M.E.L.D, a social enterprise in fashion design, promotes the Muslim culture in Hong Kong

In Taiwan and Hong Kong, Muslims belong to ethnic minorities. Due to a lack of relevant knowledge of Muslim cultures, there are inevitably prejudice and discrimination in society.

In fact, every culture has its beauty, and the brand - M.E.L.D is committed to eliminating social inequality by designing clothes with Muslim characteristics, arousing people’s curiosity. 

In this episode of "New Immigrants in Taiwan" Podcast unit, 4wayvoice &【Taiwan Immigrants' Global News Network】invited the founder of M.E.L.D – Nigel to share about founding philosophy of the social enterprise, how to use clothing to avert discrimination, and the cultural differences between different Muslim groups in Asia.

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M.E.L.D shares the plight faced by Muslims living in Asia. (Photo / Provided by the travel.taipei)

The full name of M.E.L.D is Make Equal Live Different, and it is a social enterprise in fashion design that promotes the Muslim culture. By hiring designers to teach Muslim art design and creation every weekend, the traditional Muslim paintings are integrated into the clothing, hoping to share the Muslim culture in the local area.

In addition, participants would also get internship opportunities in design, modeling, photography, publicity, sales, etc., and connect with the locals through clothing. Moreover, they were able to prepare for pre-employment training before entering the clothing industry and try to solve the plight that ethnic minorities can only perform manual labor due to language and cultural barriers.

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M.E.L.D combines Muslim elements with trendy clothing brands. (Photo / Provided by the M.E.L.D)

Nigel, the founder of M.E.L.D, shared with readers the life of Muslims living in Hong Kong. According to a survey conducted by a social research group, more than 60% of young people have never been in contact with Muslims, so they don’t know much about this group of people.

In addition, the local employment rate of Muslims in Hong Kong is only 3%, and more than 70% of companies have never hired Muslims in the past five years; the aforementioned statistics reflect the challenges faced by Muslims in Hong Kong. Therefore, M.E.L.D assists the Muslim community in solving related life problems with the idea of "eliminating cultural barriers".

M.E.L.D regularly organizes painting classes to enhance group communication. (Photo / Provided by the M.E.L.D)

How can M.E.L.D help improve the lives of Muslims?

Nigel proposes three major directions. First of all, to promote exchanges between Muslims and local people, that is, to regularly organize events and parties to develop a deeper understanding between Muslims and Hongkongers through “Art”.

For example, regular drawing classes are held to bring Southeast Asian art to Hong Kong. Furthermore, more training opportunities to provide Muslims with internships in companies that are relatively beneficial to job hunting in the future. Lastly, M.E.L.D’s initial goal is to promote Muslim art in the Hong Kong market. For example, combining Muslim elements with trendy clothing brands will enable more people to understand the culture of this ethnic group.

Muslims account for a quarter of the world's population. What is their life like? M.E.L.D firmly believes that cultural exchange is an important way to promote human civilization and maintain world peace; clothing is not the only way of promoting cultural exchange, but it can also be the starting point for eliminating prejudice, building cross-religious and cross-cultural bridges for Chinese and Muslims.