brown Man Clothing Co., they always want to know if we have ever receive hate mail regarding our images. What it comes down to is that you will never please everyone. Especially in our desi culture!
The short answer is yes, we have received 'negative' remarks regarding our clothing. Of course, as everyone can imagine, the bulk of it is about our best seller for men "Hijabi's Are Hot!"
The shirt depicts a line art drawing of a traditional Islamic woman wearing a hijab, a head garment, with the caption, 'Hijabi's Are Hot!'
What is the big deal? Some say that the hijab is to be a sign of modesty, a sign of a woman being humble and not an accessory to personify beauty. There is a story of how this image became and it when I asked the founder of Brown Man Clothing Co. he responded by stating; "... the inspiration came during a trip to the Middle East. While at a mall, I looked around and saw these goregous women all dressed in black with big beautiful eyes and sublte make up. I could not take my eyes off these women as even though they were covered from head to toe, there was something that was so intriguing! Something mysterious! It was then, when I missed my mouth while trying to take a sip from my chai that 'Hijabi's are hot!'"
Recently, during a South Asian festival, I saw a young male wearing this shirt. Beside him, was his mother who was wearing a hijab. I felt compelled to ask his mother what she felt about the image. I downed my chaat papri and my lassi and asked her how she felt about this image. Expecting to get some sort of "These bastard teenagers these days! They need to get married!' response, she suprisingly responded by saying the shirt was in fact a good promotion of Islamic women and how it indicates that the women that wear the hijab are not necessarily uptight religious fundamentals but in fact modern, liberated women.
So really, is it pushing the envelope? Has it gone to far? Or is this the first step in accepting and advertising to the world how beautiful Islam really is? We'd love to know what you think.
