Jordanian label RB Fashion is not your average modestwear brand

RB Vogue was based in 2019 by Rawan Al Adwan and her sister Bayan. Their initials give the corporate its identify and it began out providing customised modestwear to Jordanian ladies.

It is since grown to embody way more than that.

With headquarters in Amman, the label underwent one thing of a change in 2020 when brother Abdellatif joined the staff. With the siblings every coming from robust enterprise backgrounds — Bayan and Abdellatif from advertising, and Rawan a self-described “serial entrepreneur” — the three determined to rethink the enterprise technique.

The thought was easy: reasonably than creating merchandise they hoped ladies wished, why not ask prospects what they really wanted?

That is precisely what the trio did and the suggestions shocked them. Girls didn’t want one other firm providing attire. As a substitute, they wanted somebody to make purposeful, dependable sportswear that might enable them to train in public with out being self-conscious.

“We discovered an enormous hole within the business on the subject of modest activewear, as a result of the message we received was that girls needed to go to the lads’s part in retailers like Nike and adidas,” says Abdellatif, who’s chief government.

To seek out tops massive sufficient to behave as a cover-up, ladies had no possibility however to put on garments designed for males.

“It’s not solely hijabi or Muslim ladies in search of one thing modest, even loads of non-hijabi, non-Arab and expats desire a modest outfit after they go outdoors,” says Abdellatif. “It has nothing to do with beliefs, or being Muslim, however that some ladies simply really feel extra comfy.”

Armed with the market analysis, the siblings determined to maintain their prospects concerned within the design course of. Now, they create a pattern outfit that’s handed over to a gaggle of girls, who’ve been chosen for his or her completely different existence and desires, to check the merchandise.

Rawan explains the way it works: “We have now a pool of as much as 10 prospects, with completely different personas. Some are curvy, some skinny, some are athletes, some are at college, some hijabi, some not Muslim in any respect. We do the preliminary design after which we take a look at it with them, and we preserve enhancing the merchandise till it fulfils the necessity of the vast majority of the ladies.

“If we get a majority ‘sure’, then we go forward with manufacturing. We’re validating the product even earlier than we put it out there, earlier than it’s within the retailers.”

This can be design-by-committee however for a small start-up, giving prospects such a direct hand in creating merchandise is each sensible and savvy. With the style business combating overproduction, RB Vogue is simply making items that girls truly need.

“And for this reason, to be trustworthy, we began on this means,” says Abdellatif. “Whenever you begin along with your buyer, consider me, it should save wastage. We wish to create a product that’s going to be purchased by prospects, so we wish to deal with a necessity or downside.

“It’s a prolonged course of as a result of one merchandise may take as much as 4 months to develop, going backwards and forwards. This isn’t solely [for the women] to take a look at; we give it to an athlete and get her to coach within the pattern and provides us suggestions. She is going to come again to us saying, for instance, it’s too tight right here, or it doesn’t give a full vary of movement once I do kettlebells. We take these feedback and we readjust [the item].”

As soon as the design is finalised, it’s then given a reputation so prospects can rapidly discover the piece they want.

“We have now named the gadgets for the motion, to make it straightforward for ladies,” explains Rawan. “With the Squat Hoodie, the lower and the main points are in order that when a lady squats, the highest will keep straight — it is not going to keep on with the hips. The Working Hoodie is available in three lengths as a result of some ladies wished it to the hips, some to the mid-thigh and a few to the knee, so we produced the three lengths to serve these wants, with all of the performance of working.”

Each side of motion has been thought via, together with making the hoodie dual-purpose, as Rawan factors out. “The hoodie can be utilized both as a hoodie or as a hijab – it should keep on with the top. Once we put this out there, some hijabi ladies took it to make use of with a leaping rope. They will bounce rope and it stays put, so that they really feel comfy exercising in public. The squat tops get used for weightlifting as nicely, because it is not going to experience up as she strikes up and down.

“That is what we imply by purposeful motion.”

With 17 items within the vary, the main focus is on fixing issues reasonably than solely making issues for the sake of it. “That is the success of our story,” Abdellatif says. “Our assortment is lower than 20 gadgets, however every product satisfies a particular want. We search for wants, after which present a top quality answer – it isn’t nearly having lots of of merchandise.”

Jordan is a significant sportswear producer, so the trio have been in a position to faucet into this, and due to some intelligent negotiation, RB Vogue gadgets are all produced in the identical Irbid metropolis factories that produce for the likes of adidas and Beneath Armour.

But, regardless of this, Abdellatif is keen for the corporate to be seen as greater than makers of sports activities attire, and as an alternative as champions of girls’s rights.

“We aren’t simply one other sportswear firm. We consider each lady ought to have the precise to do train with out being ashamed of her outfit. We empower ladies to allow them to look good, with well-designed garments which might be designed for motion, which might be modest however purposeful.”

Up to date: February 15, 2022, 10:02 AM