How to plan a collection around Ramadan, Eid and DSF

Start from the calendar of peaks, not from the design calendar

List the peaks for the next 12 months with the date by which stock must be available: Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Dubai Shopping Festival (traditionally from mid-December into January), White Friday in late November, back-to-school and summer sales. Ramadan moves about 11 days earlier every year: in 2027 it is expected to begin in early February, with the exact date confirmed by moon sighting.

For every peak, the key date is not the start of the peak itself but the day before which your customers start buying for it. For Ramadan and Eid that is often several weeks earlier.

Count backwards for each peak

• Stock in store / warehouse and live online
• Delivery and customs clearance (into the mainland, plus 5% import duty)
• Production run and quality control
• Fabric and trims ordered and paid
• Samples approved and the buying matrix fixed

Build the buying matrix around what each peak sells

Peaks do not sell the same things. Ramadan and Eid lean towards occasionwear, modest pieces and gifting; DSF and White Friday are discount-driven and favour core styles in depth; summer is about lightweight essentials and clearing stock.

For each peak decide the categories, the number of styles, the depth per style and the size curve: from your sales history if you have it, from a clear hypothesis if you do not. Plan a reorder rule for best-sellers instead of buying everything upfront.

Check every buy against the payment calendar

Each production run is a cash outflow months before the money comes back, and if you sell on marketplaces, it comes back even later. Put every fabric and production payment into the payment calendar next to expected income on its real payout date. If a peak creates a gap, it is better to see it now and resize the buy than to discover it the week the factory invoice arrives.

Plan the summer on purpose

The slow months are where cash runs out. Decide in advance what you will sell (lightweight core, clearance), what you will not buy, and how much cash you need to keep to fund buying for the autumn and winter peaks.