Sophomore Siham Arsalane is the founder and CEO of the company Destination Belle, a brand that sells headbands and supports female empowerment.
Arsalane designs and sews hair accessories and sells them on her own website. 20 percent of the proceeds go to charities that benefit women.
Arsalane decided to start creating headbands as a way to pass time over winter break. “I didn’t have a lot to do. I had recently gotten into sewing from the fiber arts class I took at Gunn,” she said. “I love to sell things and create things and create cool feeds [on Instagram] for them. So I thought since I had these two and a half weeks of time, it would be a great time to do it.”

The name Destination Belle comes from the French word belle, which means beauty. “I wanted to have the products that I make for this account empower women to feel their best and feel confident in what they’re wearing,” Arsalane said. “I called it Destination Belle because it’s kind of like ‘destination beauty’, and it’s about what makes you feel beautiful.
Arsalane’s main source of inspiration came from current fashion trends. “ I chose headbands to make because I thought about what was trending at the time because I thought it would yield the most customers,” she said. “I thought I could make a ton of different patterns and designs that could be really cute for people’s outfits.”
Destination Belle initially sold only headbands, but Arsalane has also created hair scarves and bandanas that she has begun to sell as well. “It’s [Destination Belle] definitely not just headbands,” she said. “In the future, I would like to expand into more clothing items, and not just accessories, or even just different types of accessories or maybe going into necklaces and actual jewelry.”
The main goal when creating products was to make them functional, yet stylish. “The design process was pretty interesting,” she said. “I put elastic in the back [of the headbands] and had it be kind of like a scrunchie so it could fit over a lot of people’s head shapes.”
A portion of the money she makes will go to a charity called Girls Inc. “It’s a charity about female empowerment and encouraging girls to be strong and independent businesswomen,” Arsalane said. “That’s what I’m doing through my business, so I thought it would be good to donate to that organization.”
Girls Inc. donates money to help further girls education and provide them with tools to succeed in life. Arsalane feels this cause because she believes in female empowerment. “They empower girls to be strong and independent, and they donate money to girls who can’t get an education,” she said.