On Jan. 17 at 5 p.m., Noorie an online shop opened for the first time, and in just two hours, the shop sold out after months of preparation. Noorie Modals is the new face of the hijabi community in the Bay Area and online. 

Business owner Noor Al-Deen is a college student at Cal State East Bay of Yemeni descent, currently studying business. Despite being a fulltime student, she took a chance to be a part of a community that she holds dear in her heart: modest fashion.  It’s an industry you may not think about often, but for many hijabis here in the Bay Area, it’s a fundamental part of their wardrobe and how they present themselves to others. Starting her first business in middle school selling lip glosses, then continuing in high school running a K-Pop themed shop, she’s been customizing and designing products she loves for a while now.

In January 2024, polka dots were everywhere, and Noor saw a chance to let her creativity take form into something else much bigger than before. She saw something lacking in the modest fashion industry: fun. Her love of pop culture blends with her modals (a type of hijab) while staying true to Islamic values, saying, “With pop culture or just trends lately, I just want to incorporate that into modesty as well so we kind of feel included as well in these trends.”

Noor is challenging the idea that modesty is plain or restrictive, aiming to prove that values can remain true, while presenting them in new ways. “I want to make sure that modesty stays modest,” she said. For many Muslim business owners, their business is an extension of faith, not separate from it. For Noor, this business means more than modals; it’s honoring her faith while expressing her creativity. 

The idea to actually start a shop began in January, when she began designing and planting seeds to start this new business venture. However, doubt settled in fast and she started second-guessing her decision. Seeing other businesses around her also include polka dots in hijabs she started to feel discouraged. For a small business owner like herself, competing with bigger brands with a large platform, bigger audience, and bigger marketing budgets, her confidence dwindled. She admitted sometimes she felt unmotivated to keep going.

Starting a new business is hard, the playing field isn’t even and social media promotion can only do so much when competing with other brands. Noor is still a college student on top of  managing her own business, so she creates designs with the little spare time she has. She markets and funds everything by herself, but luckily her hard work formed a small community before she knew it.

With help from her friend who offered to be her model, she finally snapped her first photo shoot. From there, she finally posted her first video, which was received pretty well. Unbeknownst to her, with each video she posted more traction was gained, with one of the videos she posted on TikTok reaching over 12.8k views. When Noorie launched, Noor told me, “The modal sold out in two hours. That’s pretty good for a small business, is it not? I think so.”

She felt a sense of accomplishment, but more importantly Noor had to think about the next step for her shop. Noor told me right after it sold out, “I immediately started thinking about the next drop and what else people would like.” Noor gave us exclusive details about what she has on her mind as of now for the next drop. Sticking with the polka dots theme as she said, “It’s kind of like almost the identity of Noorie.” She’s thinking about adding more colors like brown for the drop. 

Noor leaves this advice to her younger self and others

“..Anything is possible as long as you put your heart into it.” – Noor Al-Deen

Check out her shop at https://noorie–co.myshopify.com/ 

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@noorie__co 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/noorie__co/