‘Burkini’ swimsuit a rage after ban

N o less than 15 towns in France have banned the ‘burkini’ – a full-bodied Islamic swimsuit – following the jihadist attacks.

But the ban has boomeranged and boosted sales and interest in the Islamic swimsuit, particularly from non-Muslim women.

AustralianLebanese Aheda Zanetti, who claims the trademark on the name ‘burkini’ and ‘burqini,’ created her first swimwear for Muslim women more than a decade ago. But the suit never attracted the kind of attention it is getting now.

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

Zanetti said she had also received numerous messages of support -- and only one disparaging email --

since the French bans.These include messages from cancer survivors and other swimmers who use her light-weight, quick-drying two-piece garments as protection from the sun. "The support I'm getting is somehow now all about empowering women. They are standing together on this. The race or the religion does not matter anymore." She said the one critical email she got questioned why Zanetti wanted to cover up women in France, noting "we prefer our women to be naked". 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. --