The world’s Muslim population counts about 2 billion, and from the marketing perspective, these customers are sensitive to products and communication tools that comply with their religious beliefs. Even though the global Halal market, formed to serve the needs of hard-line Muslims, is often discussed in terms of food, it also includes a variety of other product categories such as clothing, travel, and finance. Observant women are also covered by Halal marketing as the target audience, and their unique needs, originating from the necessity of wearing the hijab, are addressed by international businesses.
For instance, one of the challenges Muslim women face is the incompatibility of classical Western sports clothing with their religious principles, although many of them are eager to lead an active lifestyle and keep fit. From the perspective of Islam, most sports suits offered in the market are not actually decent, as they are excessively tight and open (Bullock, 2002, p.135). As a result, religious women are forced to wear their everyday clothing for exercise and swimming, yet it is not convenient for physical activity (Bullock, 2002, p.138). Another problem which most fashion-conscious women of Muslim background find important is the lack of fashionable and elegant clothing which would conform to the religious principles of modesty (length, color, and material). In addition, the hijab, a headscarf or veil, should serve as an integral aspect of Muslim fashion: “The hijab, as most people know by now, has become emblematic of an ideological and political movement that promotes a puritanical interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia. In this interpretation, it is “Haram”, or illegal, for a woman to reveal her arms, legs, or any bodily curves” (Sriramesh & Vercic, 2009, p. 285).
In order to meet the need for healthy and convenient sportswear, designers from Nike, a global producer of professional and ergonomic clothing and shoes for active lifestyle and sports, created sports uniforms in a hijab fashion (2007). These sports suits are mostly loose and composed of a long top reaching the woman’s hips or knees, a hood, attached to the top, and trousers that cover the whole leg except for the feet (World Bank, 2004, p.94). Furthermore, Australian company Ahiida also launched new Sharia swimsuits, the Burkini and the Bodykini (2006-2007), both of which are high-necked costumes with sleeves, made of polyester, nylon, and lycra, which do not absorb water. Moreover, the swimming suit is quite loose and does not cling to the body after the woman has bathed and thus does not reveal her feminine body, so the consumers of this product feel “covered” in any situation.
It is also important to note the dramatically growing fashion industry for Muslim women; European, Middle Eastern, and North American companies have been equally contributing to this growth since 2001-2003. In particular, such luxury brands as Hermes, Yves Saint-Loraine, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior as well as less popular Middle Eastern companies (e.g. Carina, Arabesque) each season offer collections for conservative Muslim women, which include silk and cotton gowns, short dresses with black trousers and jeans, embellished with ribbons and pearls, combined with silk hijabs in muted colors. Moreover, according to the Carina marketing managers, the company’s most welcomed invention was a seamless Halal top with a high neck and sleeves, which can be worn under any European clothing, including open dresses, and makes the Muslim woman look observant and conscientious (World Bank, 2004, p.101). As a rule, the new updates of brand collections, positioned as “elite”, are displayed at closed fashion seminars and Halal exhibitions, organized by franchising networks, which often involve exceptionally female and Muslim sales assistants and representatives who help with demonstration and are themselves experts in explaining the advantages of the specific article. As one can understand, such products are distributed through the retail shops of the franchising networks, located in urban areas and prestigious suburbs.
Promotion strategy as an element of the marketing mix is also developed in accordance with the values, needs, and beliefs of Muslim men and women. Due to the fact that in Muslim families males are unquestionable leaders who make financial decisions, the products for women are often offered at large Halal exhibitions and through Halal journals such as “HalalPak” and “Horizons”. In Middle Eastern countries, garments are normally advertised on television and in large shopping malls, whereas in European countries and the United States, the “hijab garments” are promoted through the innumerous Muslim TV channels and female magazines like “Azizah” and “Muslim Woman”.
The products of Middle Eastern brands are normally intended for the domestic audiences and women of this region (Egypt, UAE, Kuwait, Israel), predominantly younger middle-class females such as university students and married women aged under 40 (Onkvisit & Shaw, 2004, p.243), European and North American females constitute the minority of the segment. These companies necessarily have a line of cheaper and simpler clothes and accessories, exported to the developing countries of Asia, including Malaysia and Indonesia. At the same time, Nike and Ahiida have been focusing on the upper-middle-class women from wealthier parts of the world including the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Canada, Australia, Egypt, UAE, and South Africa. Finally, fashion brands are represented worldwide, but the primary target audiences of Sharia garments were upper-middle and top-class European and North American Muslim women who live in suburbs and have certain autonomy (e.g. an opportunity to drive a car, perform paid work and spend time in the company of female friends and relatives).
The specified population groups are likely to have relatively high social status and pay greater attention to the product quality and compliance with the Sharia rules rather than to its price. These women are also sensitive to the opinion of their male relatives (father, spouse, brothers) and older females. As marketing studies suggest, Halal sportswear and swimsuits appeared to be popular amongst American and European women aged under 30, whereas in Egypt and UAE they are accepted exclusively by the narrow segment of urban upper-middle-class females, predominantly unmarried university students from the local intelligentsia. Conservative garments created by prestigious designers were welcomed in all markets, especially in Europe and North America, in the Middle East, the reputation of luxury brands is ambivalent, as the earlier collections of the abovementioned designers were rejected as “demonic” by pious Muslims, so Yves Saint-Loraine and Gaultier are popular mainly amongst “Westernized” citizens (Blythe, 2008, p.172).
In fact, Halal clothing is particularly important to immigrant women of Muslim background, living in non-Sharia states, who seek to strengthen their faith and preserve their traditions, so Europe and North America are more lucrative markets, in which marketing tools are found to be more effective, as they are instrumental and helpful in forming “segregated” residential patterns and lifestyles of Western Muslims and reinforcing their identity. Therefore, the greatest cultural effect can be identified in non-Islamic states where females of various religious affiliations, not merely Muslim, begin to wear the hijab in combination with long black Arabesque (UAE-based company) gowns, perceived by non-Muslim women as exotic and authentic. In the long-term perspective, the popularization of the “right” Islamic outfit is likely to result in the improvement of the reputation of this religion.
The expansion and diversification of Halal clothing brands worldwide, regardless of their actual origin (Islamic or non-Islamic country), is a stable and persistent tendency. In the future, Middle Eastern manufacturers of Halal clothing and the hijab for puritan women are likely to focus on the collections offered at democratic prices and target them for Africa’s developing markets (Kenya, Ethiopia). Although the average quality of life and purchasing power is still low in this region, local Muslim communities are quite strong and thus might be interested in approved clothing for women.
Reference list
Onkvisit, S. & Shaw, J. (2004). International marketing: analysis and strategy. Routledge.
Sriramesh, K. & Vercic, D. (2009). The Global Public Relations Handbook Revised Edition: Theory, Research, and Practice. Taylor & Francis.
Blythe, J. (2008). Consumer Behaviour. Cengage Learning EMEA.
Sidhu, K. (2006). Universities & globalization: to market, to market. Routledge.
Bullock, K. (2002). Rethinking Muslim women and the veil: challenging historical & modern stereotypes. IIIT.
World Bank. (2004). Gender and development in the Middle East and North Africa: women in the public sphere. World Bank Publications.