POW! New Changes at ABAYA ADDICT!

To my dearest ABAYA ADDICTS, 

It's been such an exciting few years in my world.  Many of you know that I recently gave birth to my son Yusuf, who has become the best little addition to my family, Alhamdullillah.   Prior to that, I welcomed my daughter Zainab into the world, a little over two years ago.  What you may not have realized is that I was already a mom way before these two angels came into my world.  You might be asking, How? What? Why? When?!

Well a little over three years ago my first baby, ABAYA ADDICT, was born.  It was a long and grueling labor that lasted over 2 months.  You see, when ABAYA ADDICT began, I was a newly wed,  a fresh graduate, a new-comer to the wild world that is Dubai, and I certainly did not know what I was doing.  But so my journey began, with ten dresses thrown up on a website, and a blind act of faith to see whether I could make my life-long dream a reality.   

SubhanAllah, I get so emotional talking about that time in my life.  Mainly because, no-one knows how difficult it has been for me and my husband to build our business.  We started our life together with no real savings of our own and lack of a huge investment for ABAYA ADDICT.  But through the mercy of Allah SWT, we were able to take those first ten dresses and a free template website and turn what was a little Muslim girl's dream into a BRAND that we are so, so, SO proud of.  

With every growing business, there are trials and tribulations that shake it.  Starting out,  we were dealing with a HUGE demand, limited funds, zero reliable help,  and a burning desire to help women find clothing that could benefit them on the daily.  We wanted to ALWAYS offer clothing that was high quality AND affordable.  Let me tell you-- this journey has NOT BEEN EASY! 

Our first order from the factory was for 50 dresses, and we sold-out within 2 hours.  We did not expect this type of demand for our products.  We had hundreds of emails from women across the world who wanted to know "when will you restock?"  "when will your new collection be out?"  No-one really realized that it was just my husband and I hustling day in and day out (with other full-time jobs) to make more of what we had with very little start-up money.  Still, we pushed forward and worked our tails off to keep our products fresh and exciting for this growing market. We worked other jobs all day, fulfilled orders all night, answered emails as quickly as we could, and ran on 2 hours of sleep for the next year. 

Alhamdulillah, since that first production order, we have come a long way.  We've increased our inventory levels (hugely),  added staff members, lost unreliable ones, and we tried to manage as much of it all ourselves so that we could shuffle all of our profits into larger collections to fill your fashion needs.  We're only human, and we've made mistakes, learned tons of lessons, and have finally come to understand the Modest Fashion Industry and what is needed to sustain our business and grow-- and that is MORE attention to YOU, our valuable clients. 

That being said, we are so excited to start this NEW chapter at ABAYA ADDICT and we know you will be too! With more help, larger inventory volumes and a new partnership with an order fulfillment company based in the US, we are now ready to tell you all about these changes. 

YOU--our NEW and LOYAL CUSTOMERS will experience:

• SAME DAY ORDER FULFILLMENT for all orders placed before 2pm CST. 
• ORDERS placed between 2-4pm CST have priority of SAME DAY or EARLY NEXT BUSINESS DAY FULFILLMENT.
  
• NEXT BUSINESS DAY ORDER FULFILLMENT for orders placed after 4pm CST. 
  
• CHEAPER SHIPPING RATES for all US and Canada customers.
• FASTER SHIPPING within the US. 
• EXPEDITED SHIPPING OPTIONS for customers in US, Canada and worldwide. 
• FLAT RATE SHIPPING for International Orders. 
• INCREASED CUSTOMER SUPPORT

All in all, this journey has been the best ride of my life!  I've met so many AMAZING women worldwide, serving their fashion addictions with products that I am so proud of.   My husband and I have been able to grow our company into a leading modest fashion brand in a short three years.  I can't begin to tell you how exciting it is for me when I go out to the malls and see women wearing my designs.  I also am so grateful to receive your incredible love and support everyday through emails and social media.  I see you all, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. 

I would also like to add to that, a HUGE thank you to all of our customers who have stuck with us despite many of the challenges that a growing business like ours has faced.  We have taken every last one of your comments and concerns and have done everything in our power to better ourselves as an e-commerce business and a household brand.  We hope to always fulfill your modest fashion needs and give you that HALAL fix your wardrobe needs. 

Thank you for not giving up on us and for always supporting us through thick and thin.  It's through your patience, your understanding and your feedback that we have become a better company to serve you better.  

We still have a long journey ahead of us and so many ways we can improve, scale and grow.  If you are interested in joining our budding team, partnering or investing with us in our new venture(s), or simply voicing your concerns with your past or present ABAYA ADDICT experience, please do not hesitate to email us at aaduib@abayaaddict.com. 

All my love, 

Deanna, aka Dr. De