The modest style industry has frequently been described as a potential minefield. But it invariably centres around females. So what about the guys?
That’s exactly the answer 3 Paris entrepreneurs sought while on vacation in the UAE in 2012.
Childhood buddies Imel Bitout, Faysal and Kevin (who prefer we only use their very first names) had the idea for their beachwear clothes brand Rajoul, which suggests ‘men’ in Arabic, while on a beach in Dubai. Noticing that some guys have been struggling to cover their awra, the aspect of the physique from the navel to the knee, they decided to come up with a answer that was both sensible and that looked great.
Upon their return to Paris, the trio instantly set to operate. Bitout quit his managerial job to take a chunk of the duty and, 18 months later, the very first Islamic boardshort for men was born. Known as AwraSwim, the collection launched in the UAE.
The Directory caught up with Bitout to talk about modest style, the future of Rajoul and why he thinks brands like his are so critical.
Take us back to the starting of Rajoul.
This thought was born from a straightforward statement: Modesty in Islam doesn’t only concern ladies. Muslim men also have an awra, the element of the body going from the navel to the knee, which is expected to be covered in any circumstance.
What convinced you this could be a good business enterprise proposition?
Firstly, the universality of Islam and the fact that the Islamic dress code applies to each and every Muslim, from Argentina, Dubai to Indonesia. Then I would say our travels just after Dubai from Asia to America and many exchanges with Muslims from all about the world, confirmed our belief that covering the awra to swim is a significant issue unsolved by a devoted style answer. We collected feedback through marketplace study, which took us a single year, and have been ultimately convinced Rajoul was not only a excellent but mainly helpful organization proposition.
Was it tricky to get began?
We faced numerous challenges as just about every entrepreneur but that’s what is exciting. The very first 1 was financial: we had to save and then invest all our individual income to finance the design and style and manufacture of our very first collection. The second one particular was much more juridical: we internationally registered our trademark and the style of our AwraSwim, which meant hours and hours of administrative procedures. Lastly, I would say that maybe our most significant challenge was much more linked with the solution development: we seriously wanted to answer to the massive marketplace demand we observed in young Muslim males for clothes respecting Islamic dress code specifications in a cool and trendy way.
Did you have to get approvals from some type of religious body so it follows the Islamic code of dressing?
There is no “Halal certification” for style. But we wanted to make items proper so we met imams and specialists of Islam in order to ask them if our product was following the Islamic dress code.
They approved and encouraged our product to show that Islamic clothing can be trendy and respectful.
Why did you pick Dubai and the UAE to launch your item?
We launched our net shop in April 2013 and provide worldwide. We chose the UAE to launch physically in shops since we saw from on-line sales that we had a lot of demand in the Gulf region.
Dubai aims to become a worldwide hub for Islamic economy and I’m convinced this is the perfect showcase for most up-to-date Islamic fashion trends. Additionally, I have to underline that currently around 15 per cent of our customers on the web are non–Muslim.
The AwraSwim retails at Dh350. How did you choose on pricing?
Of course we studied closely the market and the price of our competitors but our positioning was quite clear: we wanted to place our item in the middle range of the marketplace.
What other goods and designs are you planning to launch?
Our vision is a lot more qualitative than quantitative. We are going step by step. Our objective was firstly to answer the biggest need of our marketplace, which is the covering of guys’s modesty for watersports, with a highly qualitative product due to the fact we are only working with 100 per cent French suppliers. We have a lot of designs and projects in stock but we are a young begin-up so it takes a tiny bit of time.
Go get yours:
Rajoul is readily available at Adventure HQ shops in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. For more on the brand, go to rajoulstore.com.
