Many Saudi men believe that elegance has been achieved when they wear the meshlah - a traditional men's cloak trimmed with gold thread and gold embroidery, worn over the thobe. It is a piece of clothing that many people in the Gulf wear at weddings, business meetings, social and cultural occasions, simply because it makes them look - and feel - good. Some men own a SR45,000 meshlah; others buy cheaper ones in quantities which they may wear or give as gifts. Some men like to appear in more than one meshlah for a single occasion.
Ali ibn Hussein Al-Mahadi, the owner of a meshlah factory, said that many businessmen buy meshlah in huge numbers so they can hand them out as gifts. The Al-Hasa area in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia is the main supplier to the Saudi market and the Gulf. There are about 50 meshlah factories which produce some 45,000 meshlah annually; in fact, three major factories produce 35 percent of the total.
Riyadh is the main market for meshlah and it takes 50 percent of the total, followed by Dammam, Ahsa and Jeddah. Bahrain is the biggest market in the Gulf, followed by Qatar and the UAE.
The manufacturers of meshlah have recently faced various problems; one is that the market has been flooded with cheap imported garments. This has resulted in an oversupply of meshlah in the market with a corresponding decrease in price.
The making of meshlah began in Hofuf where certain families developed their skills in making and decorating the cloaks. Families made sure they passed the secrets on to their children which meant the families had a good and steady source of income.
Some well-known families engaged in making meshlah are Al-Khars, Al-Sulaiman, Al-Harz, Al-Ameer, Al-Jafar, Al-Qattan and Al-Ramadan. Some members of those families have chosen to go into other jobs. Salah Al-Qattan, owner of the Al-Qattan Meshlah Store, said that one reason they quit is because of the time needed to make a single meshlah; it can take from 10 to 15 days. Many Saudis prefer the meshlah made in Al-Hasa to imported ones because those from Al-Hasa are well made and of high quality. They are hand-made, unlike the foreign ones which aim for profit only rather than quality.
Musa Al-Jafar, an employee in a meshlah factory, said that in the past, materials were imported from Iraq and Iran. There are different varieties of meshlah - light materials for spring, sewn and decorated using different colors of shiny silk thread, such as black, brown and yellow. The meshlah differs according to season and customer preference. The weavers often use silk thread in the design and decoration of the cloak. Formerly, the thread was imported from Syria, Iraq, and India. Gold and silver threads imported from France and Germany were used in designing different styles of meshlah. The styles differ in terms of length, width and the design decorating the cloth. Meshlah are priced depending on the material they are made of, the quality of manufacturing and the design. Traditionally there were five basic colors for meshlah: white, black, brown, maroon and beige. The number of colors has increased with different shades according to the taste of the customer. The white and black meshlah remains the favorite for such occasions as weddings and Eid.
