Top Malaysian Muslimah Brands Index – Online (Infographic)

Retailers and brands can no longer deny the tremendous impact muslimah fashion has on the retail industry. Muslimah wear is no longer a minor contribution to the direction of growth in retail – it’s set to reach $360 billion by 2023.

Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are quick to cater to this demographic, capitalising on the Ramadan period and Eid celebrations. After all, sales are expected to spike approximately 30% more during this period. Local brands, retailers and designers are more imminent – both online and offline.

Which Are The Top Performing Brands?

To get a better understanding of the muslimah market, we’ve decided to rank them based on different key metrics. We categorised each brand according to these few factors:

• Size of assortment (SKU count)
• New-in rate
• Sell-out rate
• Replenished rate
• Total discounted product rate
• Keyword and Google trend searches
• Social media followers and engagement rate

An extensive list of muslimah brands was created and refined according to the metrics mentioned above. The weightage for each parameter was then distributed accordingly.

The assortment metric (inclusive of the size of assortment, new-in, sell-out, discounted and replenished rates) was 50%, while the Google trends and social media engagement metrics were 20% and 30% respectively. Hence, certain brands may not have appeared on the index, should there be a lack in either of the metrics.

The information collected is based solely on numbers and data and is not a direct reflection on the actual popularity of the brand itself.

Muslimah Luxury

One thing you may have noticed is that the index did not include many luxury muslimah brands, such as Alia B., Rizalman or Mimpikita. While we recognise the influence of these brands and their widespread popularity in the industry, the brands were not in the index due to assortment count – one of our key metrics. These brands usually offer products in limited quantity, since they are luxury brands, after all.

Sportswear is slowly rising

Another interesting find from this analysis would be the rising demand for modest sportswear. Despite not landing a spot in the index above, a surge in muslimah sportswear was present. This, perhaps, could have stemmed from Nike’s small steps into the muslimah industry – paired with the noticeable popularity of athleisure – by releasing their pro-hijab line in 2017.

Although Nike was not the pioneer of muslimah sportswear, a household name of such calibre could have sparked something among retailers to cater towards such a demand. The hijab industry in Malaysia alone is worth $480 million, and although many brands are aware of the spending power for hijabs, only a handful are catering towards the sportswear segment.

Local hijab brand, Naelofar, is no stranger to this demand, releasing a sports hijab collection called Aura in 2018.

Key Takeaway

Muslimah fashion is no passing trend and instead holds higher spending power from the large consumer base. This proves that there remain much more gaps and opportunities muslimah retailers must fill to succeed among the rest.