Al Hijaab Interview

Al Hijaab is not only to get out there and find you the best in Islamic clothing but to design and produce our own lines of exquisite Islamic clothing. Islamic Fashon with modesty!

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to interview the Al Hijaab team to find out more about their collection and position in the Islamic Fashion Industry. Here's what they had to say:



First off, tell us a little bit about yourself?

We are a family-run business – my mother, father, brother and sister are all involved with Al-Hijaab. Our aim has been to provide Islamic clothing for fashion conscious Muslims in Britain, giving them a wide variety of designs and motifs. We have been established since Ramadan 2003, opening our first store in Bradford that year. Our website went live soon after, which has been a huge success, Alhamdulillah.

The next step for us is a first of its kind Islamic clothing superstore. We’re actually in the throws of planning the creation of a showroom and retail outlet in Bradford. To give you an idea, we are going to build the store from scratch – digging up soil, laying foundations to displaying stock on the mannequins. It’s a huge project, but it’s also a great challenge for the Al-Hijaab company. My family and I have never been shy of hard graft.

Our aim has always been to provide quality chic Islamic clothing for the wider community. We found a niche in the market and we aimed to fill it with an extensive array of products from places like Dubai, India, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Our stock is diverse, elegant, stylish and affordable.


What is your target market and what do you specialize in?


Our target market is people wanting elegant, yet affordable Islamic clothing. Our customers come from all walks of life – students, professionals, bridal parties, elders and new converts to Islam. We have people traveling from as far north as Scotland and as south as London.There’s not a day that goes by, when we don’t have the privilege of meeting someone new, Alhamdulillah – it’s great!

Our specialty lies in offering Islamic clothing for all occasions from Eid celebrations and weddings to office meetings, public events and everyday wear. We sell jilbabs, abayas, hijabs, men’s robes, hats, shawls, accessories, including brooches.We are happy to pair people with the ideal garment for any event. More importantly we provide as much variety in menswear as we do in ladies-wear.




Do you see your jilbabs/abayas as being formal wear or everyday wear?
We have a broad variety of both jilbabs and abayas; suitable for formal wear and everyday wear. Our styles are sophisticated, smart, tasteful and chic and can be worn to work or to a special occasion.


What sets you apart from other online Islamic stores?

I believe our conviction to provide not only affordable clothing but clothing that reflects the times and is for the fashion-conscious sets us apart from our competitors. If you look at our 2008 collection, we have it all, from plain simple jilbabs to premier designer wear. It is stylish, yet tasteful, giving the customer a classy option. We also believe in enhancing the customers shopping experience, doing everything in our power to make sure they’re satisfied with our service. Customer satisfaction is of paramount importance to us.


What should we expect from your new collection?

The theme running through our 2009 collection is primarily sophistication and panache. We are working with embroidery, stone work, pleats, evening dress colors... (Please check the new collection on Al Hijaab's website)

What are your hopes for Al Hijaab in the future?

Apart from building our exclusive Islamic superstore and showroom, we would like to organize and take part in fashion shows focused on Islamic clothing worldwide. As a company we also want to branch out into supplying Islamic dress for large events like wedding parties.Ultimately, we want to be able to create a brand for ourselves, so when people think about Islamic clothing, the first name on their lips is Al-Hijaab.

Any last words for our readers?

We love what we do and we want to be able to share that experience with our customers. Fundamentally we are here to help them. We want to provide the ultimate shopping experience, matching people up with the best garment, accessory and answering all their queries. The customer is our reason for being here and we will always be loyal to him/her.


You can check Al Hijaab's
website to see the rest of their new collection. You can also follow them on their Facebook page. Thank you!

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Hijab

UPDATE: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Hijab has a blog that is opened to all sisters. The blog is private, so if you'd like to join please send an email to heejabee@gmail.com or sisterhood.online@gmail.com The sisterhood is opened to all sisters regardless of where they live. You can participate in the game if you live in America, Europe, Asia or Africa! So, please email me if you're interested. The more, the merrier!

Do you want to be part of this game? Sisterhood of the traveling hijab. This is a way for us to stay connected and share something in common.

1- I will get a notebook/scrapbook
2- I will write about something I wanna share about me or where I live, or my family....+Put my city's postcard
3- I will buy a hijab online
4- I will send you the notebook+hijab
5-When you receive it,you can keep it for a week,write about something you wanna share, something that happened to you when you wore the hijab,.....
6- Wash the hijab, mail hijab+scrapbook to the next person on the list
7- Let's see how far the hijab will get and how many places this hijab will see.

Let me know if you're interested to be part of this project. I will create a separate blog about it if enough people are interested. We can all be in different parts of the world, this Hijab will be the symbol of our sisterhood. Our special sisterhood connection!

Rules:
1-The first time you receive the scrapbook, you will paste a postcard about your city.
2- You have to be willing to mail the scrapbook+hijab to the next person on the list regardless of where they are located.
3-You have to wash the hijab before sending it to the next person on the list
4. You have to wear the hijab that week
5. Only the people on the list can wear the hijab. You can't let your friends and/or family wear it if they are not on the list.


Any ideas, thoughts, comments.... are welcome

Bad Hijab Day

I'm having a bad hijab day. For some reason, my hijab has decided that it has a mind of its own and refuses to stay straight on my head! I remember when I first started wearing the hijab, I thought I was so done with wasting time in front of a mirror fixing up my hair. I was right with the fixing my hair part, I still spend some decent time in front of the mirror trying to fix my hijab. Some days, my hijab refuses to cooperate, it won't pin up properly! I struggle with it, and struggle with it & all I end up with is a scarf with a lot of holes in it looking like it was attacked by an ant colony. Oh and there is the mysterious pin that disappears in the middle of my head. Ever heard of the expression looking for a needle in a haystack? yeh... that's me, the haystack being my big head. There are also the times when I need to take my hijab off and my safety pin decides not to come off ,I have to fight with it and it gets annoying at times! Oh, and the other day, one of my hijab pins decided to drop right in front of my supervisor making a loud noise, while we were having an office meeting and scared everyone into thinking I was carrying some weapons of mass destruction on my head. It wasn't so much the pin droping that was akward, but the fact that I had to pick it up and show to everyone ' hey just a pin from my head' and stick it in while everyone is looking with a fake smile on their faces as in "ewwww she puts that thing on her head ". Great timing, just my luck!..... Do you have any bad hijab day stories?

Oh, and what's your hijab style on this pic? I would love to think I'am the Hijab Chique, but most days I'm pretty sure I'm more like the veiled Indonesian maid. Yes just if you were wondering, I'm the psycho with the headscarf carrying too many bags that you see in the elevator.

My Shopping

So I bought these Hijabicaps from Al Muhajabaelaniqa( How do you pronounce that by the way?) and received them in a week. I was really excited till my husband said he doesn't like them because... His exact words were 'It looks like you have cancer and you're just covering your head with something' not in a mean way as he corrected me, bottom line is he doesn't think they're pretty. I, on another hand find them gorgeous but now I'm confused. Do they look that bad? I like the flowers on the back and the sequins in the front. What do you think?







Oh, and they also have this chiffon accessory hijab with a flower( in white on the picture) that can be used to dress up any hijab. You pin it on your wrap and you're good to go. Any thoughts?

Thoughts