Occasionally, we receive emails from visitors to the
Al-Hijaab website informing us that they feel that Al-Hijaab prices are too high.
We are sympathetic to this point of view. However, Al-Hijaab is an ethical
producer of high quality, contemporary Islamic clothing; this naturally
comes with a price. We have produced this short explanation in order to
clarify what goes into producing high quality Islamic clothing.
1) Al-Hijaab is an ethical Islamic clothing company keeping all aspects of a
workers needs and requirements in mind, guaranteeing worker rights regarding working hours, overtime, holidays etc.
Workers continuously work on the work load they receive from us as well as
work on Express Service orders hence the overtime they put into meeting
the customers needs. The Express Service is when the customer wants a
tailor made jilbab urgently (paying an extra sum - which goes to paying
the overtime) their order is produced.
Al-Hijaab tries to keep a religious work
environment - not only do the staff pray regularly but visitors to our
factory and offices are often surprised at the pleasant environment they
find.
2) Al-Hijaab produces original, innovative designs
specifically made with the Western Muslim in mind. Designing and creating
original patterns is not an easy or cheap process by any means. It
requires a talented team of designers and pattern cutters. The time and
effort involved in producing any individual piece is longer than the
average jilbab time, this is mainly because each garment is cut and sewn
by hand, in addition to this the embroidery and stonework that goes into
producing the design is done by hand. Which by now you could understand it
does not merely take one hour but rather 3+ hours.
3) Al-Hijaab uses high quality materials,
sourced from the top producers. Many of the garments are made with two
layers, one for the lining underneath and the above out layer - many of
our customers ask if the jilbab has two layers for the reason that it is
not transparent in accordance to the rulings of Islam. In addition, Al-Hijaab makes
great efforts to produce its garments according to the highest standards
of sewing and general production quality and is always looking to improve
its merchandise.
Al-Hijaab’s Islamic designs require a great
deal of fabric in their construction. Fabric is the major factor in the
cost of a garment. There are two main reasons why Islamic clothing
utilizes up to double the amount of material compared with some of the
alternative mainstream designs on the market:
a. Islamic clothing is full sleeved (especially for
women) and, in the cases of jilbabs, full length, unlike
mainstream designs which are often short-sleeved or sleeveless, or which
show the legs. Our men's and women's tops are also much longer than
typical mainstream designs.
b. Islamic clothing is cut much wider than normal designs to allow a
modest fit which does not show the shape of the body.
Finally, customers point out the delivery charge as being too high. All out goods are shipped using Royal Mail - we could have opted for the cheapest
possible service they offer but this did not cover any damage or loss
while in transit, this in effect would have disappointed the customer.
Although we did not choose the most expensive service out there, we went
for the ceapest but the most reliable meaning that if your delivery was
lost we could claim the loss for you and it would have a guaranteed
delivery date. The cheapest delivery would take 5 working days within the
UK never mind international delivery, but with the first class service we
offer most of the time customers receive the delivery the very next day.
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