How one Singaporean designer renewed the hijab for modern times

Faith+tech adlina anis © Provided by The Middle Ground Faith+tech adlina anis

By Clarabelle Gerard

The hijab is as old as Islam, and headscarves are even older. And as with institutions this ancient and venerated, innovation only comes along every so often. It was Ms Adlina Anis' conversation with her doctor – a member of another venerated institution often credited to the Arabs – that led her to rethink the hijab.

Her doctor found it inconvenient to use a stethoscope with her hijab, but Ms Anis, 32, owner of the Adlina Anis clothing line, realised that she could also solve another pain point for the modern Muslim woman – using earphones with the hijab.

Adlina Anis with the Ninja Echo. Photo courtesy of Adlina Anis ^[1]

Her Ninja Echo is a modification of a ninja hijab underscarf that allows a woman to easily put on her earphones and take them off via two ports that keep the wearer's ears completely concealed. The Ninja Echo fits snugly to the head, which makes it suitable for sports – an activity that Ms Anis enjoys, especially with music.

On Jan 6, the Ninja Echo went on sale online at the crossroads of religion and technology, selling out its first production run of 200 pieces in less than 24 hours. A second and third production batch sold out as soon as they were delivered. A fourth is nearly gone, shipped to customers in Singapore, Malaysia, France, Brunei and the USA.

Adlina Anis with her stock of materials. Photo courtesy of Adlina Anis ^[2].

To many modern Muslim women, modesty ^[3] does not mean that they have to become invisible or submit to being unfashionable. Religious and cultural traditions are different across the Muslim world, but the hijab remains a staple for many Muslimah.

"There will always be the conservatives and non-conservatives. Some will tell me that the hijabs that I design are too colourful or that they are too short."

In 2014, Melanie Elturk, 31, the founder of Haute Hijab, a Chicago-based company selling head scarves and modest clothing, said that "a lot of Muslim girls who wore the hijab got tired of being told that they couldn't be stylish or that they had to be frumpy or dowdy". Her Instagram page ^[4], which has 99,700 followers features how the wearing of a hijab can look fashionable.

Reina Lewis, an academic at the London College of Fashion and editor of "Modest Fashion: Styling Bodies, Mediating Faith" says that with the revival of Islam in the 1970s, and a shared sense of oppression in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, many Muslim women saw the wearing of a hijab as a form of comfort and solidarity.

"It's an insanely competitive industry. There are just so many brands and lines. For me, the products I create meet my own personal needs too. I don't believe in forcing people to wear the hijab but I am happy as long as even a small group of people benefit from my innovation", says Ms Anis. Although most of the customers to her online store, www.adlinaanis.com ^[5], are from Singapore, the site also sees many international buyers from Russia, Spain, Japan and even Uzbekistan.

But the Ninja Echo isn't without its critics. Ms Anis says that people will always have mixed opinions on whether the way in which a hijab is worn is acceptable in Islam. "There will always be the conservatives and non-conservatives. Some will tell me that the hijabs that I design are too colourful or that they are too short." she says. I spite of this, Ms Anis stands strongly by her innovation. She believes that health is an important facet in religion.

"If that little change I make to the ninja hijab can encourage more women to get up and go for walks and lead an active life, I am happy. When innovation makes life easier for people, it can be seen as a progress in technology," said Ms Anis. She is currently working on another hijab design to meet the specific needs of Muslim workers in the healthcare industry, and hopes to get it approved for use in hospitals.

As technology races ahead, it sometimes threatens to leave tradition behind. Pain points like the one Ms Anis is helping to solve with the Ninja Echo are part of a re-alignment of what is useful to us and what we hold dear. As she says, "It is an ongoing personal struggle for everyone to learn how to stay faithful to their religion and keep up with changes in the modern society."

Featured image by Adlina Anis.

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