It’s World Hijab Day, and Hana of definitelyHANA is ready to push her modest fashion brand to the next level! We speak to her to learn what makes her tick, what drives her passions, and how she balances business with personal life!
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What inspired you to start definitelyHANA?
My core inspiration lies in being a self-sufficient and successful female entrepreneur with additional inspiration from my devoted and supportive family and friends.
What inspires the designs for your scarves and shawls?
I’ve always believed in the merging of modernity with classics in designs and trends. This inspires my present collection of trendy, tasteful, and decidedly elegant Muslimah fashion.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a small business owner?
Definitely in scaling-up and scalability – by way of transitioning my business to the next level for the former, and pushing resource boundaries to grow further for the latter.
What is your day-to-day role within the company as the founder, creative lead, and producer?
As the Founder, my day-to-day is defined by me cracking my head to scale up definitelyHANA. Similarly, as Creative Lead, I busy myself with the latest designs and trends to keep my following engaged and interested. As Producer, I am very particular with quality control and supply chain consistency to maintain overall products and sales.
Can you tell me about the production process for your scarves and shawls?
In the span of about 30 days, my production process includes the initial ideation of designs and trends, the ordering and selection of colour palettes, and material samples and product mock-ups, before transitioning to confirmation for suppliers and production.
It’s International Hijab Day! What impact do you hope your products have made on your customers?
In line with this iconic Day, I hope that definitelyHANA has fulfilled a large part of our aspiration to cement in the minds of our followers and customers the epitome of our products’ trendiness, tastefulness, and elegance! We hope we’ve managed to become our customers’ go-to Muslimah fashion brand.
Can you tell me about any notable accomplishments or milestones that definitelyHANA has achieved?
From our inception in 2020 to present day, I was, and am still so very proud that the brand has persisted through the difficult two years of COVID-19 with the amazing efforts, publicity, and support of our core partners like Poptron! This led to the successful launch of our second product line during the pandemic in 2021, and our third product line in recovery 2022 – despite the odds.
How do you balance between personal life, and the incredibly time-consuming effort of running your brand?
Interestingly, I really have no clue. Hahaha! Budding entrepreneurs of start-ups like mine tend to always manage and find ways. To this date, I am happy to report that I still do, with the support of my lovely family, fantastic friends, and inspiring partner!
How do you stay on top of market trends and customer needs?
Other than keeping a close watch on the industry, market, and brands within definitelyHANA’s scope, I always make it a point to listen to my followers and customers so I can address their likes and demands.
What are your future plans for definitelyHANA?
In fashion, we are all well aware of the fast turnover of products due to rapidly-changing tastes. For definitelyHANA to scale-up, I plan to launch more product lines while keeping my ultimate goal of opening a physical store in my vision!
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