Last week, Nike announced that it will be releasing its first sports hijab, the Nike Pro Hijab, in 2018. The brand worked with the likes of Emirati figure skater Zahra Lari and Nike Run Coach Manal Rostom to create the head covering catering to Muslim athletes. While plenty of praise has come Nike's way for the new offering, criticism also followed:
Now, one of the athletes that worked with Nike to develop the hijab, Olympic weight lifter Amna Al Haddad, has written a note supporting Nike.
"I do realize there is a lot of mixed reactions as to why Nike decided to create such a product 'now,'" she wrote on Facebook and Instagram, "It is a recent phenomenon where more women have expressed a need for it and more professional athletes have fought for rights to compete with a headscarf, and have an equal playing field. We made it big in the news, we couldn't be ignored."
She goes on to say that Nike, "as an innovative company," created a hijab to meet market needs and it's for the better because it "will encourage a new generation of athletes to pursue sports professionally."
"I support Muslim women with or without hijab, and how they dress is their choice," she said. Read her whole letter below:
