The Muslim Pound

There's something new happening on the high street.

It's 2016 now and it's about time there is

modest fashion that's available to us.

You know, it's a really up-and-coming, growing trend.

From fashion to fast food,

more and more stores seem to be spotting a gap in the market.

When you have something like Dolce & Gabbana or DKNY

running a Ramadan campaign, people sit up and say,

"Oh, hold on, there's a really big market here".

Traditional British favourites are getting a new twist.

How easy is it to convince Muslim consumers to go for a sausage roll?

Yeah, it is a little hard.

I'm Myriam Francois,

a journalist and a British Muslim.

I want to find out why our high street stores

are so interested in Muslim consumers...

Retailers, quite cynically, have been looking for

the next opportunity, the next area of growth.

..and whether that attention is actually a good thing.

I just don't understand why a mainstream high street retailer

would pander to conservative voices within Muslim communities.

I was wondering if I could speak to you about

some of your halal products?

Why do so many high street brands seem reluctant to talk about it?

Now that the big operators are serving halal,

I feel they might well put off customers.

And how likely is it that the stores will stick with it?

The global Muslim spend on all apparel and footwear

will be 484 billion by 2019.

Of course brands want a piece of that market.

HE CHANTS

As the Muslim month of Ramadan comes to an end,

I ask, is the Muslim pound here to stay,

and are we all ready for "Brand Islam"?

Saturday morning and a queue's forming

for London's Muslim Lifestyle Show.

Olympia actually stated that they haven't had

this many phone calls on this

since the Ideal Home Exhibition.

The show has attracted some well-known faces,

including Citizen Khan's Amjad...

We could make a lemon drizzle cake, that's my mummy's favourite.

What are the ingredients?

-Lemons...

-LAUGHTER

..and drizzle?

-LAUGHTER

-'This is the first time I've come'

to somewhere like this and it's blown my mind.

Honestly, the amount of variety here,

all selling or promoting different things,

and it's really exciting just to walk around and see.

..and also MasterChef winner Shelina Permalloo.

Our MasterChef champion is...

Shelina.

'I think it's really interesting.

'It's such a massive market in the UK'

and it's relatively unknown,

so I think, in terms of a business opportunity, it's clearly working.

It is absolutely rammed in here today.

Muslim shoppers are starting to feel like they matter.

Maybe ten years ago, the high streets weren't

catering to that as much. Now there seems to be...

Almost everything you can think of,

they've found a way to put a Muslim spin on it.

There's been a massive change in the perception towards Muslims

as a source of revenue for many companies.

Small sweets, like Haribos, are catching on to it

and it's becoming popular in the Muslim community.

If you run a business, it's about making money, right?

And if you're not making money out of that community, then...

I think you're missing a trick, really.

The Muslim community represents

in the order of 5% of the UK population.

And their total spending power

is over £20 billion a year.

By investing in advertising and product ranges

that do appeal to that community,

they will boost their sales and, of course,

that adds to their bottom-line profitability.

Some high street big names certainly seem to be thinking more

about their Muslim consumers.

So this is the early stage of the market

and we start to see brands that are actually

pioneering this market and that makes it

really exciting. So, we have big brands that are

starting to feature Muslim women,

for example like Apple and Android,

Jeep, Coca-Cola.

In fashion, H&M led the way with a distinctive campaign.

'Dress like a teen.

'Stand out. Blend in.

'Mix prints. Mix pink and red...'

Its recycling campaign featured models of all shapes and sizes,

different ages and genders.

But it was one woman in particular who got everyone talking.

It was this image

which really caught everyone's attention -

although, to be fair, if you blinked, you'd probably miss it.

It was the first time that the company used

a Muslim woman in a headscarf in a campaign.

The woman featured in the campaign was overwhelmed by the response.

It was massive. It was huge.

Everyone saw it as a breakthrough.

There was an article that compared me

to the first black model in history.

But now I've seen it, I've realised how...

almost primitive we were, like, in 2015,

the first time we're seeing a girl in a headscarf being used for

a major retailer.

And I thought, "Wow, as much as it's incredible,

"we're still so far away from obviously achieving this diversity."

APPLAUSE

Since the campaign,

Mariah has been in demand to talk about her experience.

-Hello and Assalaamu Alaikum.

-SCATTERED CHEERING

I want you to realise that just the fact

that we are seeing the hijab and abaya

in mainstream fashion, in the media,

it makes people understand that there is another side to Islam.

If we can't change the negative, why not add a positive to it?

'For me, personally, hijab,'

again, it's a way of life and it makes me represent Islam.

That's the reason that I started to wear it,

to basically distinguish ourselves as believing women.

So it's not just a piece of material on my head, it is more than that.

But is the high street ready to give space on the shop floor

to clothes that women like Mariah want to buy?

We know that there's a wider consumer trend about women

who are also looking for clothes that suit their demeanour,

their aspiration to be more modest.

You know, for me, personally,

I want to wear stuff that isn't too clingy,

isn't too transparent, like, the necklines aren't too plunging.

But shopping for clothes that are in keeping with the spirit

of that ideal has traditionally been quite challenging

on the high street.

MUSIC: Come & Get It by Selena Gomez

# When you're ready, come and get it Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na... #

We're all familiar with the idea that sex sells...

# Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na

# Oh, come and get it Yeah, yeah! #

..but are things changing?

What's quite interesting about this dress

is that it's not being marketed as Muslim, as such,

but, actually, it would probably appeal to quite a lot

of more conservative Muslim women.

In 2014, DKNY launched a special Ramadan collection

for its markets in the Middle East.

A year later, Mango, Monsoon and Tommy Hilfiger

all offered Ramadan collections.

At the start of this year, Uniqlo

worked with British Muslim and designer Hana Tajima...

..and Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana

launched its first range of traditional dresses, called abayas.

To understand what's driving the interest,

you need to look on the internet.

From cool American mipsters - that's Muslim hipsters...

Click on that if you'd like to go and watch that video.

..to UK-based fashion and beauty bloggers,

young Muslim women are going online.

So what you want to do is you want to grab your scarf

and I've already folded mine in a few inches

and just pin it under...

like that.

And then just bring it around,

like so.

NabiilaBee has been posting videos on YouTube

since she was 16 years old.

I hope you guys enjoyed that and, if you want to see more videos from me,

then just click the subscribe button down below

and I'll see you guys in my next video. Bye!

Well done. MYRIAM CLAPS

-Thanks.

-So how often do you do these then?

So, I film YouTube videos every three days.

Wow. How did you get into that?

I was in school, I was around about 15,

and I was going through a hard time

of wearing my hijab

and I was kind of struggling. I was kind of getting bullied

that I wasn't pretty enough when I wore the scarf.

I started doing my own styles

and people in the street used to be like,

"Oh, so how did you do that style?"

I was like, you know what, I think I need to make YouTube videos as well

and show people how to do it.

One of the things that's very important about these bloggers is

that I think they need to be taken seriously as influences.

For example, lots of young women who start wearing hijab

and some of the wraps are very elaborate and difficult to achieve,

they are learning this from watching YouTube,

from watching video bloggers.

They're not learning it from their mums.

How influential do you think bloggers like yourself are

on the trends that we're now seeing within the high street?

I think really influential, because we've got so many followers,

brands have realised that and have seen that.

I think it's really amazing what they're doing

and that they're finally seeing us.

Are they seeing Muslims or are they just seeing pound signs?

To be honest, I think it's a win-win situation.

Like, they're a business, so obviously they're going to be

thinking about money and how they can make more, but at the same time,

I think it really benefits us because we need modest clothing.

But recognising this interest in modest clothing

is only part of the issue for high street stores.

Last year, Marks & Spencer introduced a swimming costume

that it had already sold overseas.

This was the item in question.

A swimsuit which covers the head, arms and legs,

marketed as the burkini.

'It covers the whole body except the face, hands and feet,

'so, what's all the fuss?'

There were criticisms from fashion moguls,

from the French Minister for Equalities and Women,

saying that this is just further oppression of women

and of women's rights.

If M&S had collaborated with Nadiya Hussain

from the Great British Bake Off and done a halal cupcake range,

I don't think anyone would have been bothered by it.

People would probably have said,

"Oh, it tastes delicious, I must get some".

So I think it's brought up a lot of anxieties

about what does it mean to be British?

Some of the criticism came from Muslims themselves.

I just don't understand why a mainstream high street retailer

would only want to pander to conservative voices

within Muslim communities.

Especially for Muslims, like myself,

who have made the decision not to cover our hair

and this is actually quite a difficult decision to make

in Muslim communities, when you consider that a lot of women

are actually ostracised for taking off their headscarves.

Women who might be perfectly happy with wearing

a regular one-piece swimsuit,

but might be shamed in years to come

if the burkini becomes normalised in Muslim communities.

Many young women who wear the headscarf will say

it's about choice and that they feel it's a good thing

that the high street is finally recognising them.

I can totally understand the excitement.

Of course, they want to see their particular way of dressing

acknowledged and recognised by these big high street retailers,

who wouldn't? But, at the same time, we have to be wary

that this doesn't become an excuse for pushing modesty doctrines.

When we asked Marks & Spencer if I could come and talk to them

about the burkini, they responded instead by saying they provide...

They've sold the burkini for a number of years...

The fact is, M&S is a huge retailer,

in the UK and internationally.

They spend a lot of money knowing and understanding their customer

and, if they felt there was a need to develop that product,

then they knew there was a demand.

They made the decision to stock a product,

because there are customers that will buy it.

I also wanted to talk to H&M about their inclusion of Mariah

in her headscarf in their campaign,

but they didn't provide anyone to be interviewed either.

They said...

And they...

Their advertising campaigns...

And they...

I am certain that there will be an enormous amount of analysis going on

to ensure that those stores are treading that very fine line

between not alienating the core traditional shopper,

whilst ensuring they do take some of that £20 billion per annum spending

that comes out of the Muslim community.

It's not only in the world of fashion

that the Muslim pound is attracting the attention

of big-name brands.

Ramadan is, of course, a month of fasting.

But, at the end of each day, there's Iftar, the evening meal,

when we break our fast.

And, at the end of Ramadan, there is a major celebration - Eid.

For supermarkets, that all means big sales.

TILLS BEEP

Ramadan is said to have boosted sales to 100 million

for these grocery stores,

so they're really reaching out to the market

and the market is very, very grateful for these options.

They've invested more and more in engaging with the Muslim community,

to prove that they are able to support their needs and wants,

both for their key festivities, but also for the rest of the year.

With the sales potential of Ramadan

well-established in the supermarkets,

it was really only a matter of time

before somebody spotted a gap in the market in the rest of the year.

For Muslims, the weekly shop involves looking for halal products.

Halal in Arabic simply means "permissible".

It rules out things like pork or anything containing alcohol.

They are "haram", or "forbidden".

Looking for halal alternatives

becomes a way of life, when you're a Muslim.

We all make conscious little adaptations,

like picking the fish or veggie option,

when you're out for dinner with friends.

But I'm off to meet a woman who got so fed up

with not being able to eat what she wanted

that she decided to do something about it.

Thank you.

So, this is the factory here.

Staple products that everyone...

'Shazia Saleem is a halal entrepreneur,

'with a company that produces halal everyday favourites.

'Sausage rolls, pasties and pies.

The sausage roll does really well

and the creamy chicken pie as well,

that's probably our second bestseller.

'One of my biggest frustrations'

was not being able to partake in

Britain's love affair with food.

You know, you're kind of limited to

food from where your parents are from, erm...

or fried chicken.

I think, when I was at university, actually,

is when I first had the idea...

"Hang on, this can't be quite right.

"Why am I spending all of my money buying tuna mayonnaise sandwiches

"and cheese and onion pasties?

"Surely, why can't I buy lasagne?

"Why can't I have a shepherd's pie?"

That's kind of where the frustration came about.

All of these products are kind of done as you would do at home,

but it's just on a bigger scale.

How easy is it to convince Muslim consumers to go for a sausage roll?

Yeah, it is a little hard, because,

you know, to most Muslims the word "sausage" means "pork".

It means "haram" and, therefore,

people might be a bit nervous about it.

We have put the word "beef" in front of it

to get people to recognise that it's made of beef.

And then there is a very prominent halal logo.

Whilst halal meat has to be slaughtered

according to Islamic tradition,

there are different opinions on what that means.

In British law, animals have to be stunned before slaughter

and over three quarters of halal meat is stunned.

But, for some, it is only halal if it hasn't been stunned,

so there are exemptions on religious grounds.

The halal industry faces a lot of criticism

over the use of unstunned meat.

Where do you stand on stunned or unstunnned?

Er, no, we use unstunned meat.

For me, it's important that I avoid doubt.

The majority of meat in the UK is stunned

and that's because the best practice guidelines advise

stunning as a more humane way.

Do you see a conflict there with halal?

The controversy, I think, that plagues halal slaughter,

and unstunned halal slaughter in particular,

is the misunderstanding that it's some sort of barbaric procedure.

What happens is there tends to be some bad practice of it,

but, to be honest, that bad practice happens

in both stunned, unstunned, halal, non-halal industries.

That's... That is a bad abattoir.

That is not necessarily specific to the halal procedure itself.

And, out on the high street,

there's certainly a growing demand for halal options.

In 2014, Tayub Mushtaq went on TV investment show Dragons' Den

to try and secure funding

for a chain of fast food stores selling wraps.

Good afternoon, Dragons.

I'm here today seeking an investment of £500,000

for an exchange of 11% equity in our business.

-NARRATOR:

-'Despite a promising initial pitch,

'Tayub and Afnan are leaving empty-handed.'

So, I am really sorry,

but I'm out.

Tayub has gone on to open 14 stores, so far, selling halal wraps.

How much would you say your business success

is down to spotting a gap in the market?

Though our predominant customer base

is 80% non-halal,

if you look at 20% of our customer base, which is Muslim,

that equates to around the profitability of our business

so, had we not had the Muslim customers,

maybe we would just be breaking even.

Number 91.

In light of that, how much opportunity do you think there is

for other entrepreneurs for tapping into the halal market?

There's Muslim populations across the UK

and they're all in need for halal food.

And if you can fill that space,

there's no reason why any new business or new operator

can't be successful.

Many of the big-name fast food chains are recognising the demand.

Finding somewhere to eat halal is increasingly easy,

as NabiilaBee discovered in a blog checking out the dining options

at the intu Trafford Centre in Manchester.

So, yeah, the Nando's is halal, the chicken's halal,

so I can eat there.

Excuse me, hi. Is the meat halal here, the chicken?

-The chicken and steak.

-The chicken and steak? OK, thank you.

So, there's McDonald's and Burger King here.

They are not halal.

However, obviously, you can get the veggie option, if you want.

And they are halal as well.

Surprisingly there are a lot of halal places.

I thought there'd only be, like, two or three.

But as more and more fast food restaurants

choose to cater for the halal diner,

some are finding it attracts unwanted attention.

There has been a bit

of a media backlash against

some of the retailers,

particularly the food retailers,

for moving towards halal.

And suggestions that, as it's only 5% of the market,

why are they doing that?

Why not just increase consumer choice for everyone,

rather than reducing the choice

for those who are not Muslim

and who may not even identify as religious?

But what about businesses in Muslim majority areas,

-where it does make business sense to cater?

-I would say...

the country, as a whole, is still a non-Muslim majority country.

Therefore, why should the dietary needs of a small minority

have to dominate those of everybody else?

Hi, I was wondering if I could speak to you

about some of your halal products?

'We asked some of these restaurants for an interview

'about the issues around halal.'

So, Nando's said they didn't have anyone to speak to us

on their behalf.

They referred us to their website, which says

about a fifth of their restaurants serve only halal chicken,

which is signposted.

The quality, health and welfare of their chicken is a priority

and they are pre-stunned before slaughter.

Subway said...

KFC said that they were very busy

and didn't have the capacity to dedicate to our request.

Pizza Express referred us to a statement.

It said...

the chicken they currently use is halal-certified.

But none of their meals or restaurants are halal,

because of other non-halal ingredients in their kitchens.

Their chicken supplier meets the highest welfare standards,

and all the birds are stunned pre-slaughter.

Frankly, I find it all a bit disappointing.

If these stores are happy enough to take my money,

I'd hoped they'd be prepared to talk about it.

When we talk about it,

basically, we're creating a polarisation in the market.

We're drawing too much attention to the commerciality

of what's actually happening in the retail environment.

So, I would say it's probably more a case of keeping their heads down,

doing what they do and not drawing too much attention to themselves.

But some retailers have no hesitation in upfront marketing

to halal shoppers.

When it comes to my make-up and creams,

I don't tend to look at the ingredients that closely.

Some of the products probably do contain alcohol,

but I figure as long as I'm not consuming it,

that's not really an issue.

Having said that, I can understand why some people might prefer, say,

a collagen cream that wasn't pig-derived.

There's already a booming trade in health and beauty products.

They avoid chemicals and often alcohol, too.

Many are cruelty-free, so they don't use animal products.

It's not difficult to see why, for some,

Muslim consumers would be a target market.

There's all sorts of certification on this packaging.

You've got, "Against animal testing, 100% vegan",

and, the new kid on the block,

"100% halal".

Rose Brown was just 22 when she became the UK's youngest franchiser,

selling a range of vegan, cruelty-free

and halal-certified beauty products.

I use cosmetics that contain alcohol, cos I sort of think,

"Well, as long as I'm not consuming alcohol, then, you know,

"it doesn't really matter if it's in my products".

So, I mean, why is there a need for halal certification?

If you are using a lipstick

which contains animal-derived

ingredients, specifically, you know,

animal fats derived from pigs,

then, a lot of the time, that is being ingested into the body.

You can apply lipstick all day and a lot of that is actually ingested,

or can be absorbed in through the skin.

And, so, some consumers do feel that they would actually much rather use

a product that is completely free from these ingredients.

And what would you say to people who regard halal certification

as a bit of a marketing ploy,

just a way of accessing another niche market?

People might think that it's just a ploy or a plot, but, actually,

what it does do is give people real peace of mind.

It lets them look at a product and say,

"I know that someone here has put the care and hard work

"into ensuring that this product is completely free from ingredients

"that I wish to avoid".

And I think, really, a lot of people appreciate that.

Cosmetics, food, fashion.

The halal market seems to be growing wider by the day.

There's this notion called Blue Ocean Strategy,

which literally creates

this new market demand, where there is none.

And I think that is what is happening with this "Brand Muslim".

If we think about ten years ago,

nobody needed a smartphone.

Yet, I'm pretty sure, here and now,

most people do own a smartphone.

That is a need we didn't know we had

that the retail and consumer markets created.

We're really talking about the principles of good retailing.

You can see this in action by checking the range of goods

now offering halal certification.

Here's Nabila's blog again.

So, the first one...

Obviously, you've got your Haribos.

And they all have the halal stamp on them.

And so are the chocolates.

And the one that I find really weird

was just basically liquid wash for your clothes.

Instant noodles.

And then I got these Kellogg's Rice Krispies.

Yep, and the stamp here is at the back as well,

right next to the vegetarian.

And even on the bread, which is really surprising,

it's got the halal stamp.

I think it plays on Muslim identity politics,

which I think is a really negative trend within Muslim communities.

The Muslim lifestyle is seen as

someone who uses halal beard oil,

who paints their nails with halal nail varnish,

who wears burkinis from M&S,

who lives their life in what I would term quite a restrictive way,

where their religious identity sort of trumps all other identities.

We've seen an enormous change

in the last two years.

I wasn't sure it would ever happen.

The high street catering to,

and seeking out, soliciting, Muslim shoppers.

Big brands are reaching out to Muslim audiences

and that was something that should be celebrated,

because we're not really recognised often

and this is, like, taking off.

I definitely see us growing,

I don't think it's reached its peak, to be honest.

I think there's so much more that can be done and that is being done.

It does seem like there's going to be more choice on the high street,

as stores increasingly recognise the value of the Muslim pound.

And if that encourages us all to think a little harder

about how and where we spend our cash,

then, surely, that can only really be a good thing.