Nike Creates the product for Muslim Woman

Jun 14, 2017
2 min read

Nike continues to be an industry leader because of their presences in the market. The company is so massive that they can introduce a product that is ten years old and still make a high profit. One for their newest products that will hit the market soon is the 'Pro Hijab' created specifically for the Muslim woman. This is a very niche market that Nike is targeting but it is an important market. Apparently athletes have been performing in hijabs since the 2004 Olympics so this product design is not a completely new idea. Dutch designer Cindy van den Bremen was the first woman to design and market the hijab for athletes back in 1999. Although Bremen had a great product to sell, she did not have the brand exposure and global presence that Nike has.

Bremen came to Nike in the late '90's and introduced her designs but they told her it would be better if she did it on her own. Nike never gave her a reason for this but thats exactly what she did. Today her company offers eight different styles online and through resellers in fifteen different countries but she still struggles with doing business globally.

So why is Nike just now designing a product to enter this niche market? Many people are turned off by the fact that Nike is just now coming out with a hijab for Muslim women. Some believe the sportswear company is just money hungry and wants to cash in. In my opinion, Nike's hijab will differentiate itself from other styles on the market because of their ability to use high tech materials. By announcing and marketing the new hijab, Nike will bring more than just awareness to their product; they will also bring an understanding of Muslim culture. The athletic hijab will bring more awareness to Muslim women and their style.

Muslim men sometimes wear a head covering as a means of showing modesty but Muslim women will be the primary target of the sport hijab. Many Muslim women wear some type of headscarf and loose clothing that covers most of their body when they are in public for religious and cultural reasons.

The muslim woman is looked down upon for playing sports or being active because it is disrespectful to the religion. There are a number of barriers that keep Muslim women from participating in sports such as; dress code, parent approval, lack of role models, discrimination, and lack of women only activities (Khaleeli). The sport hijab is a great product that will help inspire muslim women to participate in sports and be active.

There are roughly 1.8 billion muslims in the world as of 2015. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions and is the world's second largest religion in the world after Christianity. The number of Muslims is expected to grow by 70% to 3 billion by year 2060 and will likely surpass the Christian community. A majority of the Muslims globally (62%) live in the Asia-Pacific region, including large populations in Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey (Lipka and Hackett).

So this market is expanding and I hope that Nike is successful with this new product launch which is taking place in early 2018.