Drawn Together by Modesty

Interview with Sara Wolf, founder and CEO of HydroChic® which launched in the Spring of 2007, based in Teaneck, New Jersey

Sara has a story that many of us have—we need something and cannot find it. In her case, she was looking for modest swimwear that was feminine, fashionable, and functional, and she couldn’t find it. Hundreds of us, if not thousands of us, have had this need, but Sara took the extra step that most of us don’t—she decided to make a business of it and help others who want to be modest and active, too.

She tells us, “We have a vision for our water line. We would love to see HydroChic become a normal alternative in women’s waterwear and see this more modest line take its rightful place on the shelf alongside the tankini and bikini. In this way, we hope to offer women another real option for water activities!”

Question: What is one of your best-selling products?

“Our sporty ¾-sleeve rashguard has been a super hit!”

Question: What has surprised you about the business you are in?

“I am surprised at how rewarding it has been. We didn’t expect such an overwhelming response as we have received.”

Congratulations and best wishes to HydroChic!

Interview with Terry Cormier, owner and operator of Al-Farah.com which launched in 2005 and is based Anaheim, California

After converting to Islam in 2002, Terry wasn’t happy with the clothing options available to her so she decided to manufacture her own line of modern Islamic clothing. She began in 2004 working on the business, launched the web site in 2005, and thereafter opened a retail store in her area of Anaheim, California in 2006 due to great demand for her clothing.

Since then, Terry has found it very rewarding to help others dress according to their modest beliefs. As a matter of fact, she has found that quite a few modestly dressing Christians are buying her clothes, in addition to her Muslim customers, because they cannot find modest clothing they like either. Terry is always glad to help any woman of any faith who dresses modestly to feel good. She says, “I have met so many wonderful people who have shown an immense amount of kindness and sisterhood. It all just makes me love Islam even more, alhamdulilah [Praise be to God]”.

Question: What’s one of your best-selling products?

“One of our best selling items has always been our Cotton-Spandex Blouses. They come in a large range of colors and sizes and are a real versatile wardrobe essential.”

Question: What exciting products or projects do you have coming up?

“We are currently working to expand our line to offer more variety and include a larger selection of plus sizes.”

Terry proudly manufactures and carries long, modest shirts and tunics, long skirts, modest pantsuits and skirt suits for work, shayla-style hijab, and more.

Since she does most of her own manufacturing, she would love to hear any suggestions and/or comments that could help her make the clothes you need.

Interview with Hamza Zakaria, owner of IslamOrient.com which launched in March 2006 and is based in London

Brother Hamza comes from a very unique family of converts to Islam. “My family all reverted to Islam one by one, from my older brother, to me, then my two sisters and mum, grandfather, and then finally my father. Alhumdulillah!!!”

Being a tailor by trade and being a Chinese convert to Islam, Brother Hamza is uniquely situated to bring Islamic clothing with Oriental-inspired designs to the market. He is especially motivated to help some of the younger generation of Muslims to come back to wearing Islamic clothing.

It pleases him as well to be involved with one of the best occupations (tailoring) that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his progeny) mentions.

Brother Hamza hopes to complement what’s already in the market for modern Islamic clothing by offering larger sizes and styles suitable for both the younger generation and the older generation. For women, he offers clothing in color so they can accessorize the black Islamic clothing that’s so prevalent in the market.

Q: Who are some of the customers you weren’t expecting?

“We’ve had many customers we weren’t expecting—like some non-Muslims who loved and bought our Islamic clothing. They loved our clothing range; they say our designs are beautiful, yet kept simple and modern.”

“Also, what we are most happy with is that sisters who have never worn Islamic clothing before (because they never found any Islamic clothing that they feel or have the confidence to wear regarding the style, sizing, and material used) bought and started wearing Islamic clothing for the first time. Alhamdulillah, when they came across our clothing range, they loved our elegant and sophisticated designs and our use of modern fabric, such as linen. They loved the many colors we have available and our available sizing.”

Q: What’s one of your best-selling products?

“One of the best selling products is our popular Chinese Islamic clothing which we try to keep modern but with a Chinese elegance.”

Q: What exciting products do you have in the works?

“We are designing more unique designs for our clothing range, and also we will be launching Islamic t-shirts for the brothers with an Oriental theme.”

Denise Al-Shammari has kindly agreed to let me post a goodbye letter from her to her customers. She has been running the Islamic clothing store at AlHediya.com for ten years. Her store was one of the the first Islamic clothing stores I added to Modest Clothing Directory. I will always remember her store as #12. Twelve is the unique number (primary key) my database system assigned to her store entry because hers was the twelfth store I entered into the database. I entered ten Christian stores first, then World of Islam, and then AlHediya.com.

Most of the stores I added in 1999 are out of business now, so it has been a great feat for her to have lasted as long as she did.

I will be particularly bummed about the closing because I order all the abaya, hijab, and prayer garments for my “new Muslim convert gift packs” from her. I don’t relish the thought of trying to find a new supplier. I loved getting her bulging plastic mailing bags in the mail filled with stuff to give away.

Here is her letter:

Assalamu alaikum Dara,

Thanks for the support and kind words.

We have found that over the past couple of years, with small Islamic clothing sites opening up all over the Internet, that our customer base has continually gotten smaller and smaller. I assume it is because customers, especially those in the U.S., would rather get their orders delivered fast, from U.S. vendors, regardless of the quality of the clothing. So, we would rather close the business now than watch it continue to decline. That makes us really sad.

We have really enjoyed serving our customers over the past 10 years. The profits allowed us to contribute to some very worthwhile causes and we met some wonderful people.

We were hoping that, by letting our customers know so far in advance about our closing, this would give them a chance to stock up on their favorite items. I think that we are still about the only site that offers such variety and flexibility in our abaya, jilbob and suit lines.

We will miss you all and thank each and every one of you for a terrific decade. Take care and may Allah bless us all!

Denise Al-Shammari
http://www.alhediya.com

Delmas and Esther Mae Gehman work their share of God’s earth in rural Pennsylvania. The Gehman’s store, Gehman’s Country Fabrics & More, just passed its two-year anniversary, which was in June 2007, and their Web site is ahead of the game. They’ve invested in a professionally designed Web site that affords its visitors an opportunity to shop for old-fashioned clothing and goods with up-to-date technology and service.

Seeing a need for modest clothing and fabric for such clothing, they opened their first store on eBay in 2005. Word-of-mouth grew their business. The Gehman’s marvel at how far and wide their customers now are. Aside from their popular easy-care, top-of-the-line quality fabrics, their most popular products are modest slips in sizes for girls through plus-sized women (even in maternity sizes)—each beautifully sewn by meticulous Old Order Mennonite seamstresses.

Their soaps, lotions, modest dresses, and modest dress patterns are also a big draw. They even sell a custom pattern for a Conservative Mennonite style cape dress. That means you may send them your measurements and they’ll make a pattern suited to just you. You then buy the pattern and sew your own dresses. What a great idea!