Europe

From Istanbul to London and Dubai to New York, in the last decade, the modest fashion industry is beginning to gain recognition by mainstream brands in the West. After the world’s largest online modest fashion retailer, Modanisa debuted their annual fashion week in Istanbul last year, London Modest Fashion Week (LMFW) hit the catwalks at Olympia London during the Easter weekend last month

LMFW unified leading global influencers including the first hijab-wearing IMG model, Halima Aden, opening the first show of the weekend.

Head of Marketing for Modanisa.com, Selvi Esenkal explained the challenge of having to cater for such a diverse range of consumers, “we sell to over 75 countries worldwide such as the Middle-East where women’s hijab styles are more open to showing their hair, whilst in Turkey the styles are more conservative so women will wear a bonnet underneath to ensure their hair is fully covered…it can be hard and difficult to offer and meet the needs of every woman…which is why it’s important to have insights from local designers in that area, to be able to suit the needs of Muslim women in that area.”

The growth of the modest fashion industry has increased with more mainstream brands such as, Nike, Debenhams, D&G and DKNY beginning to take interest into catering for consumers of modest fashion. However, CEO of Modanisa, Kerim Türe feels the industry still has a way to go, “the mistake of mainstream fashion is seeing modest fashion as a uniform or ethnic clothing.” Türe said, “Muslim fashion and Muslim clothing is not a uniform…it’s more than that. What we see here are great women, open-minded, willful, strong women showing the world that they care about fashion and they have a great sense of style.”

Offering a professional platform to exalt modest fashion designers in London was no coincidence. Organiser of LMFW, Franka Soeria said, “London is one of the trendiest places for modest fashion” in the West with a large supportive community. British modest fashion has its own character and style because “the modest community is living in a Muslim minority country, so they make the fashion more functional as apposed to fashion being more about art”, explained Soeria.

Recently starring in BBC Three’s documentary ‘New York Hijabis’, British modest fashion icon, Nabiila Bee explained this phenomenon, “social media is allowing everyone to mix; with social media people are seeing different styles and taking inspiration.”

Alongside LMFW, panelist discussions including bloggers and modest fashion industry experts reviewed modest fashion trends around the globe. Panelist and British modest fashion blogger, Sebinah Hussain addressed Muslim-majority countries in the East are already modest in their cultural dress but as Muslim women living in the West, “if you’re a working woman it’s impractical if you’re jumping in and out of the tube wearing a long abaya.”

There was a general consensus amongst panelists that Muslim modest fashion is deeper because as much as it is about looking good and feeling good, it is also about one’s identity as a faith-conscious Muslim woman.

With vast differences between Eastern and Western styles, modest fashion trends can vary considerably between Western countries. Founder and CEO of US based online retailer Haute Hijab, Melanie Elturk said, “here in the UK you guys like your muted colours; the camels, the blacks, the neutrals, the beiges and blush pinks. We’re bright and bold in America, we like prints. Elturk explained that every Muslim populated region has its own preference, whether it’s Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Australia or China, the hijab is interpreted by the culture and the region. Thus, resulting in the vast differences of fashions, designs, materials and silhouettes.

British modest fashion designers have noticed the huge gap in the market for modest fashion in the UK. Emerging designer of Pillar, found that “designs are appreciated more [in the UK] compared to abroad, compared to in Dubai or the UAE as it comes from there and it already seems natural. Here people are searching for [modest fashion] and looking for it.”

Awarded best UK modest fashion designer at LMFW, Saiqa Majeed expressed that as a designer balancing the East and the West in her work “comes naturally” because “being British born but also Asian with my parents being Pakistani…I think that I am blessed that I have a bit of everything so I can take the best of all the cultures.”

The community of Muslim women around the world is widespread. Limiting the manner in which the majority of Muslim women are portrayed to dress in black burqas or abayas is something that LMFW has exemplified to be an oversimplification. It’s time for mainstream brands to recognise this and collaborate with modest-wear consumers to make sure they get it right and give modest fashion the platform that it deserves.

Originally published on www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

The Muslim fashion industry is making a buzz around the world. This industry can potentially lay claim to represent nearly 2 billion Muslims around the world. Naturally, it is a huge market segment, one that offers $200 billion estimated sales in a year and is gearing towards hitting the $250 billion mark by 2020.

Seeing the opportunity, the reputable Muslim fashion ecommerce brand Modanisa is gearing up to increase its market share in coming years. Here is more on how Modanisa is preparing to capitalize on the enormous Muslim fashion market in a grand way.

Muslim Fashion Industry Outlook

Kerim Türe, cofounder of Modanisa, states that his immediate goal is to take the $200 million up to $1 billion by 2020. Naturally, Türe understands the requisites of exports and doesn’t discount the hurdles he and his company might face while achieving this target. Compared to traditional retail style business, ecommerce platforms enjoy several benefits.

Customers don’t need to come to the store to order; they can do so while sitting at home. Also, order shipping is no more hectic as they’ll get the order at their doorstep. But, it’s easier said than done. Currently, Modanisa is planning to expand its infrastructure to OIC’s member Islamic countries with a huge population. These include Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Bangladesh, and Morocco. Population wise, Indonesia and Bangladesh have more than 400 million population combined.

Challenges for Modanisa: Fashion for Muslims

Fashion is a much-misunderstood term among many Muslims. Even today, some Muslims think of fashion as a form of inappropriate ways of wearing clothes. Their definition of fashion is a dress that covers women from head to toe. Though modern fashion designs are fast changing this presupposition, a sizable population still believes in it. This has created several controversies among some Muslim buyers. Despite that, the Muslim fashion clothing industry is taking the fast lane and is increasing its market share by the year.

First, tapping into a $220 billion market is a challenge in itself for a medium-size corporation. Modanisa was no exception to this rule as they had to address at least two problems upfront. First is balancing between product quality and shipping efficiency, and the second is popping up with fast changing trends while growing

Apart from these, Modanisa also needs to keep ongoing clothing trends in mind. For instance, up to 18 percent of Muslim e-commerce clothing customers search for traditional Islamic dresses like Abayas and Shalwar Qamiz. Hijab is also getting increasingly popular among Muslim women customers. It is a type of head covering that comes in different color and designs and can be made out of different materials. Both these dresses are comfortable to wear and are available at cheaper rates. There is a good reason as to why Modanisa gives credence to this market segment. Though it is small in size, it is still the fastest growing segment in Muslim e-commerce clothing market.

Why Modanisa Survived

Ecommerce stores can establish virtually so customers have no worries about buying from a retail store. They can order their favorite item from home. According to this study, the Muslim global state economy is rising each year, which is good news for e-commerce businesses like Modanisa. According to Ture, the company has several plans to capitalize on the rising Muslim fashion market. Muslim women fashion requirements have rarely been addressed. To this day, women are not sure about what to buy and what not to. They are under pressure as they live in a moderate, often conservative society. For a real time, the big black burka was the epitome of fashion for these women.

Another reason as for why Muslim women were left behind in moderate and fashion was because of apparel producers. They didn’t want to end up in any controversy, so they kept modifying the same design over and over for decades. New designers looking to innovate Muslim women fashion had no channel to market their designs.

Customer Centric Strategies

Keeping traditional e-commerce business practices aside, Modanisa has worked out on some innovative strategies by partnering with known business entities like ClothingRIC. Customers looking to buy Modanisa clothes can now buy them on discounted rates using coupons they spread online. Also, they’ll find deep discounts on clearance sale and selected items. On the other hand, they’ll get free shipping on some stocks and deep discounts on others. This strategy build up the customer mind rational about the brand: It means quality, trust, and an average of five dollars saved on every purchase.

With Modanisa in business, they now have a real e-commerce platform to portray their designs to a huge audience, and they seem to be doing it wisely: The Global Islamic Economy Report has credited Modanisa as the most popular and responsible conservative fashion brand in the world.

Originally published on www.tech.co

The recent MLE Connect 2017 Muslim lifestyle event at 155 Bishopsgate, in London, was the UK’s biggest B2B conference discussing the Muslim lifestyle sector, according to organisers.

Retailers such as Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Nationwide joined entrepreneurs and 200 businesses represented at the event. Delegates also came from abroad, from the UAE, Turkey, Malaysia and Iran.

The one-day conference featured seminars, panel discussions, including on the topics of halal food, modest fashion, marketing, finance and international trade.

It is the second consecutive year the event has been held and organisers estimate the global expenditure on Muslim food and lifestyle sectors now stands at £2.3 trillion (US$3m) by 2021.

Tahir Mirza, founder and director of MLE Connect, the Muslim lifestyle economy cannot be underestimated or ignored.

“The UK is in a perfect position to capitalise and we strongly feel 2017 is a year of opportunity for those who embrace the sector and adjust their offering accordingly,” Mirza adds.

“The opportunities that exist for all businesses, regardless of religion, are too big to miss.

“We have a plethora of success stories in the UK who are already making their mark and we hope that this event has given food for thought for businesses across the UK on their next move.”

Guest speakers at MLE Connect 2017 event featured Shelina Janmohammed, vice-president of marketing consultancy Ogilvy Noor; CEO of Alchemiya, Navid Akhtar and CEO of Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre, Mr Abdulla Al Awar, who delivered the keynote.

Originally published on www.c-mw.net