'Burkini' bans good for sales, says Australian designer

Yahoo – AFP, August 23, 2016

Australian-Lebanese designer Aheda Zanetti claims the trade mark on the name
burkini after creating her first swimwear for Muslim women more than a decade ago
(AFP Photo/Saeed Khan)

Burkini 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 burkini has sparked huge controversy in France, with bans in 15 towns in the country's southeast amid high tensions following a string of deadly jihadist 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 told AFP.

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

Islamic clothing and the French position on their use in public (AFP 

Photo/Iris ROYER DE VERICOURT)

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 light-weight, quick-drying two-piece garments as protection from the sun.

There are other Islamic swimsuits but 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.

Muslim models display burkini swimsuits in Sydney where burkinis are generally

accepted as a means of covering up on the beach (AFP Photo/Saeed Khan)

"Women are standing together on this. It doesn't matter what race or religion."

She said the one critical email questioned why 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 burkini 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 burkini 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.

Some lawmakers in Canada's Quebec province have called for outlawing "burkinis"

-- body-concealing Islamic swimsuits -- following bans in at least 15 towns in

France's southeast (AFP Photo/Fethi Belaid)

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Dutch cabinet backs partial Islamic burqa ban
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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“.   New Tolerance

Look for a softening of finger pointing and an awakening of new tolerance. There will remain many systems for different cultures, as traditions and history are important to sustaining the integrity of culture. So there are many in the Middle East who would follow the prophet and they will continue, but with an increase of awareness. It will be the increase of awareness of what the prophet really wanted all along - unity and tolerance. The angel in the cave instructed him to "unify the tribes and give them the God of Israel." You're going to start seeing a softening of intolerance and the beginning of a new way of being.

Eventually, this will create an acknowledgement that says, "You may not believe the way we believe, but we honor you and your God. We honor our prophet and we will love you according to his teachings. We don't have to agree in order to love." How would you like that? The earth is not going to turn into one belief system. It never will, for Humans don't do that. There must be variety, and there must be the beauty of cultural differences. But the systems will slowly update themselves with increased awareness of the truth of a new kind of balance. So that's the first thing. Watch for these changes, dear ones. ...."