We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Salma Kashani. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Salma below.

Salma, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

It was a gloomy morning during the Coronavirus pandemic. The world as we knew it had ended and everything was shut down. Alone in my apartment, I was feeling depressed, worried about the future, and not looking forward to anything. My hours were cut down at work and there was nothing to look forward to. With nowhere to go, I had time to reflect deeply and search for my life’s meaning. To be honest, I failed to find any. So I decided to distract myself. I thought about painting again.
Since I remember, painting has been the only activity that cheers me up during down times. Placing vibrant colours next to each other in different forms and shapes on a canvas made me feel alive.
I started to paint. In that moment, I found my passion for colours all over again and I realized that I was surrounded by colour. I looked around my apartment; shades and hues of yellow, pink, blue everywhere. That’s when I felt like the world is still beautiful.
I painted first and then I changed into a colourful outfit. Although I couldn’t go out, I changed and I looked in the mirror and I felt the energy. I felt confident that no matter what happens, I CAN HANDLE IT. I CAN OVERCOME the challenges. That’s when I had a jolt of inspiration. I had this vision of a colourful, beautiful outfit fashioned out of my art that I can share with everyone. An outfit that can cheer people up, energize them, and see that they too can slay their dragons.
So I decided to share my joy of colours with everyone through fashion. After 2 years, I’m keeping my vision of a colourful and artistic world in my heart.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

At Banu Magnifique I help eco-conscious women effortlessly elevate their style to stand out. I do that by offering artistic eco-friendly chiffon scarves with unique stories that are made in collaborations with local artists. Every pattern has a unique story by the artist that is printed on a card and accompanies the scarf. Our goals are to promote art and improve mental well-being through adding colours to wardrobes. With every purchase, a percentage goes to the artist and a percentage is donated to Anxiety Canada mental health charity to further our cause and help those who suffer from mental health issues.

Banu was born in early 2020 out of an immense love for colours, art, and people. I was on a serious mission to share this little passion of mine with whoever would listen. Colours have always been a part of my life — my mother is an incredible artist and introduced me to painting at a very young age. I believe that colours hold an invigorating power, that by treating our eyes and brains to a brilliant chromatic display, help us stay positive and become more confident. Life is short; therefore we should do everything in our power to create, encourage, and spread positivity and love. That’s why I started Banu.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

After a year since I started my fashion line, I decided to pivot to turning arts into eco-friendly chiffon scarves with unique stories. Initially I was focused on creating matching apparel and accessory sets. My first three collections included a matching skirt, scarf and wallet, a matching shoulder bag and pashmina shawl, and a matching t-shirt and earrings. Through looking at my sales analytics, collecting customer feedback and speaking to other experienced business owners, I decided to relaunch my fashion line to become more eco-friendly and focus on an accessory such as a scarf that is easy to purchase online and is easy to style.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

Before starting Banu Magnifique, I was a product manager (PM) at a tech company in Vancouver. During my experience as a PM I got the opportunity to work with China through Alibaba to source some parts of our hardware. As a result, I was able to use the same knowledge and skills to find high quality manufacturers in China to produce my first three collections. After my pivot, I decided to work with local manufacturers to produce my eco-friendly scarves. Here are the three important lessons that I’ve learned working with manufacturers:

(1) Communication is key. It’s very important to clearly communicate what needs to be produced and to confirm the requirements before the production process starts.
(2) Always ask for samples. Sometimes it’s costly and time consuming to ask for multiple rounds of samples. However, considering the higher cost of mass-producing the wrong product it’s wise to invest a portion of that time and money to receive samples.
(3) Consider your local options. Being able to produce your products locally will save you shipping costs and time and prevent other issues that may result from shipping delays or problems. Often it also provides you with the opportunity to produce in lower quantities which helps with potential changes that may occur in a new small business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.banumagnifique.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/banu_magnifique/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/banumagnifique

Image Credits
Abbas Nakhlband Chris Frykberg