© Ahiida Burqini Swimwear and Hijood Sportswear / Facebook
News that several French cities have recently banned the now infamous "burkini" has sparked sales worldwide, even among non-Muslim women, including cancer survivors and those wanting to protect their skin, the designer of the controversial swimsuit said.
"It's just been so hectic... I can tell you that online on Sunday, we received 60 orders [for burkinis] -
all of them non-Muslim,"Aheda Zanetti, a Lebanese-born Australian fashion designer for Muslim women who claims to have developed the burkini,
told AFP, adding that she usually receives 10 to 12 orders on Sundays. The 48-year-old designer says she has received a lot of letters from women of diverse backgrounds since the "burkini issue" came under the spotlight. Some were cancer survivors and others just wanted to protect their skin from the sun.
"
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.
However, there have also been critical e-mails, Zanetti said.
One asked the designer why she wanted to cover up women, claiming that the French "prefer our women to be naked." Zanetti reportedly launched a series of swimsuits and sportswear especially for Muslim women under the trademark
Ahiida back in 2004, and has sold more than 700,000 garments since 2008. Earlier on Saturday, Zanetti
told the
Sydney Morning Herald that
45 percent of her clients are non-Muslim women.
Comment: Great. We can't wait for more Pokémon idiocy.