‘Burqini’ bans boosting sales, says Australian designer

Australian-Lebanese designer Aheda Zanetti, centre, says burqini sales have been boosted by the French bans. Saeed Khan / AFP Photo

SYDNEY // Burqini bans in France have boosted sales and interest in the full-bodied Islamic swimsuit, particularly from non-Muslim women, the Australian credited with creating the design said Tuesday.

The burqini has sparked controversy and debate in France, with bans in 15 towns in the country’s south-east amid high tensions following a string of deadly extremist attacks.

But Australian-Lebanese Aheda Zanetti, who claims the trademark on the name burkini and burqini and created her first swimwear for Muslim women more than a decade ago, said the furore in France has attracted more publicity for her products.

“It’s just been so hectic,” she said.

“I can tell you that online on Sunday, we received 60 orders — all of them non-Muslim,” the 48-year-old Sydney resident said, adding that she usually received 10 to 12 orders on Sundays.

Ms Zanetti did not have sales figures for the rest of the past week but said she had also received numerous messages of support — and only one disparaging email — since the French bans.

They include messages from cancer survivors and other swimmers who use her lightweight, quick-drying two-piece garments as protection from the sun.

There are other Islamic swimsuits but Ms Zanetti has said her designs are the first to be streamlined into two-piece swimwear with a head covering.

“A lot of the correspondence ... was that they are survivors of skin cancer and they’ve always been looking for something like this, saying, ‘Thank god we’ve found someone like this producing such a swimsuit’,” she said.

“The support I’m getting is somehow about empowering women ... I feel like I’ve been a counsellor. It’s a cry of need that they want to have this enjoyment.

“Women are standing together on this. It doesn’t matter what race or religion.”

She said the one critical email questioned why Ms Zanetti wanted to cover up women in France, noting “we prefer our women to be naked”.

Australia is grappling with a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment after a series of attacks by radicalised youth but the burqini has not attracted strong criticism in a country where people regularly cover up at beaches to protect their skin under the harsh sun.

While there are divisions over the burqini in France, Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau on Monday dismissed the idea of a ban in his country, saying Canadians should rise above the controversy as he called for the respect of individual rights and choices.

* Agence France-Presse