Modest Fashion Eyes a Broader Global Market at MIHAS

KUALA LUMPUR — There was plenty of colour on the runway at MIHAS Modest Fashion Week on Wednesday. But the more interesting story was what was being said about modest fashion when the models were not walking.

The discussion at the forum reflected an industry that is gradually changing its own narrative. Modest fashion is no longer being talked about simply as clothing designed for Muslim women, or as a small corner of the fashion business linked to religious observance. Increasingly, designers and industry people are seeing something much broader: a global market built around the idea that people can dress modestly without giving up style, individuality or contemporary fashion.

That was one of the clearest messages to emerge from the opening day of MIHAS Modest Fashion Week, held alongside the 22nd Malaysia International Halal Showcase (MIHAS 2026) at MITEC in Kuala Lumpur.

Jay Ishak, curator of MIHAS Modest Fashion Week and founder and CEO of the International Fashion Chamber Malaysia, put it rather simply. Modest fashion, she explained, is about how clothing is worn and does not necessarily mean wearing a hijab or turban. In her view, modest clothing can be embraced by people of different faiths and backgrounds.

It sounds straightforward. Yet it represents a meaningful change in the way the industry has traditionally presented itself.

For a long time, the words “modest fashion” immediately brought to mind a particular consumer: a Muslim woman looking for clothing that met certain requirements. There is nothing wrong with that market — it remains an enormous one — but the conversation at MIHAS suggested that the industry may have outgrown that narrow definition.

People are discovering modest fashion for other reasons too.

Some like the coverage. Others prefer looser silhouettes. Some simply like the way the clothes look.

And that is where the commercial opportunity begins to become much more interesting.

When modest becomes a fashion choice

Mawar Abdullah, director and designer of Malaysian modest-wear brand Hoor, offered an example from her own experience.

She spoke about the idea that women do not have to choose between being covered and looking beautiful. Her brand has also attracted non-Muslim customers, suggesting that modest clothing can become a preference rather than a religious requirement.

That may sound like a small distinction, but for fashion brands it can make a considerable difference.

A company selling exclusively to a defined religious market has one kind of opportunity. A company whose clothes appeal to anyone looking for elegance, comfort and greater coverage is operating in a very different market.

The latter is potentially much bigger.

It also changes the creative conversation.

Instead of asking how closely a garment conforms to an established idea of modest dress, designers can start asking a more familiar fashion question: Does it look good, and will people want to wear it?

That was evident in the way the MIHAS programme was put together.

The first day’s programme focused on contemporary ready-to-wear, combining an industry forum with a runway presentation. Other presentations in the programme, including “Heritage Reimagined” and “Modest Luxe,” offered very different ways of interpreting the same broad idea.

There was no suggestion that modest fashion has to look one particular way.

And perhaps that is precisely where its future lies.

A business conversation as much as a fashion conversation

What also made the forum interesting was the international character of the discussion.

Peruvian designer Carla Testino, who has spent years working in craftsmanship and leather handbags, spoke about opportunities to use Malaysia as a distribution base as she looks towards markets in Southeast Asia and the Gulf.

She is considering expansion into Thailand and Singapore as well as GCC markets.

Her comments were a reminder that MIHAS is not just about putting products on display.

For international businesses, Malaysia offers something more useful: access to a regional commercial network and a place from which companies can explore markets across Asia and the Muslim world.

That is particularly relevant to fashion.

The modest-fashion industry has developed strong creative communities in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Türkiye, while consumer demand extends well beyond those markets. The Gulf is an important destination, but so are parts of Europe, North America and increasingly other Asian markets.

The challenge for designers is no longer simply producing attractive clothes.

It is getting those clothes into the right markets, finding distributors and retail partners, building recognisable brands and understanding consumers who may not fit the industry’s traditional profile.

That is a very different conversation from the one modest fashion was having a decade ago.

The runway is only part of the story

It would be easy to look at MIHAS Modest Fashion Week as another runway event and move on.

But that would miss what is happening underneath it.

MIHAS has traditionally been associated with the business side of the halal economy — trade, certification, buyers, exporters and international markets. Bringing fashion into that environment gives the sector a different kind of visibility.

It also places modest fashion alongside industries such as halal food, Islamic finance, cosmetics, healthcare and tourism.

That matters because the halal economy is increasingly difficult to define as a collection of isolated sectors.

A consumer who buys halal food may also travel to halal-friendly destinations, use Islamic financial products, look for halal cosmetics and buy modest clothing. These are not necessarily separate consumer identities. They can be different parts of the same lifestyle.

Fashion therefore has a natural place in the wider halal economy.

But there is an important qualification.

The future of modest fashion will probably not be determined by how effectively it can be labelled “halal”. It will depend on whether designers and brands can make products that consumers genuinely want.

That means good design, quality, pricing, distribution and branding will matter just as much as the values behind the clothing.

Malaysia wants to be part of that future

The timing is significant for Malaysia.

MIHAS 2026 is bringing together around 1,700 companies across roughly 2,000 booths, with organisers expecting about 50,000 visitors from 45 countries. The four-day showcase is also targeting RM5 billion in sales through the exhibition and its business-matching activities.

Against that backdrop, modest fashion is more than an attractive addition to the programme.

It is part of Malaysia’s effort to demonstrate that the halal economy can encompass sophisticated consumer industries and international trade opportunities.

And fashion is particularly good at telling that story.

A certification standard can explain compliance. A balance sheet can demonstrate commercial potential. But a runway gives people something they can immediately see and understand.

That may be why the conversation at MIHAS felt different this time.

The question is no longer simply whether modest fashion has a place in the global fashion industry.

It increasingly does.

The more interesting question is what happens when modest fashion stops thinking of itself as a niche and starts competing for the same consumer attention as every other part of the fashion industry.

If Wednesday’s conversations at MIHAS are any indication, designers and businesses are already thinking about that next stage.

And perhaps the most important change is a quiet one: modest fashion is beginning to be discussed less as a restriction on what people wear and more as a choice about how they want to dress.

That shift could ultimately prove more important than anything that happened on the runway.