SHEIKHAHUB MODEST FASHION + LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE
May/Jun 16
MEET A SHEIKH OF FASHION WHO SPECIALISES IN UNDERGARMENT
PLUS SAWDAA by Madeena HHSK Sufyaa Singapore
START YOUR BUSINESS WITH ALIBABA Tried, tested and now, we tell you HOW
CONTENTS 03 EDITOR'S NOTE
08 HOW TO START YOUR BUSINESS WITH ALIBABA
04
16
MEET THE SHEIKH OF FASHION
ON THE COVER: SAWDAA BY MADEENA
20 EVENTS & LIFESTYLE
EXCLUSIVE!
04
10 GETTING TO KNOW
ISCLAIMER: SOME ARTICLES AND IMAGES ARE TAKEN FROM THE INTERNET OF WHICH ARE MOSTLY FROM OPEN SOURCES, AND SOME THAT WE ARE UNAWARE OF THEIR COPYRIGHTS STATUS. WE APOLOGISE SHOULD THERE BE ANY INFRINGEMENTS, DO CONTACT US AND WE'LL ADDRESS TO IT WITH THE NECESSARY
Editor's Note
21
The response to our second issue was mind blowing. In particular, we are very much 36 to our magazine touched by our reader from Brunei who wanted to pay to subscribe (it's by the way free to the uninitiated). Another reader from Turkey wanted us to cover more on entrepreneurial skills. We are certainly going towards that direction! We start this issue by introducing you to Dario Casalini, a former law professor who now runs a manufacturing company in undergarment in Italy. His family started this company in 1936. It is one of the fourteen renowned family businesses bestowed with a special merit of excellence award from the Italian Government. 48 We decided to walk the talk by starting a business by selling products from Alibaba. This was inspired by a case study from SHOPIFY. If you are an inspiring business person and don't know where to source for products, go to Alibaba, start small and follow our proven guide. We are also proud to announce that we have come up with our own clothing brand bySHEIKHAHUB. This brand is our social business label dedicated to bring awareness to special causes. This ready to wear collection can be purchased at modemarket in Quill City Mall Malaysia.
Editor-in-Chief NORZIHAN AHMAD @DNALATT
Send us an email if if you would like to contribute articles, information or be featured in our future issues, sheikhahubmag@gmail.com
DARIO CASALINI: THE SHEIKH OF FASHION OUR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CATCH UP WITH DARIO RECENTLY AT HIS FACTORY IN TURINO, ITALY. HERE'S EXCERP FROM THE INTERVIEW 1. A bit about yourself After an academic career in Public Law for Economics at University of Turin and King’s College (London), I decided to quit, to change my life and take over my family business in the textile sector. I love the professionalism and the strong know-how that stand behind quality and excellence and therefore I found this new challenge very interesting and exciting both from a professional and ethical point of view: in an almost globalized society, since 1936 Oscalito policy has always been focused on keeping a fully Made in Italy production chain. Every manufacturing stage, from prototype and styling, to knitting and sewing takes place in the current premises in Turin (Italy) which produces about 400,000 garments per year. 2. What made you enter the industry My personal decision has been due to different reasons but most of all to the willingness of maintaining and strengthen a unique know-how that would have disappeared or deployed somewhere abroad. I love to dare and I think it’s a bracing challenge to improve more and more the key factors that guarantee the outstanding quality of Oscalito items, enjoyed by men and women world-over: aesthetic considerations, choice of the most precious natural fibres, attention to detail, craftsmanship and innovative production processes within the best Italian fashion and textile tradition.
3. Describe a typical work week for apparel production With such a complete production chain from design to finished product and logistics the funniest aspect of our typical work week is to proceed on several rails at the same time. Everything starts on Monday with the weekly meeting among the chief managers (the heads of style, commercial, production, financial departments are involved) to tackle common problems or issues crossing different organizational competences. While the style department is studying trends and designing the upcoming collection, the production department is taking care of the whole supply chain for the last collection production, is planning the latter’s timing and optimization, solving the unpredictable production issues and adjusting the future budgeting. At the same time, the commercial and financial departments are focusing on the deliveries to retailers, the potential insolvency issues and fine-tuning the commercial strategies according to the continuously changing situation of sell-out. Day by day the chief managers mutually update the colleagues and on Friday we summarize the sales figures and the management cockpit outputs in weekly reports for the direction and the management board. Not a day goes by without innovations here at Oscalito, freshening up Italian sartorial traditions and designing collections made from the finest fibres.
4. What service do you provide In our niche sector of top quality underwear and knitwear made out from the most precious natural fibers (Oscalito has been voted in 2014 and 2015 as the bestseller knitwear brand in a survey involving the best 500 underwear and lingerie boutiques across the world (see www.oscalito.it/press/SURVEY-LINGERIE-BOI.pdf ), We cannot limit our offer to products delivery since the post sales and pre sales services to retailers (and often directly to consumers) became an essential part of our core business. Oscalito meets worldwide demand (we serve around 1,500 retailers in over thirty countries) thanks to efficient logistics and distribution arrangements, thus granting extremely punctual delivery and replenishment order fulfillment. Moreover, our accurate internal quality control system on each single garment produced allows us to have less than 0,02% of items returned because of defects, hence achieving an outstanding score of 99,98% of perfect and flawless pieces. To improve our services for consumers, in the near future we plan to operate an e-commerce platform to reach those customers living in countries where we do not have a retail network yet. 5. What are the minimum order Our main focus is to satisfy our buyers and retailers and to strengthen our mutual commercial relationship. From a long term viewpoint we perceive our clients as partners rather than mere buyers. To this aim, we do not impose a minimum quantity for the very first trial order since we want both parties to be happy and mutually satisfied. Once the sellin and sell-out data prove to be aligned, we ask for minimum quantity only to grant free of charge delivery.
6. What a brand like Oscalito can offer Besides a unique touch for men and women who seek out elegance and creativity, Oscalito provides for an answer to their wish to purchase items that make them both look and feel wonderful. Oscalito uses only the highest-quality natural fibres and the most intelligent fibre-blends, all processed with the greatest attention to environmental factors with one essential aim: the well-being of the Oscalito-wearer! Oscalito ensure that the item you purchase is of the highest quality, from our choice of suppliers through to a lengthy and painstaking production process, designed at every stage to bring out the very best in each fibre and material and produced in compliance with a strict code of ethics (see www.oscalito.it/en-codice-etico.php ) which we are very proud of and which stand for our fundamental values. Oscalito has opted for a set of knitting machinery that can be operated slowly and thus bring out the best in every fibre, yielding an end-product that strikes the ideal balance between softness and elasticity. In order to ensure the greatest possible care, many production-stages are done by hand, starting with the cutting-floor for fabrics, lace and embroidery. Only thus can one ensure superb quality in underwear and in lingerie that bears no resemblance to the items turned out by standardised mass-production. All Oscalito items are truly Made in Italy: whether for knitting, designing, cutting or finishing, Turin remains to this day the very heart of our entire manufacturing process (also certified by Italcheck速, see www.italcheck.it ). An innovative RFID (Radio Frequency ID) system ensures that not only each and every item you purchase can be properly traced and identified, but each stage of the production process as well.
SH ENTREPRENEUR 1-2-3
HOW TO START ANY BUSINESS FROM ALIBABA HOW WE EMULATE SHOPIFY CASE STUDY AND IMPORT FROM ALIBABA
In our last issue, we featured a one page summary on HOW TO START YOUR FASHION LABEL, and surprisingly we received many emails asking us to feature more entrepreneurial HOW TOs. For this issue, instead of just featuring the article, we decided to see if the system works before sharing it. When we received an email of case study by SHOPIFY: HOW I IMPORTED GLASSES WITH ALIBABA and MADE $2,416.51 in 5 weeks, we decided to give it a try! Below are excerpt from the shopify case study followed by our experiences when actually doing it!. 1. CRITERIA TO MAKE SOURCING FROM CHINA The product should be small, inexpensive cost ($1-$10), able to sell at a high margin (+50%), non-electronic and not food, niche product serving a group of passionate people. Checked competitors on Amazon and eBay to see how well their products sold, how much they sold for, reviews and the major players. SHEIKHAHUB : we identified the following product; jewellery, undergarments, waist corset, makeup brushes but we decided to go for computer glasses .
START YOUR BUSINESS
2. CREATING THE NAME, LOGO AND BRANDING Brainstorm on names that describe the product. Download the free commercial font from 1001 Fonts and bought logo from Creative Market. SHEIKHAHUB: We pay USD5 for logo designed by a designer from FIVERR. For the name, well, we love our brand name sheikhahub! 3. FINDING AND CONTACTING SUPPLIERS ON ALABAMA Searched Alibaba, the world's largest marketplace of wholesalers and manufacturers, for computer glasses. Do a due diligence to ensure the supplier was legit. SHEIKHAHUB: This is by far the hardest part. There were too many suppliers and most could not accommodate the low minimum order quantity that we asked for. So we decided to try the ALIEXPRESS and found the supplier that fit our needs, 4. HOW TO PLACE ORDER: This is important as it shows your credibility as a buyer. Your email to them should go like this: I am interested to purchase 20 anti blue ray computer glasses. Please provide me with the price per piece along with shipping cost to Malaysia. Within a week, we received our order of computer glasses. Unlike shopify, we did not create an online store- We had a celebrity ambassador in Ari Wicaksono (see pic) a pianist who flew in from New York for a visit. Within a day, we sold all 20 pieces. Our profit was RM1000!
Celebrity New York classical pianist Aryo Wicaksono with his new glasses from Sheikhahub
MODESTY ACCENTUATES FREEDOM NOT LIMITING IT @
DNALATT
SH ENTREPRENEUR 1-2-3
GETTING TO KNOW By Tania Anis
In this issue of GETTING TO KNOW, we introduce you to 3 more designer labels. They are Madeena by Mizz Nina, HHSK by an up and coming designer who hails from a Royal family and Sufyaa, a leading Singapore modest wear designer. Both HHSK and Sufyaa took part in the KALA fashion showcase by Kelantan State Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) that we helped organised recently. As it is near eid, we feast you with some looks from their latest collection taken from the show!
HHSK GETTING TO KNOW
H
er Highness Sharifah Khatreena Jamalulail is the owner and designer of HHSK. She is from the Royal Household of Perlis. Her interest in fashion started from very young. Her Highness gets a lot of encouragement from both her grandmothers which includes HRH the Raja Perempuan Perlis. Having parents who are the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Malaysia's north-most State Perlis does help in realising her passion. Her Highness Khatreena mixes rare talent and creativity in fashion with scholarship in diplomacy, having a degree in International Politics and Anthropology from Melbourne Australia. She described her fashion sense of style as fun, elegant and modest. Which we boldly say embodies this designers attitude as well.
GETTING TO KNOW
SUFYAA
S
ufyaa is owned by Rina Taha. Rina has a Diploma in Architecture from Singapore. Sufyaa was created for the modern Muslim women who plays multiple roles in today's society. The style and fashion of Sufyaa is in par with the latest hijab styles yet maintaining elegance and modesty, fulfilling the needs to of those who are socially conscious yet with a secret desire to dress fashionably. Being one of Singapore's pioneer and the leading manufacturer in contemporary modest fashion, Sufyaa ultimate aim is to bring back songket and batik to Singapore.
SAWDAA GETTING TO KNOW
S
awdaa collection is the black label by Madeena. Madeena the brand is inspired by Mizz Nina, a famous Malaysia artist turned modest fashion entrepreneur. Madeena aims to promote decent dressing and provide a widespread line of modest wear that will appeal to the ever growing population. This Sawdaa collection (also seen on the cover) is shot on location in Shoreditch London featuring London based model Aishah Chikhalia, Youtuber Romy Ahmed and social media influencer Sabina of @SugarCoatedMUAHijab. Photo credit Zura of Atiya and AZMK of Moslema In Style.
EVENTS & LIFESTYLE APEC CONFERENCE ON TEXTILE AND APPAREL
Sheikhahub founder Datin Norzihan Latt was recently invited to participate in Asia Pacific Economic Corporation (APEC) workshop on promoting the participation of SMEs in textile and apparel in Hanoi, Vietnam. Participating nation to the 2 days conference include Mexico, Peru, Russia, Australia and other countries in ASEAN.
EVENTS & LIFESTYLE
ADLINA ANIS RTW 2016 Celebrity hijab designer ADLINA ANIS showcased her debut ready to wear collection at the Arts Centre Singapore recently. The packed audience from both Malaysia and Singapore was mesmerised by a string of looks designed by the designer famously known for her hijab. After show, guests were seen purchasing the much awaited clothings on sale.
EVENTS & LIFESTYLE PAKISTAN NATIONAL DAY
Pakistan's 55th National Day 2016 was celebrated at Reinasance Hotel Kuala Lumpur last 23rd March hosted by its Ambassador H.E Syed Hassan Raza. Distinguished guests include from Malaysian government, the corporate and the foreign missions such as H.E Dato' Dr Anwar Agha the Ambassador of Palestine, Madam Dania wife of the Lebanon Ambassador, Dato' Shaheem of Securicor Malaysia and Pakistan designer Shairose . Sheikhahub's Datin Norzihan Latt, Datin NurSharmila Shaheen and Nadjihah Dzaiddin was also there at the event.
PAKISTAN
DAY 2016
EVENTS & LIFESTYLE
WEDDING Designer Salma Bamadhaj from brand Lully Selb walked the aisle recently to Ibrahim in Singapore. Our founder Datin Norzihan Latt flew into Singapore for the garden wedding reception. We congratulate Salma on the joyous occasion.
EVENTS & LIFESTYLE
KALA FASHION SHOWCASE In conjunction with the Kelantan State Economic Development Corporation's 50th anniversary, they recently held their debut KALA fashion showcase 'A Soiree to Remember'. Among the designers that took part in the showcase are Yan's Collection from Kuala Lumpur, Batique kelantan, HHSK from Perlis, Sufyaa from Singapore and bysheikhahub.
EVENTS & LIFESTYLE
WORLD ORPHAN DAY 2016
To mark World Orphan Day 2016 in Kuala Lumpur, Sheikhahub and friends organised a gathering at Rumah Amal Cahaya Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (RACTAR), a centre for orphans and under privilege children in Subang Jaya, Malaysia. The RACTAR residents were entertained with sharing sessions and fun filled activities by Sheikhahub's invited guest such as Feexa Nicol, a lifestyle Guru and Palestinian refugee Israa Faisal.
available at MODEMARKET QUILL CITY MALL 5th FLOOR JALAN SULTAN ISMAIL KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA