Knitted Aran Burkas Not Meeting Sales Expectations

A GALWAY fashion designer has today expressed disappointment and annoyance at the Irish Muslim community, after his line of hand-knit Aran burkas failed to meet projected sales figures for the first quarter of the year.

Taidgh O’Ceannai, working from a plant in Headford, has produced Aran knitwear for the past 35 years. Believing he had found a niche in the market the 40-year-old began producing traditional Islamic women’s garments from the highest quality lambswool at the start of the year.

O’Ceannai yesterday took to social media to express dissatisfaction at the non-existent sales of his products, which he believes is down to an unwillingness among Muslims in Ireland to integrate into our society.

“At the start of the year we became the only Aran knitwear company to produce authentic Burkas, Niqabs and Hijabs” said O’Ceannai in a post on his company’s MySpace page.

“We targeted the high number of Islamic women that live in Ireland today. Given that most of these women come from fierce hot countries altogether, the standard shrouds they wear must get awful cold in our climate, especially here in Galway where it pisses rain all the time”.

Production began in February after a month of design work, and soon Taidgh range of Gaelic patterned garments hit the shelves, where much to his chagrin they remained for the rest of the year.

“I think a lot of them make no effort to fit in with our way of life” said the clearly irate designer, when pressed for possible explanations as to why his heavy woolen Burkas failed to catch on in the Muslim community.

“I think if they’re going to be over adhering to their customs, then they should adhere to some of ours as well. The Aran knit burka is the perfect compromise between the two communities. If we went over to Muslimistan and went around wearing our Aran jumpers, how far do you think we’d get?”

O’Ceannai will now look to the American tourist market, who constitute 98% of his customer base, in order to make up the shortfall in his sales for the rest of the year.