Nike’s sports hijab launch highlights the lack of foresight at big brands

Today, along with her business partner Karin Mastenbroek, van den Bremen sells her products in over 15 countries, including Australia and Germany. The initial idea stemmed not from a personal need (van den Bremen is not Muslim), but from a moment of empathy: witnessing a girl get kicked out of her university gym class for wearing an unsafe hijab. The girl was forced to rely on a haphazard turtleneck–swim cap combo going forward, so using her background in design, van den Bremen went to work on creating an alternative.

That was a different time, of course — one in which Muslim communities had much less visibility than they do today and companies were less likely to be blasted for every blindspot through the endless stream of social media platforms. Unlike Capsters, some suspect Nike’s decision is founded more on image control and their bottom line.