Al Shams Exceptional Islamic Apparel

     

Nusreen Abaya an Al Shams Luxe Design 

     Modest fashion is gaining popularity with both religious and non religious consumers. The idea of modest fashion is all about dressing tastefully to be noticed for style, it is all about being confident and embodying the feminine finesse. A growing number of fashion brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY and MANGO to name a few have realized that it is important to start catering to women who choose to dress modestly due to either their religious beliefs or personal preferences.

     Kim Shamsiddin is founder of Al Shams Exceptional Islamic Apparel. Her personal fashion experiences  drove her to creating a modest wear fashion label. It all began with providing modest clothing for women who shared similar dress sentiments as her. She was fed up of not being able to find the right pieces in the name brand stores, she would always find herself layering to acquire the right amount of cover she liked. Through her journey with Al shams, she realised that there were very few outlets for Muslim women here in the United States where they could find good quality abayas/ hijabs which would suit young and old as well as keeping in with current color trends and styles. 

     I was lucky enough to have a quick chat with Kim and she gave me a little insight into her journey. 

Raisa Abaya in Cocoa

          Kim, how did your journey start, what drove you to start up a company such as yours?

The truth is I had a very hard time finding modest clothing. I work on Wall St. as an attorney and I am also Muslim and like most professional women I wanted to look great for work and in my case, I also wanted my clothing to reflect my Muslim identity. I found it so difficult to find clothing that made me feel comfortable doing both. Everything was either too short, too tight or too revealing. I would spend hours in department stores and boutiques looking for clothing items that were long, flowy and loose fitting but the selections were, and still are, extremely limited. I honestly felt like mainstream fashion had completely ignored me. I started Al Shams to fill this void in the apparel market. The global Islamic apparel market is currently $243 billion dollars and is expected to rise to $368 billion by 2021. It is astounding to me that mainstream fashion has not addressed this enormous need.

·       Tell us a little bit about your struggles as far as being a newcomer into the world of apparel/fashion leave alone the fact that you are somewhat a pioneer in Islamic wear here in the U.S. what were the hurdles you had to overcome?

     

      Ah yes, the hurdles, there are many. I think initially just navigating the whole apparel manufacturing process was a huge learning curve for me. My experience with clothing was from the perspective of a consumer; I knew what I liked and I bought what I liked. But as far as apparel production, I knew absolutely nothing. I also don’t have any formal design experience whatsoever so I had to learn about fabrication, tech packs, patterns, grading, fitting, production cycles and all the technical aspects of creating clothing. Apparel production is tedious and labor intensive and mistakes in the process can lead to missed deadlines, poor product quality and lost revenue. Speaking of lost revenue, in our first season we went to great lengths to produce our clothing here in the U.S.  It was easier to do since I was in New York and my factories were right here as well. However, the materials and labor were quite expensive resulting in a higher price point for our items. Our consumers loved the clothing but hated the prices. The entire season was a complete bust and we lost over $25,000 that year which for a small business is huge. We have since taken our manufacturing offshore and have recalibrated our pricing to meet our customer demand. We have been profitable since 2016.

     On top of that there is the business side of a fashion brand including marketing, financial management, vendor relations, logistics and fulfillment to name a few. I am by no means an expert in any of these areas but I had to get myself up to speed very quickly to get the business going. I learn something new every day.

Saalihah Abaya

·        How are you breaking the style stereotypes as far as hijabs/abayas go?

      Well everyone has their own unique style and we try to offer ways to enhance that.  I think there may be some misconceptions that Muslim women dress is boring and while the goal is not to attract attention to yourself, we believe you can still be well styled and well put together in your attire. The hallmark of the Al Shams Brand is sophisticated elegance. We don’t aim to be over the top or ostentatious and the Al Shams woman prefers sophisticated, understated elegance.

·       I find it very interesting how you have paid attention to detail when constructing your website as well as your look books. You have put a lot of thought into how you want to portray your models with keeping in with religious belief and tradition yet making the visuals very eye catching. Can you elaborate a little on this?

Branding is critically important with any company, particularly apparel. We don’t show any faces so our models have to convey the brand persona through their movement, whether it be a hand gesture or a particular posture. The viewer has to get a sense of the brand message through the visuals so I pay meticulous attention to the way the models walk, their hands and nails, their gestures, their shoes, every single detail is evaluated. For the models, it forces them to bring a unique skill set since the focus will not be on the face and hair. It is very challenging to do. When people who visit our website tell me it looks very classy, I thank them and think to myself, okay, we nailed the branding messaging.

Lamisa Abaya

·       You are launching a new line which is targeted towards more buxom ladies out there, due to high demand. Can you give us more details about this line?

Yes, we are launching our Curvy Muslimah collection which is geared toward plus sized women. We get so many requests from our curvy ladies asking for styles that we don’t currently offer in their size, it only made sense to create a line for them. Curvy ladies, as I like to call them, don’t often have a lot of great choices for stylish beautiful clothing and they too have been ignored by the fashion industry at large. Some brands subscribe to the notion that if curvy ladies want to wear nice clothes, they need to lose weight which is just absurd. We want to give them those choices with styles that are pretty and that make them feel beautiful.

·       With a new body positive movement going on in the entertainment industry and women standing up against social norms and being more comfortable with who they are. Can you share some of your experiences while putting together this new plus size line?

When we first put out the casting call for plus size models we stated we were looking for women size 18 and above. I got a ton of responses from women who were sized 6, 8, 10 and 12. I went back to them and asked if they read the casting call because I wanted to be sure they knew it was for plus size models. They all responded yes and insisted they were plus size. I found this extremely disturbing and I think the fashion industry has done some serious damage to the psyche of women in the modeling industry. I had to sanity check with friends and people were like yeah, anything over a size 4 in fashion is considered plus size. I have no idea how this is possible when the average dress size of American women is 16. I think the whole thing is just ridiculous and the industry needs to rethink that narrative. Women come in all sizes and shapes and are just as beautiful at a size 2 as they are at a size 20.

Al Shams Plus Size Abaya

·       You mentioned how you had to get models to realize and get used to the fact that their faces were not going to be featured in the pictures, how did this same concept work with your very first shoot for the plus size line was there a difference in attitude/ acceptance towards this approach?

     

     The models that respond to our casting calls are given a full briefing and preview our website and social marketing channels before they commit so they fully understand what they are getting into. They like the challenge because it means they have to work harder because it’s not all about how cute they are, it’s about whether they can convey our brand message through their movement. That task alone separates the amateurs from the pros.

·       Your company is also offering a try before you buy program, this idea is catching on but not many companies have adopted this concept, as a consumer I love the idea, how is it different from ordering an item and just returning it if it does not work for you? Would it be a monthly subscription?

     

     Our free Try Before You Buy membership allows our customers to try our clothing on at home for 3 days with free shipping both ways. This addresses two problems, first, the issue of whether an item will fit and secondly, the hassle of making a return if it doesn’t.  The number one reason why people hate shopping online is because they are not sure if it will fit. Try Before You Buy addresses this by offering a risk-free option for consumers because there is no upfront cost, they can try the items at their convenience and if the items don’t fit or they don’t like it, they just ship it back to us in our prepaid envelope. They can just drop the envelope in the USPS mailbox so they ever have to wait in line at the post office to make a return. It is a customer convenience model that I believe more brands will adopt in the future.

Amal Abaya

·       Where do you see the Al Shams brand in 5 years?

     We definitely envision a brick and mortar presence. I know everyone thinks brick and mortar is dying but the truth is the vast majority of apparel retail purchases take place in stores and I don’t think that will ever go away. Will the retail model evolve? Absolutely, but nothing can replace the sensory experience of touching an item and interacting with human beings that can help you navigate your choices. It’s an opportunity for us to continue growing our brand and bringing the online experience into a physical space. 

     Thank you Kim for giving us a great insight into your journey and we wish you the best of luck. If you are in the market for an abaya or just interested in modest chic, be sure to check out Al Shams collection. Kim has definitely put a lot of thought into her designs and I love how she is introducing a special plus size clothing range into an already niche setting.

     Al Shams: www.shamswear.com