ABSTRACT
The increasing numbers of Muslims who identify with the transnational community of the Ummah has been central to the development of Islamic and Islamist politics and to new forms of Islamic consumer culture such as Islamic fashion and apparel signifying piety and modesty for many Muslim women. Using a series of case studies, this chapter adopts sociological approaches to everyday religion alongside critical marketing studies to investigate the advantages and risks posed to fashion designer/entrepreneurs and consumers once Muslims are constructed as a consumer segment.
The increasing numbers of Muslims who identify with the transnational community of the Ummah has been central to the development of Islamic and Islamist politics and to new forms of Islamic consumer culture such as Islamic fashion and apparel signifying piety and modesty for many Muslim women. This chapter presents sociological approaches to everyday religion alongside critical marketing studies to investigate the advantages and risks posed to fashion designer/entrepreneurs and consumers once Muslims are constructed as a consumer segment. Critical Muslim marketing studies can trace the historical and social relations that have produced Muslims as potential consumers to examine how religious dispositions have been rendered as potential constituent elements of the choosing subject' of liberal capitalism. The potential to benefit from the Muslim market also mobilizes Muslims within non-majority countries, such as the Muslim Council of Britain's (MCB) support for London's attempts to challenge Dubai as the financial centre of the world Islamic economy.
