São Paulo – It’s only been three years since Lebanese Brazilian Mag Halat decided to establish a modest clothing brand which now caters to many Muslim customers. “I sell head scarves, blouses, suits, skirts, burkinis, and pants. Garments range from those meeting daily needs to outfits that can be used in a festive day,” says the creator of modest fashion brand By Mag Halat.
Modest dressing refers to a fashion trend of wearing less revealing clothes. By Mag Halat’s target audience is women over 30s, and its top-selling items are its headdresses. “They are our most affordable items, to get to know the brand. Customers usually learn about us through these items, then buy other products.” She has delivered orders to online buyers throughout Brazil.
Despite its recent entrance in the market, the company has already sold items to customers from other countries like Japan, Angola, and the United States. Most of our customers are Brazilian. I’ve shipped boxes of clothes to Japan and the US, and now there’s one customer in Angola who we’re shipping to. I’ve never sold any items to an Arab country yet, but that’s a desire of mine,” says Halat.
Before she does start exporting items to Arabs, Halat says she wants to step up the marketing of her brand. “I really want to ship my clothes to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, too, as I feel they’d be very well received. My outfits have a Brazilian twist, so they don’t look Arab, but they do satisfy the stylistic requirements of the Islamic religion.”
Creation of the brand
São Paulo-born, she holds a degree in architecture and urbanism but eventually pursued a different career path. “I interned in my training area but as I loved fashion, I started a blog on the topic in 2016. For many years I gave fashion and makeup tips there. I kept it for quite some time, and I recorded videos for YouTube, too.”
Although fashion has been part of her life since she was a child, necessity drove her to establish a modest clothing brand at the height of the pandemic. “Ten years ago, when I first put on a veil, I started feeling the need to find items suitable for Muslim women, and I couldn’t find then anywhere,” Halat recalls.
“For so long, I couldn’t find a veil or a prayer robe. There were no easily accessible stores, and where I did find them, they were loose-fitting, made me look old and were usually rather expensive. So, I made an opportunity out of necessity.”
Even with the fashion knowledge she’d been acquiring over the years, she prepared for over a year before launching her brand. “I’ve always wanted to work with fashion, so I’d been refining the idea for years. In 2020 came the desire to start my own company. Before establishing the brand, I delved into the universe and participated in several coaching sessions focusing on fashion making,” she says.
With the launch of her brand in 2021, Halat says she managed to address the two issues that most bothered her – steep prices and lack of modernity in modest clothing.
“Headdresses and head scarves, which are usually the first thing people buy, can be purchased for BRL 39,90 and BRL 69.90, respectively. I always go for comfortable, cool fabrics like cotton and linen, to use in summer outfits, while winter clothes are made of tricot and velvet against the cold. Besides being comfortable, my outfits are beautifully elegant and modern-looking.”
Modest fashion
Despite the launch of her brand, the young entrepreneur believes there’s room for other modest fashion companies. “There’s still room for specialist stores to grow in this fashion industry. We shouldn’t be limited to Evangelical fashion but include customers from various religions as well. I myself don’t cater just to Muslims.”
Besides designing her brand’s garments, Halat chooses the fabrics and serves the customers herself. She has three employees and a third-party company that makes the outfits. In her spare time, she creates fashion content, gives makeup and Arab perfume tips on her personal accounts on TikTok and Instagram.
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Translated by Guilherme Miranda
