The Reason This Designer SHUT DOWN Her Fashion Company.

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]It has been 4 months and multiple delivery dates and delivery windows that were not honored, multiple emails between customer service that I just keep getting more dates that are not honored. I keep receiving tracking links that lead to nothing.

[00:00:18]My Hanifa package that I ordered in November, guys, it's February, it's still not here.

[00:00:31]>> [music] >> Hey, girl, and welcome back to the channel. If you're new here, hey. On today's topic, we're talking about one of the most innovative designers in modern fashion, which is Hanifa. Hanifa is a luxury fashion brand and also a entrepreneur. Hanifa built a fashion empire that celebrates femininity and culture with a hint of innovation.

[00:01:01]Many people were first introduced to Hanifa during the pandemic when Hanifa shocked the fashion industry with her now iconic 3D fashion show. But as many know, building a successful fashion brand is never always glamorous. Hanifa, not too long ago, now has turned herself into the face of criticism after customers reported long shipping delays and issues receiving orders as well the quality of her clothing.

[00:01:43]>> I want to go all the way up. I want to do it. Stop hiding. You hiding forever, Ricky. When I catch you, Ricky. Ricky, when I catch you, Ricky. Ricky, when I catch you, Ricky. Ricky, when I catch you, Ricky. Ricky, when I catch you, Ricky. Ricky, when I catch you, Ricky.

[00:01:56]>> 4 months and multiple delivery dates and delivery windows that were not honored, multiple emails between customer service that I just keep getting more dates that are not honored. I keep receiving tracking links that lead to nothing.

[00:02:13]My Hanifa package that I ordered in November, guys, it's February. It's still not here. That is insane. I have been following them for years. I'm like, "Damn, when I come up on some money, I need me some Hanifa." Like, I love the designs. I want to support a black brand, but this is sick. This is actually sick.

[00:02:33]I ordered in November. We are in February.

[00:02:37]And you're going to send me a $30 gift card? [ __ ] I'm not purchasing again.

[00:02:42]Actually. Then I saw the owner come on here talking about, "I just had a baby."

[00:02:46]I don't give a damn. I swipe so fast.

[00:02:48]Okay, good job.

[00:02:49]>> [applause] >> Where's my dress, babe? What's going on?

[00:02:53]Where's my package? Where's the communication?

[00:02:56]>> I think what really upsets me about the whole Hanifa delay situation is the lack of communication. Like, don't get me wrong. As soon as I hit submit on order, as soon as those funds are withdrawn, I'm looking for my package, okay? I It's my package and I need it now. But, where was the communication? When we going to say something?

[00:03:13]>> Over promising and under delivering is never a good look. In fact, it should be the opposite. You want to manage expectations. You want to under promise, and you want to over deliver. For you to have a sale in November and tell people that they can expect their packages in January, then for January to come and you to say, "Hey, we're experiencing another production delay." As somebody who has worked in garment production for 20 years, that kind of delay isn't something that just happened. That isn't something that you just found out about in January. And with that, as soon as you found out within that time frame, is when you should have let your customers who already paid for their goods, that's when you should have let them know. I don't know the ins and outs of her business, so I'm not sure where she's doing production, what it looks like, what kind of vendors she's working with, but what I do know is this, as somebody who has been responsible for training factories and working with them, you always have to be driving production, and you have to set milestones, and you have to hit them. Not saying run a sweatshop by any means, but you have to set out the milestones, you have to set out deliverables. Everybody needs to be aligned, and everybody needs to hit the goal. Whether it's coming from the design studio or over at the factories taking directives from the design studio, it all needs to be tightened up.

[00:04:34]When I did on 34th for Macy's, they actually set out crazy milestones for us to hit with the intent of us failing because it was a whole debacle behind the scenes. That's another story for another day. You would think if people were making this big multi-million dollar investment, they'd want it to succeed, but honey, that wasn't the case for everyone. With that, even with the impossible, I ran a tight ship. I was able to anticipate the factories needs.

[00:05:01]I was able to anticipate the design studio's needs, and with that, I was able to hit every major milestone that people didn't think we would be able to hit because the brand has over promised and under delivered. A lot of the sentiments that I see being shared is that people plan on never spending a dime with this company again. Rightfully so, if this happens a couple of times, yeah, okay, you might get a pass, but what I'm seeing now from a lot of the customers is this is something that has become the norm, and that's simply not acceptable. Again, a grace should absolutely be given, but the seat of grace, it isn't endless. I'm eternally an optimist, so let's see if they'll be able to turn it around.

[00:05:43]>> There's two things in this is communication and pre-orders. I talked about this with my video about Jada Whyman her whole pre-order situation, too.

[00:05:53]>> I can understand why people are frustrated with Hanifa and Brown Sugar Babe. Now, I have never ordered from Brown Sugar Babe because their pricing just doesn't make logical sense to me, but I did order from Hanifa during their Black Friday sale and I have not heard anything since placing my order. At the same time that I ordered from Hanifa, I also ordered from Deonna and Deonna also had pre-order pre-sale items on their website that I had added to my cart. In both cases, I knew that the pre-sale pre-order would take a long time to ship out, possibly into the new year.

[00:06:20]However, the difference is Deonna has emailed me three different times to communicate that there is a shipment delay. Not only did they communicate that, they also provided a compensation code because of the delay, as well.

[00:06:32]Hanifa has been radio silent, so I can understand why people feel frustrated with the fact that they spent a lot of money for polyester, might we add, and there's no communication on behalf of the brand. Now, me personally, I don't know that I will ever order again just because it doesn't make sense to me paying that much for polyester, not because I think there's anything wrong with the brand, but again, polyester, you're paying $200, to me that just doesn't make logical sense.

[00:06:58]>> I want to examine this Hanifa business issue from the perspective of someone who works in corporate business. I know you all know me from my theological research and modern discipleship practices. However, that's my 5:00 to 9:00. From 9:00 to 5:00, [clears throat] I work in corporate communications and I have a background in management consulting and I've worked with Fortune 500 companies from the life science to the pharma to food and beverage and across the board, there are so many lessons to be learned in corporate, but as a corporate communicator who works with executives in corporate businesses, there's a lot to be learned out of the situation, particularly for other aspiring black business owners or people who are just looking to learn a little bit more about the convergence of black business ownership and communications functions. So, the Hanifa situation is a perfect storm. You have issues that are very common within the black-owned business space, and then you have traditional communications issues that happen across spaces and functions, but they oftentimes converge. And so, when we look at the black-owned business space, we often know that black-owned businesses are more than likely underfunded. They typically don't get the same venture capital. They don't get the same investors. They're typically working with smaller teams, um even if they are a very popular business. We don't necessarily see them have the same structures as uh a traditional um kind of corporate back business or a business that's not black-owned. That makes the grind for cash capital, like the money to run their business, really gritty, right? They have to work a lot, sell a lot, um in order to get the cash they need in order to run the business. So, you see things like pre-orders coming to play. And I don't know if y'all remember like last year when Ari, who runs Stripped, she talked about pre-orders.

[00:08:38]And I loved her video on it because she's exactly right. It's like giving someone a zero interest loan with no credit check and no responsibility to pay you back in a timely fashion. They get it to you when they get it to you.

[00:08:51]If there are delays, there are delays.

[00:08:52]And so, pre-orders work in certain contexts of businesses, and it makes sense for smaller businesses. You have an Etsy shop or it costs thousands of dollars to produce whatever you're selling, and you don't necessarily know that you'll have the customer base in order to sell that thing. That makes sense. However, when you're as large of a business as Hanifa and you have as many guaranteed clients as Hanifa has, it doesn't make sense to be doing pre-orders unless you're telling me you don't have the money to sell what it is you're trying to sell. That tells me you have a cash flow issue.

[00:09:24]Gaining trust and credibility as a black business is hard. And so, then choosing to sell what you cannot afford to sell is a bad business decision. And Hanifa has been able to gain trust and credibility. They are one of the it brands right now. People want They They can identify with Hanifa clothes. I've been out to brunch out in DC. I just out and about people be like, "Girls, that's Hanifa." Like, it is a recognizable brand. It is a brand that people respect, and it has gained a lot of visibility and credibility too much to be making the decision to function and run the pre-orders as they did. Now, let's go over to the comms side of the issue. Too many businesses don't have real communications functions. They think having a social media page is having communications. Social media is a form of communications, but it is not the central It should not be the central nervous system of your comms function.

[00:10:09]And when it is, you typically have You end up hiring people who can manage social. They can post trendy videos.

[00:10:16]They can keep in line with what people are doing on social, but they don't necessarily have the dynamic or strategic um kind of thought process and understanding how the 360 world of comms works together. The average small business, the average black-owned business, small business, um has socials, and they typically have an email marketing function. And a lot of times those emails are way more aesthetic than they are functional.

[00:10:40]Those two things are prongs of a comms system, but they do not speak to the ability to communicate well.

[00:10:49]True communications includes strategic messaging, crisis planning, and an understanding of what crises could arise based on what projects or initiatives and campaigns you're pushing for. And it also it anticipates gaps. It anticipates struggles so that you can plan and prepare messaging for when those things happen and know how to disseminate that messaging to the audiences it needs to get to. True communications satisfies both the business or the brand and the customers, not one or the other. And what we saw and see in this current issue is an attempt to kind of put some of these mess some of the messaging on threads. And I've seen some messaging as far back as October on threads trying to kind of diagnose issues based on the conversations that are coming up and I understand trying to respond at the source of the wound I guess in an attempt to triage but there was no transition of overall messaging. There was no attempt to try and close that gap. There was no especially going into a Black Friday pre-order sale knowing that there were complaints as early as October well before that came out. There was no strategic communications initiative in order to try and close those gaps to satisfy both the business and the brand going into this. So this whole debacle with the delays just exacerbated a gap that was already there that no one prepared to fix. Then the salt in the wound is waiting until the delivery date or close to the delivery date to tell people that you're actually not going to deliver on the delivery date. So rather than getting people to know well ahead of in advance time. You knew a good amount of time before that that you were not going to be able to fulfill what you set out to fulfill. And okay in the pre-order system that happens. So people gave you money for something that you did not yet have.

[00:12:35]That happens. So knowing that waiting until the day before or close to or the day of the delivery date to say hey by the way this isn't a shipment email this is an email telling you you have another delay till now. Some people say it is late as January 29th January 30th 2 months after they initially ordered these items that they're not going to be there. That's a communications failure.

[00:12:55]And between the failures of the business as well as the failures of communication you had a perfect storm of converging issues. Hanifa missed a key brand moment which is the holidays and at this point the early part of the year. If you're not delivering stuff till January 29th January 30th that's early award season you know for some people but thinking about the amount of people who were gathering who were getting together who were taking photos who were having major milestone moments.

[00:13:22]I know someone who was planning to get engaged they were anticipating it so they were like I'm ordering this Hanifa because I think I'm going to get engaged before the new year." And they wanted Hanifa to be part of that personal moment. Hanifa has this credibility, as I mentioned, that they have this prestige that people say, "Okay, I want to be in this dress. I want to be in this suit when this thing happens, when I go to this event, when I'm taking these photos." So, they have invited Hanifa into those moments of their life, and Hanifa's not delivered on their ability to show up in those moments, and then has like not even taken accountability for their inability to show up in those moments, but has given 30 or 40 dollars of um store credit that also can't really help people buy much on that site um as a way to kind of give crumbs back. And so, it it shows a a lack of value for the customer base and understanding just how much the brand means to the customer base and just how much the failure to meet their expectations harms the brand. It's a cycle.

[00:14:18]In order for Hanifa to be lucrative or to continue to be lucrative and actually regain people's trust, they have to understand how much they mean to their customer base and how much their customer base wants them to be a part of their pivotal moments in life. So, as long as businesses continue to say, you know, "It is what it is" or "If you know, you know" and "We're just trying to do the best we can do." They don't think about their messaging. They don't have an understanding of their market segmentation. Who are your customers?

[00:14:45]It's not just, "Okay, black women are our customers" or "These people are our customers." Why do your customers buy what they buy from you? It is quality.

[00:14:52]It is aesthetic. It is style. But can you clearly define and articulate that?

[00:14:56]And when you look at the complaints, it's not just about, "Okay, well, they're just mad their order is late."

[00:15:01]Why is their order late? And why does it continue to be um a cyclical behavior in the business? And why do you continue to offer opportunities to not deliver on the dates that you say you're going to deliver to, particularly in these special moments and special times and seasons that people want to be able to wear your clothes and say that they're wearing your clothes. That is something that is so incredibly beautiful to have as a black business owner, that people want to champion and support your business.

[00:15:26]All to throw it away over being dismissive over valid concerns.

[00:15:29]>> With all the conversation and customer complaints, frustration, discussions about the company's communication and fulfillment process, the conversation grew larger and larger, eventually becoming one of the most talked about topics surrounding the brand.

[00:15:44]In response, Hanifa publicly acknowledged that mistakes had been made and spoke openly about the challenges the company was facing behind the scenes.

[00:15:56]>> Hello, my name is Hanifa and I'm the CEO and creative director here at Hanifa. I just wanted to take this moment to address the concerns around Hanifa Friday and Black Friday orders.

[00:16:08]I am currently on maternity leave. I just had my baby boy about a month ago, but I felt it was really important to come on here and just provide some clarity given the climate and everything that's being said online. First, I want to say that I am truly, truly sorry to anyone who feels frustrated, angry, um, disappointed, and confused.

[00:16:34]Um, this was not our intention and I hate that this is your experience and majority of the items that were on sale were on pre-order with shipping dates of late December or January. We made sure that we provided this information prior to the sale, while also making sure that we included in the confirmation emails that you received when your order was placed. However, we did hear your feedback and concerns and we could have definitely done a better job of making this information more visible.

[00:17:05]Transparently, during these times, um, items are getting stuck in transit due to customs, while we're also experiencing manufacturing delays. The minute we were notified of any delays beyond the original timeline that we did provide to our customers, we immediately reached out to them directly via email.

[00:17:26]In some cases, um as we have been seeing some of you have not received the email, maybe the email may have landed in your spam folder, or due to email subscription settings, you did not receive that email.

[00:17:38]And for that, we are truly truly sorry.

[00:17:41]Um please reach out to our customer service team. They are ready and will be happy to assist you with your order needs. Now, we are experiencing an influx of emails at the moment. Um so, we are responding to the emails as quickly as possible. We have been reaching out to every single customer that has been affected. We are working behind the scenes to improve our systems to avoid a situation like this reoccurring again.

[00:18:09]And most importantly, we are tirelessly working around the clock to get these orders out as quickly as possible.

[00:18:17]And I just wanted to say that um when I started Hanifa 14 years ago, my intention was to always create garments that made women feel beautiful.

[00:18:27]And I hope that when you do receive your orders, you get to experience that. And I also hope that you get to experience the craftsmanship, the care, the detail um that goes behind every single design.

[00:18:40]I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who reached out and have shared kind of words during this time. Um thank you guys so much for your patience, and thank you for allowing us this opportunity to make this right.

[00:18:56]>> Not too long ago, after Hanifa made that video response, she went ahead and shut down her company. It's unfortunate that these things has happened to her brand, and also the mental state of what she's gone through.

[00:19:12]I want to believe that she meant well, but I also want to believe that she's not the only one that caused this whole discrepancies in her brand.

[00:19:25]It's so vital and important to make sure that you have the right people in place that can run your business as well when it comes down to your manufacturers.

[00:19:35]But at the end of the day, she is the head of her house when it comes down to her business and her brand.

[00:19:41]>> [snorts] >> Tell me what you think down below and till next time. Bye.

[00:19:59]>> [music]