Amazon workers who wear hijabs for religious reasons at the company’s facility in Brooklyn Park now have a company-branded option.
Henna and Hijabs partnered with Amazon to launch Amazon-branded hijabs for workers at the SMN1 facility in Brooklyn Park. The launch was held Wednesday, when Hilal Ibrahim, Henna and Hijabs’ founder, greeted workers wearing the new product.
“Henna and Hijabs is committed to bridging the accessibility gap that Muslim women often encounter in different spaces,” Hilal said.
SMN1 will be the first Amazon facility to use the branded hijabs, but soon other facilities will also give workers the opportunity to wear one.
Ryan Mohamad, an Amazon worker at SMN1, was one of a half-dozen workers showing off her new hijab after the official unveiling was finished. Ryan said it was nice to see her and others’ efforts materialize.
“I can’t really express how happy and excited I am in words,” Ryan said.
The Amazon logo hijab was the result of a process that started 18 months ago when Amazon workers in Brooklyn Park expressed their desire to have apparel options that met both cultural and religious needs, according to a site leader at SMN1.
Saabir Shabdi, an operations manager at SMN1 who oversees various employees at the Brooklyn Park facility, said he’s seen excitement on their faces when they learned Amazon was doing something special for them.
“There’s a lot of immigrant communities from East Africa here. So to me, being able to lead them and work on projects that could create diversity and inclusion just means so much,” Saabir said.
There’s a lot of immigrant communities from East Africa here. So to me, being able to lead them and work on projects that could create diversity and inclusion just means so much.
Saabir Shabdi, an operations manager at Amazon’s SMN1
Hilal said her company prides itself on trendsetting and bridging accessibility gaps for Muslim women. The company has products sold at Nordstrom and made medical-grade hijabs for health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We aspire for this partnership to foster a sense of inclusion and belonging amongst the members. What an incredibly humbling honor to be able to fill this need,” Hilal said.
