Banned at school, ignored at work: the Muslim woman creates her own answer

While France debates the abaya in the media, Nouzha, an engineer, was discreetly building a brand in Nantes that no one expected. Jubbha was born from a frustration shared by millions of women.

Published in 2025 · Society, fashion & identity · jubbha.com

August 2023. The Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal, appeared on TF1 on a Sunday evening and announced the ban on the abaya in schools. In a few hours, the word was everywhere: in news reports, on social media, at family dinners. The start of the school year was overshadowed. A new controversy surrounding Muslim women's attire erupted—the umpteenth, after the burkini, after the burqa, after the hijab.

What the TV shows didn't see coming: while France debated the bodies of veiled women, some of them were building their own answers. In silence. With rigor. And sometimes, with the calculation of an engineer.

A booming market, a clientele we ignore

The figures are staggering: the global market for Islamic clothing was worth $86 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach $142 billion by 2035. In France, millions of Muslim women consume fashion—but struggle to find brands that truly resemble them, created for them, by people who understand their reality.

Massive demand, a glaring void. It is in this space that Jubbha was born.

The engineer who decided to build something else

Nouzha is not a stylist. She has a background in civil engineering—the discipline that teaches how to build bridges, foundations, structures designed to withstand time. Nothing destined her for fashion. Except for a deep-seated conviction:

"I want to be able to dress while respecting my modesty and my religion, and feel beautiful doing it."

She felt this frustration. But she didn't turn it into an Instagram post. She turned it into a brand. Two years of silent preparation, fabric research, back-and-forth with manufacturers, quality control, photo shoots—all managed in-house. In 2024, Jubbha was launched in Nantes.

The "glass ceiling" that becomes a springboard

Researchers call it the "glass labyrinth." A study cited by Medfeminiswiya revealed in 2025 that a veiled candidate had to send almost twenty applications to get an interview where an unveiled candidate sent five—meaning 81% less chance of receiving a positive response. Thousands of qualified, educated women, reduced to a headscarf in the eye of a recruiter.

Faced with this wall, some disappear. Others build. Social science researchers have documented this phenomenon: Muslim female entrepreneurship as a response to professional exclusion. Jubbha is part of this wave—but with an ambition that goes beyond mere economic survival.

Nantes, unexpected capital

Jubbha is a French brand, based in Nantes. Each piece—abaya, long dress, Premium Jersey hijab—is conceived, designed, and developed in France, according to style and quality requirements defined by Nouzha herself. Manufacturing is carried out in China, and the brand states it directly: "Yes, China produces quality, and we are proud of our collaborators." A rare transparency in a sector not accustomed to it.

Jubbha, its name, comes from the Arabic جُبَّة — coat, long tunic. A word that carries the history of Islamic modesty. The brand has made it its identity: simple, direct, straightforward.

A movement, not a shop

What distinguishes Jubbha from a simple e-shop is the conviction that runs through it. In a context where the abaya has been banned from schools—a ban confirmed by the Conseil d'État in September 2024—and where the hijab is subject to proposals for prohibition at university, Nouzha does not engage in political debate. She bypasses it from above: by creating beautiful, halal-certified, accessible pieces, delivered throughout Europe.

Her message to her customers is direct:

In France and Belgium, tens of thousands of women are looking for exactly that: a brand that does not ask them to choose between their faith and their elegance. Jubbha has decided that this choice should never exist.