clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Merci! Designer credits French burkini ban for sales boom

November 9, 2017 at 9:05 am

Twenty-year-old trainee volunteer surf life saver Mecca Laalaa runs along North Cronulla Beach in Sydney wearing a burkini [REUTERS/Tim Wimborne]

The woman who invented the burkini has reaped a tenfold jump in sales since France banned her swimwear, and says her coveralls have opened a whole new sporting life for Muslim women.

Thousands of women in Europe – many non-Muslims – now buy her swimsuit to cover up at the beach, while many Muslims use the burkini to work out more freely.

No matter the buyer, designer Aheda Zanetti said her business had boomed with the controversy, which saw police parading French beaches to root out burkini-clad offenders.

Whoever it was in France [that banned the burkini] has done so much good for my business and for women who thought they could never buy a swimsuit like this

said the Lebanese-born designer, who has lived in Australia for more than 40 years.

Zanetti said her invention had encouraged many more Muslim women to take part in sports as it gave them an unprecedented confidence to work out with modesty, in keeping with Islam.

‘Burkini; designer Aheda Zanetti [Beh Lih Yi/Thomas Reuters Foundation]

“It was all about women’s rights, it was all about choices,” Zanetti told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.

The burkini – a linguistic mix of bikini and burqa – is in fact neither, but is simply a loose-fitting swimsuit that leaves only a woman’s face, hands and feet exposed.

Read: Is France xenophobic about its veiled Muslim women?

Dozens of French towns banned it in August last year, saying the burkini defied French laws on secularism.

A court overruled that ban, saying the garment posed no threat to public order.

Zanetti, a former hairdresser, designed the swimsuit in 2004 so that Muslim women who choose to wear a head covering could still participate in water activities and other sports.

Now plenty of non-Muslim women want one, too.

40%

    of orders are from non-Muslims, be it cancer survivors, body-conscious mothers or women who want more sun protection for their skin

Sales have jumped from an average 200 a month to 2,000 since the ban, with most orders coming from Europe, she said.

Forty per cent of orders are from non-Muslims, be it cancer survivors, body-conscious mothers or women who want more sun protection for their skin.

Islamic marketing

Zanetti – whose designs include an athletic veil called the “hijood” – is far from the only fashion designer competing for a slice of the lucrative Islamic clothing market.

Nike launched a hijab for female Muslim athletes in March, becoming the first major sportswear brand to tap the market.

London-based womenswear brand Aab and Japanese retail chain Uniqlo design clothing for the so-called modest market.

Read: Saudi Arabia warns against wearing niqab in Austria

DKNY, Mango, Tommy Hilfiger and Zara all have “Ramadan” collections, while Dolce & Gabbana has a hijab range.

“They wouldn’t be doing that if they don’t believe this is a market that needs to grow – and it is growing.”

“Muslim women in sports are increasing,” she said during a recent visit to Malaysia for an exhibition on Muslim women.

Zanetti hailed reforms in Saudi Arabia, letting women attend sports events from 2018 and the appointment of the country’s first female head of sports.

Female participation in sports has been a thorny issue in Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most gender-segregated nations, where women cannot exercise with men and there are no public sports facilities for women.

“That’s a start, that’s fantastic… the door is opening.”

“There are women out there that are building the confidence, defending their rights. There are still a lot more women that need to do that but at least the door is open now,” she said.