How to start an abaya business

You can begin at around AED 2,500 to 3,500 with one order at our AED 2,000 floor, plus freight and duty. At our entry price that is 23 pieces, or fewer pricier pieces as a sample order. A comfortable start with enough range to look like a real shop is from about AED 12,000. Less is possible and buys you less information.

Not with stock. Our smallest order of any kind, a sample order included, is AED 2,000. With 500 you can start building an audience while you save, which is a perfectly sensible first step. Anyone telling you a few hundred dirhams launches a clothing brand is selling you something.

Prices start at AED 90 a piece in our entry fabric with a standard stitch. That is a real floor, not a teaser.

At least twenty per cent of what you spend on stock. Part of your first order will not sell and you want cash free to restock what does, not tied up in what does not.

Freight and duty, then photography. On a small first shipment, landing costs can add a quarter to a third on top of the goods.

To buy from us, no. To trade legally, that depends entirely on your own country, and you should ask someone local rather than a manufacturer in the UAE. Most places want you registered before you take money from customers.

Two payments is the structure for a first order: a 50–60% deposit to start, and the balance on dispatch, against photos of your packed cartons. We are not a finance company and would rather you ordered smaller than borrowed to order bigger.

Eight to twelve, three to six pieces of each. Fewer looks thin on a rail and gives you almost no information about what your customer actually wants.

Our minimum is 20 pieces and AED 2,000, and that is a legitimate first order. Sixty is more comfortable and usually costs less per piece once freight is spread over a fuller carton.

Weight the middle. Across thirty pieces in five lengths, something like three at 52, six at 54, nine at 56, eight at 58 and four at 60 is a sound starting point. Tell us your market and we will adjust it.

Black plus one. Black carries the volume nearly everywhere and a single second colour tells you whether your customers want colour at all.

One or two, no more. They photograph well and sell slowly. They bring people in rather than carrying your revenue.

Usually not. Prove which styles sell first, then brand those. Putting your label on unsold stock is an expensive way to store a mistake.

If you are unsure about quality, yes. A sample order has no piece minimum, only AED 2,000, and it is real stock you keep and sell, so the test earns back what it can. It is not credited against a later order.

A 2.2 to 3 times multiple on landed cost is realistic for abayas. Below 2.2 there is rarely enough left once marketing and returns are paid for.

Markup is what you add to cost. Margin is what you keep from the sale. Buy at 120 and sell at 300 and your markup is 150 per cent while your margin is 60 per cent. Plan in margin.

Landed cost, which is the piece price plus freight plus duty plus clearance divided by the pieces that arrived. Pricing off the supplier quote alone is how a busy shop loses money for a whole season.

Do not try to match them. Compete on fabric you can describe, measurements you publish, photographs that show the truth and an answer when someone messages you. Price is the only thing a marketplace can beat you at.

Sparingly. A launch discount is fine. A permanently discounted brand teaches customers to wait, and you cannot fund that at a 2.5 multiple.

Their commission comes out of your margin, not your customer’s pocket. Work out your margin after the fee before you decide the channel is working.

Three to four months before the stock needs to be sellable. Work back through customs, freight and production. Eight weeks out is a scramble and everyone else is scrambling too.

It follows the lunar calendar, so it shifts about eleven days earlier each year against the Gregorian one. Check the dates for your market before building a buying calendar.

No, and a business that only sells in one month is a hard business. Everyday styles sell all year. Use the season to win customers and the rest of the year to sell to them again.

Straight after Eid, when the whole supply chain has just cleared. Lead times are at their best and everyone has more attention for a new buyer.

Ready stock leaves here in 3 to 5 working days, made to order takes 12 to 18. Tell us early which styles you expect to chase and we will hold fabric.

Wherever you already have people listening. Instagram, WhatsApp, a market stall, an existing shop. Stock is the easy part. An audience is not.

No, and building one before you know what you are selling is a common way to waste six weeks. Take orders however you can at first, then build the shop around what works.

Publish real garment measurements per size, photograph the fabric closely, and state length from the shoulder. Most abaya returns are a fit surprise rather than a quality complaint.

Plain black everyday weights, everywhere, by a wide margin. The interesting pieces get the attention and the plain ones pay the bills.

Buy wide, sell for a season, and read the numbers. Thirty pieces across ten designs will teach you more in eight weeks than any amount of research.

Eventually, yes, if you want customers coming back to you rather than to a product. Not on day one. Sell first, brand once you know what you are branding.

Yes. No retainer, no consulting invoice, no ebook. We would rather have a customer who is still trading in three years than one good first order.

We will. If your target price cannot be met at the quality you are describing, hearing it now is worth more to you than a polite quote.

Catalogue styles are open to anyone. A design developed with you is not. If territory matters to you, say so early and we will tell you honestly what is possible at your volume.

No. You buy stock and you fulfil your own customers. Dropshipping means you never see the quality before your customer does, which is a poor way to build a name.

Order a sample first and judge the goods, the packing and the date for yourself. After that, every order has a written spec, photos of your packed cartons before you pay the balance and a seven-day fault promise.

Buying depth in the designs the owner personally loves. Your taste is not your customer’s taste, and one season of sales data will prove it more cheaply than a warehouse will.