Why Nike’s Pro Hijab isn’t that Revolutionary

Don’t get us wrong. We applaud Nike for taking the leap into catering for our Muslim sisters in sports. We’re all for inclusion and the more variety we, as Muslim sisters have, the better. Good on you, Nike.

But what we won’t do is let this Nike limelight cast a shadow over the tons of other Muslimah active-wear labels that were born from…yes, you guessed it, our own Muslim sisters. Long before Nike took the leap, many of our Muslim sisters were left with wearing the daily hijab. Not a very good option when you’re running, hiking or doing yoga, trust us. Because of that gap in the market, some of our Muslim sisters took it upon themselves to provide a better alternative. Hence, brands like Anah Maria Active, Capsters, Nashata, Oola Sports (just to name a few),..were born. These brands have been in the market for quite some time but sadly haven’t received the same fanfare as Nike.

So when some media outlets call Nike’s move something “finally” representing Muslim women, we step back and step forward to say, well not exactly…it’s not “finally”. We have already been represented by these other brands. Ok, we’ll give credit where credit is due. The good thing though is that Nike has tag-teamed with Muslim female athletes on their Pro Hijab. Unlike some other brands who pretty much assume what Muslim women need and want.

We applaud Nike for inclusion but we as consumers, Muslim women no less, should give more attention to our own rather than large conglomerates. In the past, we’ve had D&G, Mango, Zara, etc jumping on to the modest fashion market and again, while we applaud, recognize and appreciate the inclusion by these major brands, let us not forget that there are other Muslim-own brands who started this all way before them.

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