Meet the designer behind the “first sports hijab in the world”

In 1999 when a Dutch Muslim girl was expelled from gym class due to her hijab, designer Cindy van den Bremen designed what she claims was the “first sports hijab in the world”. A decade later Cindy’s company Capsters helped lift the hijab ban on the football field by convincing FIFA with the safe design of a football hijab. Cindy tells Salaam Gateway more about Capsters.

Salaam Gateway:  Tell us why you set up Capsters.

Cindy van den Bremen: In 1999 I graduated from the Design Academy in Eindhoven in the Netherlands on a design project that was a range of sports hijabs . A Dutch Muslim girl was expelled from gym class due to her hijab, and the case went to court. It was decided the gym teacher can prohibit hijab in PE class for safety reasons. As an alternative the girls were allowed to wear a swim cap with a turtleneck since that would cover the same areas. This made me realize it was not about the covering itself, but the way the girls were covered. As a designer I wanted to solve this issue and design something that would honor the girls’ identity as well. This is how I came to design the first sports hijab in the world. I never intended to start a brand or a company that sells hijabs worldwide but due to all the publicity, I started receiving orders.