Minnesota-Developed Sports Hijab To Hit The Market This Month
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- If you're an athlete, you have to be able to move freely and with confidence.
If you are a Muslim girl, upholding your family's religious beliefs, you have to wear a headscarf.
"Hijab is one of the things they were having a hard time with. You want to shoot and then flop," said Fatimah Hussein, the co-founder of Asiya, a Twin Cities company that will start selling lightweight sports hijabs online, later this month.
"We've done different testing," Hussein said. "Girls have worn it as they were playing sports. It's sweat wicking. It's lightweight. It's not heavy. They are going to be focused on playing, not this is weighing ten pounds, or losing it, or flying away. It's tight."
The Asiya website gives you a look at the various styles of sports hijabs, and a glimpse at the national recognition the group has received as student athletes tried them out.
"We want girls to be able to break those barriers they are going through. We don't want clothes to be an issue for them," she said.
Hussein is a longtime volunteer in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis and a social worker for Ramsey County.
"We're very excited," she said. "We believe that when girls play sports they become successful for life."
A grant from the University of Minnesota Extension Service helped pay for the research and development of the sports hijab.
The product will be available for pre-order on the Asiya website on Oct. 18.
