Ethical Winter Fashion; the Oummi Muslim Everest Fleece Poncho

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Bismillah arRahman arRaheem & Asalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatooh; my dear Readers

Please note; this is not a sponsored post, I purchased this item directly and am giving my experience with it objectively along with my review of the item I purchased. Please keep this in mind as you read this post.

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Oummi Muslim is a small Paris-based “ethical” clothing company that produces a limited number of uber high-quality pieces per season. Each collection is designed to be easily matched with other pieces in their seasonal collections, with each collection composed of timeless, high-quality items that can be worn year after year. I came across them on Instagram, and I immediately liked what I saw;

What drew me to them is that Oummi Muslim, beyond just their designs, is that they are not a fast fashion modestwear brand. They produce their items in-house in France or in their atelier in Egypt. I want the pieces that I choose and wear often to last for months, years…heck, a decade+ even.

Unfortunately, what I’ve noticed is that much of what is sold as “Islamic” clothing for Hijabis, Niqabis, and others who dress modestly is just rebranded Fast Fashion. I’m not a fan of Fast Fashion; obviously, it has its place in certain situations, but objectively I find composing your entire wardrobe with Fast Fashion pieces—modest or not—a waste of your hard-earned money. I will, inshaAllah, before Ramadhan, do a dive into why supporting Fast Fashion over small-scale or local Islamic clothing companies is not ethical or healthy.

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Overview: So first off, yes Oummi Muslim does indeed ship to the US; they ship worldwide (for all of my awesome international readers who may be wondering), and yes their site is available in French, English, and German. I did end up having some issues with the shipment of my order (not due to any fault of Oummi Muslim), which I will explain later, and the sisters who run Oummi Muslim were incredibly responsive and helpful, going above and beyond to ensure I received my package.

What I ordered & Why: I ordered the Everest Fleece Poncho as I’ve wanted a comfortable oversized high-quality fleece poncho that I can actually wear in cold weather as an actual coat, not just as a “topper” over multiple layers for literally years. Yes, in fact, when I came back from Saudi Arabia in 2010, I was determined to make a thick, winter-appropriate fleece poncho to wear over my abayaat instead of a regular coat, but alas, that didn’t happen as I ended up being busy with studying to get into Nursing school. Before you say… oh, Umm Ibrahim, you can get a fleece poncho anywhere—literally everywhere sells them come the autumn—I say… hah, not true! What they sell is a fairly thin in comparison “topper”; you still need to substantially layer under them, and oftentimes they are open in the front and sides. I’ve wanted a big, thick fleece poncho that I could wear in lieu of my LLBean winter coat on a cold, snowy morning!

This poncho was designed to be worn in just such a scenario + its closed front with a zipper at the neck, a detachable large, ample hood which will cinch snugly against your head, poppers on the sides so the poncho can be worn closed or open and the polar fleece is of the thicker, heavier-duty variety.

Shipping: Now, ordering from the US was super simple. Just note that when you order outside of the US using a debit card, sometimes your bank will put a weird block on international orders as a form of fraud protection; if that happens, just call your bank. Thankfully, I had no such difficulties. My package ended up being shipped to me twice and was delayed for 2 months! Yes, again, Oummi Muslim was 100% not at fault; it was 100% on FedEx Customs in Memphis and then Chronopost at French Customs. Per Oummi Muslim, they ship abroad daily and often ship to the USA, and for whatever reason, my package was the odd weird one that ended up having issues in shipment. But, alhamdulillah, Oummi Muslim was amazing in handling this shipping delay, and they frequently reached out to FedEx and Chronopost to get my package moving; they also supplied any additional paperwork needed and stayed on top of communication with me both via my email and Instagram. So yes, my package did finally reach me after 2 months. I ordered on November 23rd; I received it on January 30th.

and yes…I do plan to order from them again!

My package arrived nicely packaged up with a Thank You card in a vellum envelope. The poncho itself is incredibly substantial, thick, and heavy, and as described. I have no doubt it will keep me fantastically warm. Due to my work schedule, I have not worn it out and about but plan to do so next week when I run my errands (we recently had Winter Storm Fern and we are in the negative and single digits here in Pittsburgh) in lieu of my usual down-filled winter coat.

This poncho should fit nicely over Abayahs/French Jilbabs/Manteau and general modest tunics and pants/skirts, enshaAllah.

And… I’m working on getting a YouTube Channel up and running, so here’s an action short…

In conclusion let me know what you think! Have you ordered from OummiMuslim before? If so how was your experience with them… also do you think you’d ever wear a winter poncho over your overgarments?

You know I love comments and feedback so feel free to leave them and also, feel free to check me out on my Social Media and Subscribe below. Also, it would mean the world to me that if you like my work and are feeling generous, I’d love it if you would Buy Me A Coffee

Until next time… wa alaikum as salaam!

– Bailey UmmIbrahim ❤️