Anais Gutierrez
Nike unveiled a new Pro-Hijab sportswear on Monday which came as great news for Muslim athletes and women. The company became the first large sportswear brand to manufacture a performance hijab.
The product is still in development with the help of Muslim women athletes. It’s expected to hit the markets in early 2018. A loud and clear message against xenophobia.
Huge step forward for Muslim women.
On Monday the sportswear giant announced huge news for Muslim women, an upcoming hijab that will improve big time the athletes’ performance. The news couldn’t come at a better time considering that it was just two days before International Women’s Day.
The product is a collaboration directly with Muslim athletes in order to meet their necessities. Emirati weightlifter Amma Al Haddad helped the brand to get familiar with the issues Muslim athletes face with the existing hijab.
Even when the giant’s not the first to recognize the needs of Muslim women and manufacture hijabs, the giant’s move will influence directly not only industry but also sport. Give it up for inclusion and diversity!
The inspirational moment.
The company said in a statement, “This movement first permeated international consciousness in 2012 when a hijabi runner took the global stage in London.”
That year Saudi Arabian runner Sarah Attar along with Emirati weightlifting Amna Al Haddad shined and got the attention of the company who saw an opportunity in the Middle East market.
Amna Al Haddad consulted Nike by providing her own experience and lighting the way to fulfill Muslim’s women needs. Amna herself had just one that had to wash it every night. Other alternatives for athletes were scarfs but didn’t really work.
The upcoming product.
Even when it’s still in development the company announced its release in the markets for May 2018. The company is aiming, with the hijab, to create a second skin that allows athletes to perform.
The brand focused on problems such as the weight, lack of breathability and the probabilities for conventional hijabs to shift during performance to develop the product.
The pull on hijab is made of light and stretchy fabric, it has tiny holes to allow breathability. It also includes an elongates back to prevent it from tucking and disturbing the athletes. It will come in three colors, black, gray and obsidian.
If you have a body, you’re an athlete.
“The Nike Pro Hijab has been a year in the making, but its impetus can be traced much further back to Nike’s founding mission, to serve athletes, with the signature addendum: If you have a body, you’re an athlete,” the company said in a statement.
In mid-February Nike released an ad featuring Muslim women performing while using the Nike hijab. Emirati figure skater Zahra Lari was part of the ad that empowers women to join sport while stressing the fact that we can all practice sports.
What will they say about you?
Maybe they'll say you showed them what's possible. #justdoit pic.twitter.com/NZbQLC1JuB— Nike Middle East (@NikeMiddleEast) February 18, 2017
Source: Independent
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