From Homeless College Dropout to Building a Luxury Brand, How Rukeya Khanum Turned Her Life Around

Rokeya Khanum, the founder of  iconic luxury clothing brand Khanum’s, has had an inspiring journey. Khanum, who once lived on benefits, turned her life around to create a company with a six-figure turnover. Her brand is one of the fastest-growing fashion brands in the world, and Khanum has achieved goals that she once referred to as ''impossible,''  as per a report by The Sun. 

Who is Rokeya Khanum?

Born in East London to Bangladeshi parents, Rokeya Khanum is one of the seven kids in the family. While she was always focused on education, she also learned the craft of garment making from her parents who were both garment makers. 

In a chat with Grace Beverley in the “Working Hard, Hardly Working podcast,” Khanum said that she was interested in Art and English Literature, and at the age of 16, she even had aspirations of becoming an air hostess. However, her life took a turn when she got pregnant and gave birth prematurely at age 17.

Rokeya Khanum’s struggle for success

After her son’s birth, Khanum struggled to make ends meet, often facing homelessness, after dropping out of college. It was then when she decided that she didn’t want this life for her son or herself. Desperate to not ''fall into the stigma as a typical teen mum, especially as an ethnic minority,'' she went back to study law, she said in the podcast.

While it was difficult to do with a son, Khanum was determined. Unfortunately, her education was suspended again as she could not afford a legal practice course. ''The whole law ambition just went out of the window,'' she recalled, in the podcast. 

She worked typical 9-5 jobs in various industries. At one point, she even faced unemployment for 18 straight months. ''It was the most challenging time,” Khanum said.  However, she was still determined to come up with a plan.

Establishing an iconic luxury wear company

Realizing a market gap, Khanum came up with the idea of an affordable luxury wear brand. Just as she started working on it, she got a hoard of job offers out of nowhere. Without thinking much, she took the highest-paying job and kept working on her business on the side. The journey of her brand “Khanum’s” started when the founder fell in love with H&M's collaboration with the high-end brand Balmain around 2015.

The first product was an embellished jacket that was a ''modernized'' take on traditional Bangladeshi gear. The now 37-year-old  entrepreneur took to the streets of East London to find a store that would make the garment. However, she was shocked by the asking price of £900 (~$1139) which made her look for alternative options. 

She then found manufacturers on Google from India and sent £180 (~$227) to a random company she had never worked with. Once she got the sample, Khanum used her salary to get a photoshoot done. Soon, the brand took off. “It took off really fast, thanks to the domino effect of influencers,” Khanum said in the podcast. Once her products went viral, influencers from Australia, New York, and all over the world got in touch with Khanum to collaborate. 

Subsequently, her sales took off as well and she built a six-figure turnover in just seven months. She quit her job 18 months after starting her business and soon, her sales took off in the Middle East as well with Facebook ads coming into play. While the business faced some challenges during the lockdown, it didn’t stop Khanum's as it posted a turnover of a whopping £860,000 in 2022 ($10,92,629.14 at present).

Khanum’s attention to detail with embellishment and priority to minimize fabric waste allowed the brand to carve out an iconic space in the industry. The brand’s commitment to sustainability also worked out for it. “The proof is so far, in the pudding. Our year-on-year growth validates the fact that we can continue to champion a slower pace of production,” Khanum told ELLE U.K.