AUSTRALIA: "Burkini" swimsuit allows Muslim women to enjoy swimming

Aheda Zanetti, a Muslim Australian who runs a small tailor shop in Sydney's western suburbs came up with the design three years ago. With local media interest and sales running high, she's hoping the design will continue to allow all Australians to swim whenever they want. The beach has always been an integral part of Australian life, but for many veiled Muslim women who cannot wear revealing clothes such as swimsuits, the experience of going to the beach has involved trudging through the sand in heavy full-length dresses and robes. Designer and tailor Aheda Zanetti believes her "Burkini" design will help Muslim women integrate further into Australian society but stresses the swimsuit is also for anyone who wants to show some modesty while on the beach or protect themselves from the harmful rays of the sun. Local media have labelled the design as a "Burkini." Manufactured from UV and water protected polyster, it covers the whole body except for the feet, hands and face, allowing Muslim women to swim in public. "Not just Muslim veil people, there is also modest girls that want to enter the water but just don't want to get into bikini so they get into the burkini. But we are also encouraged in Australia to cover up not due to modesty but for sun protection, so this is not just a modesty aspect kind of a swim suit, it is also a protection against the sun, surf and sand," Zanetti said. So far, she has sold more than 9,000 "burkinis," with a price range of between 160 AUSD to 200AUSD (125 USD to 160 USD) to a clientele of mainly Muslim women who swim in segregated swimming pools. Her design recently caught the attention of the media after one of her clients, Mecca Laalaa, decided to join Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA), which aims to ease racial tensions on Australian beaches, following the riots in December 2005. "I used to just go to the beach in dress like normal cotton pants and in normal cotton shirt, but I hardly used to go into the water because most of the time it was a hazard to go into the water with cotton clothing," Laalaa said. "I am Australian so I always have the Australian life style, but now with the burkini it just allowed me to participate in it more," she added. Zanetti is now watching her business grow day by day as orders arrive from countries including as Dubai, Egypt, Turkey and Syria.

ITN Source | January 19, 2007

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