The Muslim Hikers organization, which has been encouraging members of the Muslim faith to engage in outdoor activities and spend more time in nature since 2020, has formed a unique partnership with the retail chain Wiggle and the Adidas TERREX brand. In collaboration with these two major sports brands, they plan to address the challenge faced during hiking, mountaineering, and similar multi-hour outdoor activities, a challenge that has not been addressed before. This challenge is related to prayer. Since Muslims perform five prescribed daily prayers, Adidas, in collaboration with Muslim Hikers, has created prayer mats that are lightweight, compact, comfortable, and quick-drying.
Against Hate Speech
The design is by QM Design, which chose a dark green color that blends into the natural environment, while topographic lines are marked on the mats. Wiggle and Adidas ordered small wooden signs from QM that indicate the distance to Mecca, which are placed along a popular hiking trail in the Peak District. Members of Muslim Hikers will receive their mats for free, and they will also be available for sale in Wiggle’s retail chains this spring.
Additionally, Wiggle and Adidas decided to support Muslim Hikers after the story of their activities, originally published by the BBC, sparked a concerning amount of negative, offensive, and racist comments. In response to this ‘exclusion,’ the two brands decided to engage in the discourse. Besides publicly supporting the activities and condemning hate speech, they decided to address a specific need by offering a concrete product.
