How Romanna went on to open London’s first multi-brand modest-fashion store

Online modest-fashion brand Haute Elan has launched its first bricks-and-mortar store in London’s upmarket Chelsea district. Pitching itself as the capital’s “first multi-brand modest-fashion boutique”, the store displays contemporary collections, traditional abayas, hijabs, scarves, and a range of jewellery. 

“When our customers come to us, they know we have put thought into our curation and there is a story behind our garments,” said Romanna Bint-Abubaker, founder and CEO of Haute Elan. “We only stock high-quality goods that have ethical origins.” 

An established ecommerce platform since 2013, Haute Elan plans to introduce emerging global designers to a wider audience with the opening of its boutique.

“Today’s customers desire a multi-brand channel experience, especially in an emerging brand category where they don’t necessarily know and trust the products. They need to come in, and see and touch the garments to build awareness of the brands. That’s why having this shop is really important,” Romanna told My Salaam.

For the first time in the UK, the 1,200 square-foot boutique brings together a range of modest-fashion designers under one roof, such as Noorsaab, Rose Fullbright, Sadoq, Tudong and Feradje. Bint-Abubaker said the store has set its pricing levels “somewhere between Zara and Cos” and is aimed squarely at the middle market.

The 33-year-old British entrepreneur explained that her clientele is broad and includes non-Muslims, a group that accounts for sales of over half of the store’s semi-cover burkinis. “What we see are people who want a purpose-led brand: they like to buy from companies that pay their seamstresses well and source their materials mindfully.”

Romanna said, “Non-Muslims also want to be elegant and sometimes this involves being more covered up. This movement towards modest fashion has come from Muslims, but it’s also come from a more general favouring of modest elegant clothing that women feel comfortable in. Some women don’t find baring a lot of skin elegant.”

The CEO added that she thinks the market has been too slow to respond appropriately to the global demand for modest fashion. “The big mainstream designers seem to think one collection a year for a population that is going to make up a third of the global population by 2030 is sufficient. I disagree.”

MODLIST: CURATED MODEST FASHION ON A BUDGET

In September 2016, Haute Elan raised $1 million in seed funding from a Singapore family office to launch its second online platform, Modlist. This is a destination for affordable modest fashion featuring high-street brands such as ASOS, Uniqlo, Mango, Joseph and Gucci as well as a selection of over 150 designers.

“Eventually we see Modlist covering all brands under £150, and Haute-Elan over this price point,” she said.

“While Haute-Elan will continue to focus on providing luxury fashion from emerging global designers, the launch of Modlist brings modest fashion into the mainstream. We’re grateful to our investors, who have wholly believed in our vision and provided the support to create what could become the new unicorn in fashion-tech.”

The CEO added that she was forced to look outside the UK for investment because British firms are still ignorant about the potential of the modest-fashion opportunity. “Our investors are Singaporean and Indian. I’ve sat with venture capitalists in [the UK] and they’ve said they don’t think the size of the market is big enough. Do they have any idea?” she said, referring to the multibillion-dollar global modest fashion market.

According to the 2016/17 Global Islamic Economy Report developed by Thomson Reuters, the reveneues from modest fashion clothing purchased by Muslim women has been estimated at $44 billion in 2015. The sector will undoubtedly continue to thrive and Muslim spending on clothing is expected to reach $368 billion by 2021, the report said.

“So many investors have blinkers on their eyes when it comes to the size of the Muslim opportunity. Brands are not waking up fast enough and businesses are going to miss out.”

Ultimately, Romanna hopes that Modlist and Haute Elan will act as an industry catalyst for the UK’s fledging modest-fashion industry. “Our goal is to become a funnel of liquidity so that everyone can benefit. We want to see more brands in the industry and more people working for those brands and more jobs. We want to create a trickle-down factor.”