Balancing fashion with modesty

By Kasmiah Mustapha - August 22, 2018 @ 8:01am

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.

TudungPeople is the first brand to offer hijab in bigger 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).”

I want to ensure that TudungPeople is as Shariah-compliant as possible - Fazrena Aziz

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.”

BETTER LIFESTYLE

After she graduated with a degree in architecture, Fazrena moved to Kuala Lumpur to focus on her business. As orders for the shawls increased, she hired more people to fill out the orders.

“Everything was done manually. We didn’t accept direct messages on Facebook. Customers had to email their orders and in a day, we could get more than 1,000 emails. It was amazing and crazy,” says the 28-year old.

Various shawls designs from TudungPeople

Fazrena says the best feedback she received was when customers told her they wear tudung because of TudungPeople’s style and design that allows them to not compromise their Islamic values while engaging in their daily activities.

This makes her even more determined to create a better lifestyle choice for Muslim women with the hope that the design will inspire them to wear the tudung.

Fazrena hopes that TudungPeople will make women feel good about themselves when they dress modestly. It has been her focus since she set up the brand to portray the lifestyle of a tudung-wearing woman who lives life to the fullest.

“I have been wearing the tudung since I was 12. I grew up with the belief that my modest wear does not stop me from getting things done. The tudung is more than just a piece of cloth. It’s an identity. And I will do my best to cater to all kinds of identities.

“Our collections cater to women from different backgrounds. From students to athletic women, the career-minded, pregnant women and even mothers. There is a style for them. We want women to feel that wearing the hijab is not oppresive or unfashionable.

“I chose the name TudungPeople because it is made by the people, for the people. Yes, it sounds like a cliche but that is my goal. To create the solution for people who want something different.”

Plain and printed shawls are among its popular styles.

Two months ago, TudungPeople received a nod from Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, who tweeted: “I was lucky enough to enjoy @tudungpeople ‘s gorgeous and comfy material on the second day of Eid. Why look elsewhere when Malaysia has the very best headgear a girl can dream of?”

Fazrena says she is friends with Nurul Izzah’s sister, Nurul Nuha, and that she has given some tudung to the MP.

QUALITY CONTROL

With the brand’s growth, TudungPeople has also gone through some changes. It has moved from Facebook to an online shopping website and introduced shawls in various designs and colours.

There are now more than 38 collections with up to 400 colours including printed shawls, square, instant and sports tudung with embellishments including Swarovski crystals.

Shawls with Swarovski crystals

The shawls are made from cotton silk, cotton chiffon, cotton lycra, bubble crepe, mix crepe and satin silk. TudungPeople launches a new collection every week and sometimes twice a week.

Fazrena also sources the fabrics from other countries including China, Vietnam and Indonesia. However, most of the production is still in Malaysia as she does not want to compromise on quality. Only selected collections are made abroad.

“It is hard to control the quality if the shawls are made abroad. I also don’t have a production house. We tried at first but it’s quite hard to monitor because I don’t have the experience to lead them. We have a contract with a factory and it is easier for me.”

The Dhya shawl collection with floral design

TudungPeople has a boutique in Bangi Sentral as most of the business is done online. At the moment, it has 12 distributors abroad including in Singapore, Brunei, Japan and Saudi Arabia.

Fazrena is not only the co-founder and creative director, she also leads the production, operations, content making and marketing teams.

To her, it is important to get involved in every aspect of the operations as she wants to ensure TudungPeople carries the quality that her customers deserves.

“I try not to micro manage but it is not easy. My team is capable but TudungPeople is very much my identity and it is personal. I have to make sure everything is done right.”

After seven years, Fazrena says she has learnt a lot through trial and error. It has been a good journey because when she first started, there was no guideline or government agency to lend a hand. As online shopping was still new then, she had to deal with various issues herself.

“The experience has taught me a lot. Modest fashion has come a long way since then. Now it has become mainstream and we can see more modest wear on the runways.

“For TudungPeople, we will continue to create tudung for different women, because we want them to be comfortable in their own skin and gets to choose the tudung that suits them.”

kasmiah@nst.com.my

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