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23 April 2021
Courier Weekly provides inspiration and tools to help you work better and live smarter.

Brought to you this week by Huckletree.

SMARTS STUFF SKILLS MORE

Your weekly round-up of briefings, trends and news.

Inclusive fashion

Ramadan Mubarak! Last week saw the beginning of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting for Muslim communities. For the past few years, it's also coincided with the launch of modest fashion collections. H&M debuted a modest apparel line in 2018, with follow-up collections in 2019 and 2020. And this year, Farfetch is collaborating with 30 designers on a Ramadan capsule collection.

So, what is modest fashion?
Modest fashion is generally categorised as loose-fitting clothing: think long skirts, flowing trousers and high necklines. Head coverings are optional. It's an industry projected to be worth $402 billion by 2024, up 42% from 2018. And one size certainly doesn't fit all here – there are wildly differing fashion preferences between different regions. Indonesian women, for example, tend to go for brightly coloured clothing, while darker hues are the top sellers in the Middle East.

And while modest apparel often ends up as synonymous with Muslim women's clothing, the demand is much larger than that. Women who aren't religious as well as those in other faith-based communities have reported a desire for loose-fitting clothes. And, more widely, there's a growing trend towards seeking out items that are more practical and not overly revealing – contrary to mainstream fashion.

'Generation M'
The Gen M moniker refers to digitally connected millennial and Gen Z Muslims who don't shy away from showcasing their cultures online. Instead, more and more they want to use fashion as a tool for self-expression without having to sacrifice religious beliefs or cultural codes. And they're demanding that brands step up to the mark.

Naturally, modest fashion influencers are on the up. Salma Djlal, Emaan Taha and Amira Khan are just a few of the influencers creating online spaces for discussion about the future of modest fashion and lifestyle. And to cater to this digital consumer, brands like Haute Hijab are building online-first offerings. Meanwhile, Modanisa, an online marketplace for women's modest clothing, wants to be Turkey's first billion-dollar startup.

Product trends

Activewear. Nike's $600 full-coverage swimsuit may have missed the mark on price when it was released in late 2019, but there are a number of Muslim-owned modest activewear brands to watch. Check out Under-Rapt and soon-to-launch Ayana Ife Active.
Sustainable fashion. In March, three Indonesian fashion brands brought modest clothing made of biodegradable viscose rayon to the runway. Meanwhile, London-based hijab brand Silq Rose makes timeless headscarves from cotton, cashmere and modal.
Halal beauty. As a side note to modest fashion, halal makeup – which doesn't include animal-derived or alcohol-based ingredients – is rising by nearly 15% every year. Shade M sells halal-certified lip products, and Chicago-born 786 Cosmetics now sells halal nail polish in 10 countries.

SMARTS STUFF SKILLS MORE

Inspiration for the home, plus things to eat, drink and wear.

Let the sun shine

With no other reason than desperation for a vacation, here are some picks for a killer summer, whether it's a day trip to the beach or recreating pool vibes on a city rooftop.

Vacation comes from the team behind the sunny online radio station Poolside FM. With nostalgic branding circa the mid-1980s, the first product, launched last week, is an SPF 30 Classic Lotion dubbed 'the world's best-smelling sunscreen'.
Mylle makes paddling pools for adults big enough for two fully grown people (no kids allowed). They come in eight designs, from terrazzo and ochre to collaborations with artists like Anna Beam.
Sora designs towels you'll want to hang on your wall. Made of recycled fabric from post-consumer plastic and designed by artists around the world, they're also sand-repellent and lightweight. The Los Cabos is a Mexico-inspired towel designed by artists Euri Loreno and Arantxa Solis.
Using recycled fishing nets and industrial plastic found in the ocean, swimwear brand BIKYNI is known for its bikinis and one-pieces in minimal, functional designs.
The Trancoso Beach Bat Set from Brazilian-inspired swimwear brand Frescobol Carioca is a few notches above the toys you played with as a kid. Paddle ball, but premium.

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SMARTS STUFF SKILLS MORE

Tips and tools to become better at life and work.

WTF is a personal flywheel?

What are your long-term ambitions? Maybe they include finding more time for your hobbies, becoming an authority in your field or simply eating healthier. But achieving something like that often requires a lot of effort over time. That's where a personal flywheel comes in.

A concept coined by business author Jim Collins, flywheels are often used to simply explain how businesses like Amazon have become so big and successful. The idea is that for any big change to happen, it requires a series of logical steps that flow naturally into each other into a reinforcing loop – one that's repeated over and over again.

Identifying what goes at the top of your flywheel is crucial – eg, for eating healthier, it might be a desire for a better diet.
Each part of the flywheel after that should follow naturally, with no more than six components that outline a path back to the top of the loop.
Each part should be inevitable and a natural progression from the part before it.
Each part will be unique to you – something you'll need to work out and tweak over time.
Each part needs to be working well – it can't get stuck at any point.
Your flywheel needs to be used – and improved upon – over a long period of time. We're talking years. The longer you give it, the more effective it should become.