The Withdrawal of Louis Vuitton’s “Keffiyeh” on Grounds of Cultural Appropriation: A Sentiment Analysis of UAE’s Muslim 'Hijabista' Population

Abstract: Muslims in the UAE have progressed from living a customary life to a modern and more accepting lifestyle, making them more sophisticated, independent, and fashionable. As modern, stylish Muslim women, they have transformed themselves in the way they dress and wear their hijab while obeying Shariah-compliant etiquette. In recent years, the UAE has transformed into a highly potential luxury fashion market due to the nation’s robust economic supremacy built on vast resources, a high propagated frequency of the population, and a powerful propensity to consume. Unexpectedly, despite the abstinent and strict background of the Muslims, they are among the top consumers of deluxe cars, rich mansions, and high-end designer apparel. Despite all of this, Louis Vuitton faced a failure in the luxury marketplace when it retracted "Keffiyeh," inspired by Palestine. This paper aims to study and analyse why LV failed in the Muslim "Hijabista" market. This paper presents the respondents’ sentiments towards "Louis Vuitton’s keffiyeh stole." NVIVO 12 was used to perform the qualitative analysis to derive the sentiments of the respondents on how they felt and what the reasons were for their failure.