So a little while ago, as you may recall, Urban Outfitters got into that thing where they sold keffiyehs as ‘freedom scarves’ for $20 and people like Michelle Malkin got all in a tizzy because they were selling ‘terror scarves’ and then they stopped selling them real fast? And they had those T-shirts with the rock-and-roll Palestinian kid with an AK-47 which they also stopped selling real fast? Well, they’ve got themselves in about the same situation again with a new product, but the fallout may be slightly more interesting than Michelle Malkin (who incidentally went to my alma mater) yapping about jihad scarves this time, as it just involves religion, without overtones of things getting blown up.

Maybe they’re courting controversy, or maybe it’s just that none of the buyers checked to see what the translation of the character embossed on the $8 “Leather and rope bracelet” was. (Hint: it’s Allah! This means wearing this bracelet into the bathroom is extremely bad, if you’re an equal-opportunity religious believer!)

Keffiyehs, symbols of unknown translation on jewelry, a bunch of burqua-type hoods on the runways at the most recent fashion week… is Islam about to join Ireland, China, Africa, Jamaica and Kabbalah?

Oh MAN! And… maybe, in the long run, it wouldn’t be too bad for this sort of thing to sweep the frat houses of America, wiping out xenophobia? “It means, strength, Brah!” It’s not the most dignified of ambassadors, but really, neither were cheap Bruce Lee and Bob Marley posters.

Or hey, I could be completely wrong, tell me what you think. Is it this a dumb-yet-probably efficient route to more widespread acceptance of Islam as just another religion we happen to have in America, or is it really ignorant and insulting to commodify the name of anybody’s god, especially if most people wouldn’t even recognize it as such?

On an only slightly related note, you know what I wish would come back into fashion? 12th-century Safavid Islamic tile.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, that would be so sweet. I’m completely serious.

for more further reading, see this article in Heeb, “In Sheik’s Clothing” and the interesting and kind of hilarious commentary about the bracelet at KABOBfest.

You, too, can own two halves of a bottle!

Urban Outfitters, in their aggravating way of selling expensive prefab DIY kits, now has a $58 kit for making votive holders/cups/vases out of glass bottles.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the example they gave of a finished product (see right), which is two bottle halves that frankly look as if one misstep might have you asking “WHY SO SERIOUS?” But I have been wanting to make some bell-jar terrariums for growing herbs lately (that may well be another post), and bell jars are expensive, so if there’s a DIY to make what I need, all the better!

But is the word here really DIY? I usually am a sucker for projects in which you get to use chemicals and fire, and the Urban Outfitters kit has both. But I cannot abide pre-assembled kits that treat the DIY aspect as a bonus that should be priced accordingly, as if the added sex appeal you get from being able to say, “Oh, this half a bottle you’re drinking out of? I cut it myself!” is worth that extra thirty bucks. Dammit, you Do It Yourself to save the money it would take to pay Someone Else to Do It! You’ll never live like common people!  You’ll never do what common people do!

Whew, sorry there. So the picture wasn’t appealing, the price wasn’t appealing, but a touch o’ the google and several ways to actually DIY with nothing more than string, rubbing alcohol, matches, a bucket of cold water and sandpaper turned up. I chose this video for its cheerful soundtrack.

I would seriously advise that you make sure you’ve got all-cotton string if you attempt this; five years of girl scouts taught me that string with plastic inside to strengthen it smells real bad when on fire.

The Urban picture was not that appealing, but it seems worth it if I could end up with something like these:

Images ganked from Green Wine Bottles and, uh, Weddingbee.

Photo from Urban Outfitters online catalog

Tons of retail outlets teeter on the the edge of the econopocalypse these days as shoppers cut back on unnecessary expenses, and you’d think that Philly’s own Urban Outfitters, Inc., would be among them. I mean, they sell high-ish-priced items, generally involving ’90s-revival plaid, asymmetrical large-fonted words, birds, non-standard sleeve decisions or all of the above, that don’t really have a use beyond the buyer’s opinion that they look neat. Examples: a plush mustache.

This is not even touching on my issues with where they draw the ever-eroding line between “This is a shirt, it must be worn with pants” and “This is a dress, it may be worn with metallic tights.”

But anyway, URBN released last year’s sales numbers today, and they seem to be doing quite all right. Better than all right, in fact. While the average in-store sales numbers (across Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People) did drop 1% in the fourth quarter, it was more than made up for by online and catalog sales, which nudged total URBN sales to $1.8 billion, 22% up from the previous year.

                         Three months ended     Twelve months ended
                             January 31,             January 31,
                       ----------------------  ----------------------
                          2009        2008        2009        2008
                       ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
                           (in thousands)          (in thousands)
 Urban Outfitters
  stores               $  213,435  $  196,625  $  771,362  $  628,328
 Anthropologie stores     172,098     165,853     642,161     561,990
 Free People stores         9,588       6,302      32,907      17,192
 Terrain                    1,165          --       5,656          --
                       ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
    Net store sales       396,286     368,780   1,452,086   1,207,510
                       ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
 Direct-to-consumer        87,810      72,920     272,472     205,742
                       ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
    Retail segment net
     sales                484,096     441,700   1,724,558   1,413,252
                       ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
 Wholesale                 23,982      23,711     110,060      94,472
                       ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------

    Total net sales    $  508,078  $  465,411  $1,834,618  $1,507,724
                       ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========

Looks like the impossibly pretty URBN HQ down at the Navy Yard is a pretty good place to be right now; I guess they’re not going to have to stop feeding the koi anytime soon.

But you still cannot purchase a $20 anti-war scarf/terrorist scarf. Old news, but still entertaining.

All the URBN numbers at yahoo biz