'I quit my dream job to open a clothes shop that has women queuing seven hours'
A woman's new clothing brand is so successful, that people have been queueing around the block just to get inside. Sumayah, founded by 23-year-old Sumayah Saadi, created the brand after leaving her "dream job" as a parliamentary assistant in London. From Stockport, her passion for politics saw her serve as a member of the Youth Parliament and the Manchester Youth Council.
Now she's opened a small Muslim women's clothing store in Levenshulme. Sumayah is a "modest" fashion brand that mainly sells abayahs, which are robe-like dresses predominantly worn by Muslim women. There has been so much interest in the brand that on opening day, there were over a thousand customers and a non-stop queue for seven hours straight.
Sumayah's brand has gone from strength to strength (Sumayah Saadi)
The company specialises in modest clothing (Sumayah Saadi)Sumayah's career path changed during the pandemic when she began making clothes out of boredom. "I thought at that time I was working my dream job because I worked really hard from 15 to 18 acquiring so much experience to land my job." She told the MEN. "When I was doing that job I realised I wasn't feeling that spark and I wasn't getting fulfilment in what I was doing. It came to Covid time and I was told to go back into my office after a period of working from home.
"I thought, 'This isn't it, let me try something new.' During Covid I started watching YouTube videos on how to make clothes because I was just bored, and I thought 'Let me start a hobby, get a new skill.'"
Sumayah bought a sewing machine and materials and started making dresses. She began documenting her process on Instagram and, soon her followers started asking if she could make clothes for them. As the business expanded, she contacted a manufacturer and opened a store in London. While the store has now closed, she is hoping to eventually reopen in the country's capital.
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Now Sumayah, the company, is two years old and has blown up on TikTok, where it claims to be the app's number one modesty brand. Proving the brand's popularity, over 145k followers tune into TikTok lives where they sell hundreds of pounds worth of clothes in minutes.
A customer poses with a sign outside Sumayah (Sumayah Saadi)"People would ask me, 'Why Levenshulme?' My mum had me when she was 17, she's had six kids, I come from a big family. My mum is still young, she's only in her 40s, she was at a point in her life where she was getting low because she dropped out of college when she had me," Sumayah said. "She doesn't have any qualifications and was finding it hard to get into the world of employment. I'm now in a position to do something for her and get her a job. So I thought 'She's based in Manchester, let me open a store there.'"
Although most of the customers are young Muslim women, according to Sumayah, the business is undergoing a "rebrand" to convey the inclusive message that the clothes are available to anybody who likes them. "I realised that there is a big population of modest-conscious girls who really struggle with dressing modestly," she explained.
"Or with their family background, they're encouraged to dress modestly, but the options at the time when I started were very, very limited. What I really want to do with my brand is make it into a brand that celebrates that modesty is your own journey and whatever you take modesty to be, then that's what modesty is. We're showcasing that it doesn't have to be specifically tied to a religion, it's just about if you want to dress modestly then come to Sumayah."
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