Our story & mission:

Our story:

by Shakeelah Maxwell

The Haya Boutique was founded by me in 2020 when I was studying at University. As a Hijabi I found that whenever I tried to shop for modest clothing in stores it was extremely hard to find perfect modest wear that did not need layering. I found that when a dress was long, there would be no sleeves or there would be a slit in it, or the entire back would be open. Therefore, making and designing my own clothes was the norm for me, and I am sure most Hijabis can relate. In University, the lack of perfect modest clothing became more troublesome for me since you have to attend class most days and need comfortable modest clothing. So I combined my two passions: designing and business and created The Haya Boutique. Since then, Alhamdullilah, we really grew a beautiful community of women who supports us and share the same sentiments with us when it comes to modest clothing. I absolutely love what I do, and would like to give a massive shout out to all the local female-owned modest fashion brands in South Africa, I am so proud of you and encourage everyone reading this to support local female owned business brands.

 

Our Mission:

Our mission is to not only be a good brand, but a community. We genuinely want to create modest pieces that YOU love. Our main focus is modesty and size inclusivity. We want to create clothes that are timeless and practical so that even four years later after buying pieces from us, you still love it and reach for it. We want to create essential and affordable pieces that you can wear multiple times and still find 20000 more ways to style it. We do not believe in selling the latest trends that you can only wear for 'this season' until it fades out. Our mission is to provide you with ethical pieces that will boost your confidence, make you feel beautiful and comfortable. It is to bring you fashionable modest wear that is both affordable, practical and timeless.

 

Morals and Ethics:

We do not believe in fast fashion that follows every single trend. We find it to be wasteful, poor quality, toxic and it goes against our morals of being socially responsible and our mission of being timeless. Religiously following the latest trends means you will always be buying new clothes while your old ‘trendy’ clothes will most likely sit in your cupboard and go to waste. Therefore, as a business, following the latest trend simply for profit does not align with our beliefs. While a business must produce profit as it is a key component for the business to continue, it should always be done in an ethical way.

In our prices, besides the cost of fabric and the branding essentials (packaging, tags, labels, thank you cards, stickers), we do not believe in under-paying people for their hard work nor taking advantage of vulnerable people. We are firmly against the exploitation of labourers. Our prices will always reflect this. Like we said in our mission, we want to be more than a good brand, we want to be a community. This applies to every aspect of our business. We will always treat those who help our vision to come to life with respect and dignity.

 

Here are a few of our favourite designs we made since 2020:

let’s take a trip down memory lane of our designs that the OGs would remember and appreciate!