By Kate Mayberry
16 December 2015
She’s a Malaysian celebrity with millions of fans. Every time she appears on screen, her adoring fans immediately rush to buy whatever she might have chosen to wear that day — including her headscarves.
Noor Neelofa Mohd. Noor, popularly known as Neelofa, is a stunning 26-year-old Muslim beauty queen, actress and television presenter with 1.4 million followers on Twitter and 2.2 million on Facebook. She’s also a savvy entrepreneur and the face of fashion firm Naelofar Hijab, her family-owned company. In just over a year the company has become one of Malaysia’s biggest headscarf brands and is looking at export markets.
Malaysia, where about 60% of the population is Muslim, isn’t the only country experiencing a surge in demand for what’s become known as modest fashion —fashion for Muslim women. The market globally was estimated to be worth $230bn in 2014 and is predicted to reach $327bn by 2020. Demand for headscarves, or hijab, is rising as more Muslim women decide to cover their heads.
In other Muslim-majority countries, many women also wear the hijab, or headscarf, reflecting the call in the Koran for both men and women to “cover and be modest”. While the shawl makes a religious statement, it’s also become a fashion accessory — and growing demand for on-trend hijab fashion has created a booming industry.
Sales at Naelofar, where no scarf costs more than 100 ringgit ($24), reached 50 million ringgit ($11.8 million) this year, more than twice the family’s target. The company sells its products at its flagship store and through a network of 700 distributors nationwide. They sell online and ship to anywhere in the world. With distributors in Singapore, Brunei, London, Australia, Netherlands and US, the goal is for Naelofar to be a global brand. :
:
( Alhamdulillah, @naelofarhijab was talked about on the great @bbcnews. This is only the beginning for NH team, insyaAllah.Thank you for all your support from day one NH was conceptualized )
