Haute Hijab's New Sustainable Sport Line 2020

How Does Haute Hijab's Sport Line Stand Out?

Product-wise, one of the key components in Haute Hijab's sport line is the sustainably-produced fabric, which is derived from coffee grounds. This fabric can keep your body temperature down, Elturk said, allowing athletes to stay cool as they work. The fabric is also odour-repellant, moisture-wicking, and protects against UV rays.

The style of each hijab was also important. "What we knew from customer research is that the biggest concern that Muslim women had was: how am I going to look in it?" she explained. The brand's goal was to combine functionality with a design that made women feel beautiful when they wore it, which was why Elturk wanted to offer four different styles. "Typically what you'll see is just one piece that's a pull-on," she said. "We knew that with the Muslim consumer, it's not a one-size-fits-all. Every woman has different concerns with head shape and hair texture and face shape and colours, and so we wanted to provide them with a full collection and a full line in a breadth of colours that allow them to mix and match pieces."

How Do the Sport Hijabs Perform?

Image Source: James Farrell / Ford

For Abdul-Qaadir, the biggest factor is comfort: when she plays basketball, her hijab can't be too tight or too loose, especially if it's moving around while during a game. "You don't want to have to fidget, especially in the game of basketball," she said. "If you have a hand on your head trying to pull the hijab back, then you might miss a catch, you might miss a shot, you might miss a steal." Abdul-Qaadir liked Haute Hijab's design for the comfortable and fidget-free fit, and said it passed another test as well: it looked great.

"I'm not really a fashionista," she laughed. "As a baller, you step on the court and you're just ready to ball. But the fact that I actually looked good in it, that excited me." Her personal favourite style: the Criss-Cross. "I felt fierce. I felt comfortable. It just made me look good."

"Can't Ban Us": The Message Behind the Haute Hijab Sport Line

Image Source: James Farrell / Ford

Even more than personal comfort and performance, Abdul-Qaadir has high hopes for what this line can do for Muslim women athletes. "Being a Muslim woman is hard in itself, and then when you add in the athlete aspect, you are usually one of one," she said. In her case, the reasoning behind FIBA's head covering ban was that it impeded a player's safety. At the time, Abdul-Qaadir said she resorted to using "makeshift pieces of material" she scrounged up from her closet to cover her head. "If there was actually a sport hijab back at that point, then maybe things would've been different," she said. "These organisations and these governing bodies that I was going against had nothing to base 'safety' off of."

"When we work out and when we engage in sports, we're oftentimes makeshifting a scarf into something that will work for us," Elturk agreed. "It's a poor experience and it hinders your performance. For so many years, there were women who were compromising and wishing that there was a product out there that allowed them to actually excel and that would enhance their performance rather than bringing them down."

Elturk is looking to provide that product and inspire that strength, while pushing for visibility and acceptance of Muslim women athletes. "I want them to see, acknowledge, and validate Muslim women in sport. I want to break that barrier," she said.

"I want Muslim girls to know that they're strong and that they're able," Abdul-Qaadir added, "and to go ahead and take that chance and take that opportunity [to play sports] because you don't know whose mind or whose heart you can change about what we represent."

Check out more of the Haute Hijab sports collection ahead.