Muslim-owned Modify Thrift in Harlem offers modest fashion with sustainability

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Harlem has gained a thrift shop that mixes modest fashion, faith and sustainability into a single local destination. Modify Thrift, opened last May on Malcolm X Boulevard, was created by Kadjahtou Balde after she helped her father revamp a struggling gift shop and decided to build a store that matched her values, including Islam and sustainability.

Balde said she has had trouble finding clothing that fits her modesty needs even in a city full of vintage and thrift options, including pieces she wears “modestly — and fashionably.” She described looking at items with careful craft, including a black dress handstitched with turquoise geometric designs, and said she sometimes struggles to let such vintage finds go once they arrive at her shop.

In Balde’s telling, the business also aims to push back on stereotypes that portray Muslim women’s clothing—particularly head coverings—as boring or oppressive. She said that broader focus in the “secular world” has driven discriminatory policies in Europe and arguments about women’s rights and Islamophobia in the United States, and she said the modest-fashion mix at Modify Thrift is meant to counter those narratives.

She also tied the store’s mission to the reality of post-9/11 New York, where she said visibly Muslim women can face fear of hate crimes. Balde said some customers who wear hijabs have learned to use fashion as a way to blend in, and she said she hopes the shop will make it easier for women to “revamp” their outfits in a way that aligns with their own modesty levels.

Balde described her approach as both business and stewardship, saying she wants the shop to help people care for the planet rather than rely on fast fashion. She said she sees extending clothing lifecycles as “a form of worship” and as an expression of her view of Islamic stewardship for the Earth, adding that, as she put it, she cannot be a Muslim who consumes fast fashion only.

Modify Thrift obtains much of its inventory through community donations, but it also buys items and runs consignment. On a Friday afternoon in January, assistant operations manager Nabiha Ali sifted through donation bags, inspecting materials such as wool and cotton before pricing garments, and she said she fields questions about what qualifies as modest clothing.

Ali said modesty can include looser styles that cover limbs and the neckline, while also emphasizing that modesty is not always a single-piece feature. She said she encourages customers to think about how garments can become modest when layered and styled, and she added that the shop reflects her view that no two Muslim women look the same.

Customers said the shop meets their needs in different ways. Hafeezat Bishi, a 25-year-old Manhattan resident, said thrift shopping at Modify helps her “re-center my purpose” and described it as supporting what she called her “justice-based faith” and doing something for “the greater good of the community and the Earth.” Harlem resident Ella Smith, by contrast, said she is drawn to thrift stores for practical reasons including rising costs and limited affordable options, describing the appeal of finding something unique and a bargain.

Balde said connecting with neighbors is central to her vision and pointed to Harlem’s long history as a fashion hub. She said she introduced herself to people in the neighborhood before beginning store renovations and built relationships with help from her father, who she said has been part of Harlem life since 2001 as a street vendor and then a shop owner.

She said the building process itself became part of the store’s story as she and her father documented renovations and their DIY work through vlogs on Instagram. Balde described starting that work “three months postpartum,” and she said she felt she was enjoying moments she did not have as a kid because her father did “the hard work so that we could actually live out our dreams.”

Looking ahead, Balde said Modify Thrift is meant to honor her father’s work in a neighborhood where she said gentrification continues to push longtime small businesses out. She said she hopes to scale the model and open immigrant-run modest thrift stores in every borough.