Layers of Strength: The UK Modestwear Movement in Sport

Mariam Datoo sits comfortably on her living room sofa, wearing a Stanmore Jafferys jersey emblazoned with the club’s logo - a quiet but proud symbol of how far things have come. As Head of Football at Stanmore Jafferys Ladies, a Muslim community sports club based in northwest London, Datoo has overseen the transformation of women’s sport within her community.

What began in 2015 with just 50 women has grown into a community of over 750 girls and women. For Datoo, it’s personal. Growing up in Kenya, she remembers dressing like a boy just to be allowed to play sports. Rather than letting her experiences hold her back, it became her drive. “If I ever get the opportunity, I will make sure I reshape sports for Muslim girls,” she told her mother. Today, she’s doing exactly that.

In the early days of Stanmore Jafferys Ladies, the challenges weren’t just about building a team, they were about finding something to wear. Modest sports kits were nearly impossible to come by. Most women’s athletic wear was tight, short-sleeved, and ultimately not modest enough, forcing the club to turn to oversized menswear to meet basic modesty requirements. Even then, the fabric often couldn’t be printed on, complicating something as simple and essential as adding a team logo. Datoo and her team had to "cut a lot of corners, compromise and sacrifice".

While the landscape has begun to shift, with major milestones like Nike’s launch of the first sports hijab in 2017, progress has been slow.

Zara Al-Marashi once walked away from the game she loved because she started wearing the hijab. Not because hijab itself was the barrier, but society, representation and the attitudes towards modest wear. Her sporting roots began on the basketball court. She had a great talent for it and had the potential to play nationally, but at age 12, when she began wearing the hijab, her relationship with sport changed. What once felt like home on the court suddenly became unfamiliar. “I felt like I couldn’t show up as a new person - covered - when my whole team knew me differently,” she says. That moment marked the beginning of her journey not just through sport, but through self-discovery.

Today, though, she runs toward something bigger - visibility, voice, and a marathon finish line. At 25, the trainee solicitor and social media content creator balances a demanding career with a deep commitment to sport - a passion that’s evolved alongside her identity. As a keen runner, she also became an ASICS Frontrunner in 2024, which is a global running community created by ASICS, “inspiring others to move for a sound mind in a sound body”.

It was during what she jokingly calls her “quarter-life crisis” that Al-Marashi laced up her trainers and took up running, only to discover how difficult it is to dress modestly for the sport. “It’s harder than dressing for the gym,” she says. “You need something lightweight but still covering.” Even the hijab itself posed problems. The sports options currently on the market, she says, are often “either unflattering or too tight”. With the modest activewear market being so limited, Al-Marashi describes how easy it is to compromise modesty for the sake of ease: “It’s easy to get sucked into thinking a little shorter or tighter is ok – but I don’t want to sacrifice my values for trends." This is why accessibility is essential.

Following Nike’s sport hijab in 2017, several mainstream activewear brands like Gym Shark, Under Armour, and Adidas have started launching their own sports hijabs. It’s a promising move toward more inclusive fitness wear. But with many still not feeling that UK brands are doing enough to support modest women, Al-Marashi says that: “Brands think oversized means modest, but it’s not made with us in mind. It’s just sizing up, not designing properly.” Navigating brand collaborations isn’t easy: “Long, loose, breathable,” she repeats like a checklist. But finding that balance is tricky - too baggy becomes a tripping hazard, too tight defeats the purpose.

Al-Marashi also feels that modest brands often overlook body diversity altogether. Although modest activewear itself is becoming more widespread, sizing within the range can be limited. “I think it’s a lot easier to be modest if you’re smaller,” she continues, “They don’t cater as well to all different body types." The result is a space that still feels limited and exclusive. Finding regular non-modest activewear that is suitable for curvy women, for example, is already a niche. Women’s Health highlighted a study in 2024 that demonstrated dissatisfaction with the 'plus-size' activewear currently available is leading to avoiding exercise altogether. Even as modesty within the activewear field becomes more visible, it hasn’t yet achieved true inclusivity.