As a hijab wearing athlete, I'm stoked for @nike's pro hijab line. Moreso I love that its approved/featured by ACUTAL hijab wearing athletes pic.twitter.com/qzIRtQcQ9Y
— Rowaida Abdelaziz (@Rowaida_Abdel) March 7, 2017
Nike has announced the upcoming launch of their Pro Hijab Line, developed in collaboration with Muslim women athletes.
“The Nike Pro Hijab may have been more than a year in the making, but its impetus can be traced much further back, to an ongoing cultural shift that has seen more women than ever embracing sport,” Nike said in a statement to Al Arabiya. “This movement first permeated international consciousness in 2012, when a hijabi runner took the global stage in London.”
The runner who competed in the London Olympics was Saudi Arabia's Sarah Attar. Bahraini sprinter Ruqaya al-Ghasra also wore a hijab while competing in the 2004 Athens Olympics and in 2008 in Beijing.
The breathable polyster design was developed with the help of Nike athletes Amna Al Haddad, an Emirati weightlifter, and Zahra Lari, a figure skater also from the United Arab Emirates. Nike said that the Pro Hijab will be available for purchase early next year.