Being a fashion designer was Yara Bin Shakar’s lifelong dream. Growing up she always had a creative bone in her body, and her parents were very supportive of her decision to study fashion design when it was first introduced in the UAE. Yara felt as if she was meant to go down that path with a mom who is an artist and having spent a lot of her childhood in her mom’s studio working on designs.
Although it was uncommon, she was one of the very few – and first – students to graduate with a bachelor's degree in Fashion design from the university of Sharjah.
Yara’s proudest moment was at the Arab Fashion Council AFC show during the catwalk when a kid called his mom saying “Yara is here and you love her designs”.
Yara’s entrepreneurial journey.
After holding a job for 6 months after graduation, Yara did what she describes as “the scariest thing”, she quit her job and said, “I can do this on my own”. She called it the scariest moment because when you are an entrepreneur with your own fashion design line, you are not only responsible for yourself and your income but also for your employees’ incomes and salaries.
Yara the fashion designer
When we asked Yara how she would describe her designs she said:
My designs are minimalistic, whimsical, and diverse.
Working in her cozy studio at home, Yara designed her first piece, a reversable cardigan. That is when it hit her, Yara decided that all her designs must be:
- Affordable
- Fashionable.
- Can be worn multiple ways.
- Can change colors.
- Reversable or can be wrapped in different ways.
The goal was to design pieces customers never get bored of. Yara’s designs are recyclable and made of sustainable materials.
The bounce from a humble fashion designer to an entrepreneur.
After a while of testing and trying out different ways and methods to know what works and what does not, Yara opened the first concept design store in Sharjah and now houses more than 20 different brands and fashion designers.
On to the next step.
Yara first started out on Instagram which was great but soon she realized it is not enough and that she HAD TO HAVE a website. Without technical experience, Yara spent two years trying to develop her website and build it the way she wanted, and it was very difficult.
[Callout] Instagram is great for anyone starting out, but a website is for Professional businesses. [/Callout]
So, why did Yara choose GoDaddy?
As a fashion designer, Yara had no technical experience building stores and GoDaddy helped set up her online store and start selling. With GoDaddy’s E-store Yara now has a beautiful website to her satisfaction, she got her professional email address from GoDaddy Email services, and most importantly, she secured her domain name from GoDaddy’s Domain name, and Microsoft 365.
GoDaddy Partners with Arab Fashion Council
GoDaddy has partnered with the Arab Fashion Council (AFC) to encourage designers, creatives and entrepreneurs in the UAE and MENA region to help them digitize their businesses.
This partnership comes as part of GoDaddy’s mission to empower entrepreneurs and small businesses with the tools and help that they need to go online.
