Habibi NY

Habibi NY was founded in New York City in 2016 by Shakir Ahmed, a fifteen-year Wall Street veteran, and Tabassum Khan, a licensed pharmacist — a husband-and-wife team who stepped away from established careers to build a fragrance brand rooted in the Arabian olfactive tradition they had grown up loving. The word habibi, meaning beloved in Arabic, gave the brand both its name and its emotional register. The house blends traditional Arabian perfumery — oud, amber, rose, musk — with contemporary Western niche conventions, producing compositions that aim to introduce the depth and richness of Middle Eastern scent culture to American consumers accustomed to mainstream department store offerings. The founders deliberately positioned Habibi NY at price points meaningfully below the luxury tier, believing that fine artisan perfumery should be a gateway rather than a gated community. Both reed diffusers and bath products complement the fragrance range. The brand has found its audience among niche enthusiasts curious about oud-forward compositions and among diaspora communities for whom these aromatic traditions carry personal resonance.