Thu Aug 31, 2006 8:32am ET
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – An unusual type of swimwear is standing out on Turkish beaches this summer — Islam-inspired swimsuits — which buck the trend of the past 100 years for swimsuits to get smaller.
Turkish businessman Mehmet Sahin has designed what he says is the world’s first Islam-inspired swimsuit and sells head-to-ankle bathing gear to devout well-heeled Muslims, including the wives of Turkey’s leading politicians…
It is still a small market, but Sahin’s growing clientele is another sign of the rising profile of Islam in traditionally secular Turkey.
His brightly-colored women’s swimming costumes look like shiny track-suits with stretchy hoods, while the racier models are like catsuits with a separate overall to cover the curves…
SWIMSUITS FOR STUDENTS
Sahin designed his first swimsuit — for men — while at university in Istanbul studying law. He was fed up with using cut-off trousers and pyjamas to go swimming. Soon he was selling swimsuits to other students.
“The idea came as a solution to our own difficulties,” he said. “Not only in Turkey, but in the whole world, there was no such thing. You could say we were the first.”
He sold 40,000 swimsuits last year and expects to beat that with 50,000 this year…
Sahin acknowledges this is a niche market, but he still sees growth potential in Muslim Turkey, where most women wear headscarves although the secular republic’s laws ban their use in public buildings such as at universities and parliament…(continued)
