At only 17 years old, A level student Haneefa Alam has started her own bespoke embroidery business called ‘NeefieKnits’. I sat down with Haneefa and discussed her business, how she manages her time commitments and her hopes for the future.

When did you start your business?

I started in December. From December to late February it was quite slow going I would have maybe gotten two orders a month and then in late February one of my designs got popular online and I gained a lot of traction. As of now I have 90 confirmed orders on a waitlist.

What made you want to start your business?

I’m going on an expedition to Costa Rica in 2020 with school, for one week you get to volunteer on a project, I think we’re working on a turtle conservation project and you spend the other two weeks doing various activities. I think we’ll be hiking through a rainforest and climbing up a mountain- things like that! It’s an amazing opportunity but it’s also really expensive. I started this business initially as a way to fundraise for that.

What sort of embroidery do you make?

I do bespoke embroidery; whatever design people want to order I make for them. So even if they have a vague idea I’ll work with them to create a design they’ll be happy with. I’ve mostly done t-shirts, while I’ve made one hoodie they’re more expensive. I also do embroidery hoops and I’ve made badges as well. It’s really up to the customer.

Take me through your order process, after a customer gets in touch with you, what comes next?

If you were coming from a place where you had a vague idea, like you knew you wanted a t shirt with flowers on it but nothing else it’s a step by step process to help narrow down what you want.

First I’d establish a colour scheme, whether you wanted pastel colours or dark colours etc. Following that I’d look on a website like Pintrest to see specific designs I can use or adapt and draw up a few options. I would generally do this over one evening but that depends on the amount of schoolwork I have. I would send different designs to the customer and then go on to develop the one they want further before actually making the t shirt. A typical order takes about 3 to 4 hours long to make.

How have you managed balancing regular life and your business?

Schoolwork is my top priority, schoolwork over orders any day! I find embroidery relaxing so I’ll just sit and watch tv while I do it or something like that, it’s my hobby so it doesn’t feel like work. I mainly do my embroidery on the weekends so I’m free anyway!

What are your plans for the future?

My plan is to go to university to study something along the lines of biochemistry or biomedical sciences, I find neuroscience really interesting and I’d love to pursue that. I’d also love to grow my business and I plan to keep it up even after I hit my fundraising target.

If you want to see Haneefa’s beautiful embroidery she can be found on instagram @Neefieknits