There’s No Need to Trade Fashion for Modesty, Why Not Both

Fazrena Aziz of TudungPeople tells why this well-established tudung brand stands out from the rest

EVEN at a young age business woman, Fazrena Aziz dares to defy the odds. At a time when wearing tudung had not hit mainstream fashion, she started her brand TudungPeople.

Staying firm to the belief that the tudung is more than just a piece of cloth to cover a woman’s head and hair, Fazrena creates a style that balances looking pretty and dressing modestly.

Fazrena set up TudungPeople at 21, while still studying at the International Islamic University Malaysia. She wanted a tudung that fully covers the chest and back but the only style available then was the pashmina shawl.

Unfortunately, the thick material of the pashmina is unsuitable and impractical in Malaysia’s hot weather.

Since she could not find a style that fits her criteria, Fazrena decided to create her own shawl from soft, lightweight fabric that could be styled easily.

With a capital of RM2,000 borrowed from her brother Fazly Azry Aziz, she chose cotton chiffon to make shawls in both medium and large sizes, the first hijab brand to have them in two sizes.

She used Facebook to market her shawls. It was another achievement for Fazrena, as at that time she was among the first to use social media for marketing.

Fazrena says TudungPeople is the first brand to offer shawls in two sizes. It also offers extra large sizes for limited and special collections.

“Personally, I want to offer wider and bigger sizes because I want TudungPeople to cater to Muslim women from around the world.

“I want to ensure that TudungPeople is as Shariah-compliant as possible, offering fashionable and stylish modest wear. This is my dakwah (propagation of a belief) because as much as it is my world, it is also my akhirat (hereafter).”

In the beginning, the siblings run the business from home. Fazly was in charge of filling out the order manually from emails while Fazrena handled the designing and packaging.

“I sourced for the fabrics locally. I would wait for the tailor to sew the shawls before packing them in plastic bags. I had a lot of free time because I had to extend another semester and only took one subject.

“I would commute from Penang, where I lived, to Kuala Lumpur once a week. But it was a blessing in disguise that I did not graduate on time since I was able to start my business.”

 

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Source: NST