Markham, Ontario- Onside Media sat down with Sana and Will Saleh, founders of Lala Hijabs. With over 2.5 million online followers, Sana and Will have used their social media presence to create a successful business and give back to others.
Journey starting the business
“So in 2020, I [Will] was working while Sana was a stay-at-home mom. I got laid off from an aviation job because Covid hit, and the industry decimated, so we were both at home. We just started on social media, and one day Sana decided to tye dye as it was trending online. She dyed one of her hijabs and began wearing it during some videos posted online, and many people started asking where she got it.”
“We decided in April 2020 that this is something we should pursue. We poured our savings, and by August 2020, we launched our first collection. It was only 100 hijabs then, and we sold out within 24 hours. This made us think, okay, this is something we can do, and since then, we have launched over a dozen collections and now have a huge product range”.
“One thing I noticed as a consumer myself is that I’m very colorful. I enjoy wearing a lot of colors. The hijab market in general and everything was very boring with nudes, browns, and blacks. There was no pink, blue, purple, or orange. This was in mind when creating the products, and our customer base is huge. We have all ages from young to older women because people love the variety” -Sana.
Social media:
We had just joined TikTok when everyone joined in February 2020, and we started creating videos and enjoyed it. Then We had a video of ours go viral overnight and gained 100 000 followers. We realized it was fun, and people had fundamental questions regarding hijabs, so we decided to educate people. Our TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram educate people in funny ways, and we have a wide variety of people that follow us. It’s been wild, and our social media has gained roughly 2.5 million followers in less than two years.
What makes your product unique?
“The color, it is so common, even amongst the Muslim community, to think that we shouldn’t wear color. There is a lot of history behind why black is so prominent in the Muslim world. Back in Baghdad, a cloth merchant had an incredible amount of black fabric, and he wasn’t selling it. So, they actually created a marketing campaign in Islam and began to spread the message to the women that black is such a beautiful color. He began to sell it like crazy.
Even the earliest generation of Muslims, the women used to dye their fabrics red and orange. We want to make our hijabs as unique and beautiful as those who wear them. While some comment that wearing bright colors is not a part of the religion, it is largely based on the culture. For example, in Saudi Arabia, many people wear black because that is the culture, while in places such as Indonesia, they often wear bright colors”.
What helped make your business a success:
“People wanted to support our business at the start because it was our business. We connect with our followers on social media on a different level. The business’s success was due to people supporting us. Also, our team, Sana, does all the social media and marketing while I do all the hands-on stuff, creating stuff. Together it created this perfect team”. -Will
Lala Hijabs’ future goals include opening a showroom for women to try the hijabs and expanding their business to become the “biggest and best in the world.” With their social media power, they have created a successful business and spend time fundraising. Last December, they were able to fundraise for refugees in Syria and Turkey and continue their humanitarian work while launching a spring collection and pop-ups.
For Inquiries Kindly Visit: https://lalahijabs.com/
Author: Kathryn Intini, Content Writer, St.Catharines, Canada. Kathryn is a fourth-year Business Communications student at Brock University. With an interest in big data analytics and a commitment to lifelong learning, she hopes to work in technical sales. She has been recognized for selling over $1 million in products at her summer sales job and her commitment to Autism Speaks Canada. If you have any stories or comments, kindly email: – kathrynintini.theonside@gmail.
