Reason to hate New York: its fashion week is taking Juma (but we still support Alia and Jamil)

Reason to hate New York: its fashion week is taking Juma (but we still support Alia and Jamil)

Juma at LG Fashion Week (Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)

Toronto fashion can sometimes feel like the shallow end of a pool—there are plenty of bodies, but only a few good swimmers. Juma, created by brother and sister Jamil and Alia Juma, is a rising Toronto brand that has even been picked up as a shop-in-shop at New York’s Eva Boutique. Their success is also thanks in part to landing an exclusive contract with Harvey Nichols, being featured in WWD and having shows that audiences actually come out to (read: there aren’t six rows of empty seats). But since Jamil and Alia are quite often in a state of transition, weaving between Toronto, New York and various cities in China, the duo have planned to mix things up a bit and show at New York Fashion Week (instead of their typical Toronto Fashion Week stomping grounds), according to website Stylecaster. They’ve also decided to forgo a lucrative sponsorship deal, because websites like Kickstarter can generate funding online to help creative types. The show’s estimated cost is $26,000, and although Juma is bailing out on the circus that is LG Fashion Week, we think helping a design team get around having to make Baskin Robbins–sponsored dresses is an act of kindness to get behind.

Check out Juma’s Kickstarter page to contribute to its fashion week goals. We’d recommend ignoring the bad video, because no one but us (we’ve done it already) needs to listen to a grating dance soundtrack and scripted sales pitch full of buzzwords like “crowd-funding.”