A Modest Brand for Children and Adults
I AM AFRICAN & I CAN is a women’s empowerment blog highlighting stories of Black women’s struggles and successes.
By Hadiatou Wann | 06/10/2022
Since Briana Canty was around 8 years old, she loved sketching and turned to Google to mold her artistic abilities. Because she loved fashion but had a hard time finding attire that modestly complemented her style, the fashion enthusiast launched a brand to fill the gap.
At the age of 12, Briana decided to put on the hijab, at the time when she was one of the few Muslims at her school. It was the same year she left her Islamic school and went to a public middle school. It forced her to ask herself the question: ‘Why do I wear my hijab and who do I wear it for?” Despite getting into constant arguments defending her beliefs as well as some attempting to pull off her hijab or convince her not to wear it, she held her head up high and remained a covered girl.
As she approached high school she was much more comfortable and confident in herself and her hijab, in fact she believes it helped mold a lot of her identity today. Classmates always referred to her as the "stylish Muslim girl.” After 9th grade, she moved from the states to Dubai with her family, where she switched from attending public school to a British Islamic School. Always captivated by fashion, in 2009 she won a fashion design contest at the University of Sharjah, where she chose to design clothing that blended all the diverse cultures she’d encountered over the years.
At the age of 18, she married and moved back to the states to live with her spouse. While newly married she and her husband moved to New Jersey to complete their studies. Briana attended LIM college in Manhattan, where she had always dreamed of going and although she was unable to finish her program at the time, she knew that she would always pave her way back into the fashion space in the future.
Briana always wanted to own a modest brand that reflected her beliefs and fashion taste, but she repeatedly gave herself excuses. Until one day in 2019, one of her closest friends gave her the push she needed.
“Why aren’t you doing this?”, Briana’s friend asked when she came across some of her well-crafted sketches. “You can’t keep waiting for eventually,” she told Briana. That same year, Briana officiated her LLC (Limited Liability Company), Modesty and Co.
With more modest brands emerging in the market, running a small business can appear easy to the point where Briana says people assume that business owners have so much free time on their hands and social media makes it look like a walk in the park. However, she says there is a lot that goes into running a clothing line.
Although Briana always knew that she had potential, she worried that she would not be able to balance between her business and family. When the mother-of-three decided to start a modest brand, she knew that that she was going to do things differently, given that she has a knack for fashion and is a self-starter, instead of buying wholesale and reselling like many modest brands, she sought to do as much as she could from scratch and with her own twist to it.
The process entails: making sketches, tech packs (documents that compile the details of the products), sizing, after going back and forth with manufacturers, she approves and production begins. The samples are then air shipped to ensure a quicker delivery. Upon arriving in the states, she packages, organizes inventory, hires photographers to showcase her brand, and then begins marketing.
From using her savings to fund her business so that she could avoid seeking a loan that deals with Riba (interest, which is forbidden in Islam), to choosing to work with Muslim-owned production companies in Turkey and Indonasia to name a few, Briana made a conscious decision from the get-go that she would introduce to the market a brand that operates with Islamic values from top to bottom. Which is also one of the many ways that differentiates Modesty and Co. from many other modest brands.
Modesty and Co. not only offers modest styles for women but they also have a line of modest kids swimsuits. Being born and raised in Florida, Briana’s daughters have always been involved in swimming from a young age. As her eldest daughter grew, she wanted to begin introducing more modest options to her wardrobe that she would also enjoy and love wearing. With the children’s swimwear market needing more options for stylish swimsuits with a little more coverage, Briana started designing swimwear for her girls. Her girls had the chance to partake in the designing process. To her surprise, when people saw her daughters wear her designs, inquiries poured in from friends and the community.
Amatullah Ali met Briana through her parents when they moved to Florida. They attended the same Islamic school and she also became Briana’s babysitter when she was 5 and Amatullah was 12 years old.
“Briana has always been outgoing and committed to anything she puts her mind to. She has overcome adversity through the many curve balls life has thrown at her. Whether it was running track or playing basketball, she excelled and was an example to other Muslim girls that anything was possible with hard work. Briana is a dedicated friend, sister, business owner and mother,” Amatullah said.
“She is very resourceful and her many talents are apparent when she is helping others, completing projects, or creating beautiful clothing designs. As the owner of Modesty & Co., she has incorporated her Muslim identity as inspiration to fill the need for women and girls to have stylish, yet modest options. It's been a joy to see how far she has come, MashaAllah,” Amatullah added.
This summer, founder and CEO Briana aims to launch a new line of easy-to-wear elevated basics for women whether they are rushing to the store or planning a much-needed outing with family or friends.
Briana’s success story teaches us the importance of holding firm to our beliefs, and to never be afraid to show up as our true selves even in the business space. This fashion lover wants to leave a good impression on anyone who she encounters, to be remembered as someone who was always kind whether in business or in her personal life. And for her daughters to recognize that their mother always set out to do what she dreamt of.
Inside the Life of a Fashion Designer
“A strong woman can take care of herself and others around her. She is strong in her beliefs and is able to articulate that to others.”
“Being a mother has been the single most rewarding yet challenging experience I've had in my short lifetime. It has challenged me to always be working towards being the best version of myself not only for me but also for my little ones. It's rewarding because you are literally these little people's most favorite person in the entire world, flaws and all. Alhamdulillah it's been a blessing, a rollercoaster and all very humbling. Motherhood, to me, is one of the most if not 'The Most' important position a person can have. Every mother is single handedly making a difference in their communities and possibly the world by raising hopefully well-rounded, respectable, compassionate changemakers. In a sense, we are helping shape & mold the future and that is an extremely important task.”
-Briana Canty
“Beauty radiates from within. It’s how you move, speak, and carry yourself. It is loving yourself how Allah made you.”
Connect with Briana:
Instagram: @modestyandco
Facebook: @modestyandco
Tiktok: @modestyandco
Email: info@modestyandco.com
Website: modestyandco.com
Read other success stories here: www.iamafricanandican.com/blog
Follow I AM AFRICAN & I CAN
on social media:
Thank you for reading! Knowledge is more valuable when you share it.
SHARE THIS POST because it can change someone's life. And SUBSCRIBE below for updates and be informed whenever a new person is featured.