Just like many young girls, I once shared the childhood dream of having my clothing range. The dream was shared with a cousin of mine from as young as I can remember; we grew up planning out a store we would one day own and all the things we’d sell inside it (we even wrote all our ideas in a little notebook that I still have 15+ years later). We even had names planned out and a whole layout for our "future" store. Selling clothing was one of many ideas in our notebook, along with skin care, hair care and perfume range, an organic fruit & veg market and many other ideas. (I think I’ll take it one business idea at a time lol).
I mentioned previously we had names planned out in our book, one name that was most important to us was a made up name "Paykoties" which is now incorporated into this very business!
As I got older, my ideas shifted into more realistic versions of my once childhood dream. I reverted at the young age of 15, so of course, my plans naturally had to change to be fitting into what is pleasing to Allah (God) ﷻ. At the very start of 2019, my plans had started to make progress. With the initial intention of selling clothing for women to wear in public and items to wear at home around mahram or in front of other women, Alhamdulillah (All praise is to God) Allah had planned something even better. My progress was stripped away before I grasped onto it. I had sold my shop and everything in it before I had the chance to launch my business. But as I said, Allah is the best of planners and had something better installed for me! Not long after we were hit with a worldwide pandemic which would have caused my plans to fail had I still gone ahead and launched. I took that time to reflect on business and personal choices. I had decided to put the niqab on full-time which made me question my conscious decisions about some of the garments I had planned to sell and whether or not my customers would wear them correctly or in the presence of non-mahram. During that time I realised how oversaturated the “modest fashion” industry was; I knew how tough and competitive the industry would be had I stuck with selling abayas, jilbabs, skirts and the likes. SubhanAllah being a niqabi made me realise exactly what was lacking in our community. Australia is full of many niqabi sisters who struggle to find niqabs of all sorts and with decent quality in mind! I made it my goal to provide that for other sisters including myself so we no longer needed to wait over a month on a shipment from overseas with a ridiculous postage price!
I aim to sell sunnah items such as niqabs, hijabs, gloves and so much more in shaa Allah! My intentions are purely for the sake of Allah subhana wa ta’ala and helping our Muslimahs stay modest and covered, to be a means of helping others stay on the right path by giving dawah throughout my work and to make an honest halal living which is seriously hard to do as a niqabi in this country. I ask you all to sincerely make dua for me and my business that we stay firm on our deen and that our intentions never change to anything displeasing to Allah ﷻ.
Alhamdulillah, I am most thankful to our Rabb for allowing my dua to be answered. My plans are nothing compared to the plans of Allah.
I’d like to dedicate a humble appreciation to the cousin, I shared my dreams with…
I still reflect on our childhood ideas. I still hope that they all (or most) will become a possibility for both of us. As I have lived up one & I hope you can live up the same or another one of our countless ideas. Maybe a skincare range since all we ever did growing up was mix all the products we could find in my mums bathroom lol. Though my business isn’t exactly what was written in our little book, you’ll see a lot of those ideas incorporated into what I’ve established. I hope it gives you a sense of happiness & a chance to hold onto the happy childhood memories we have. I am so proud of the woman & mother you’ve become. Allah yehdiki 3ala siratal mustakeem.