While the fallout from the incident has been negative for the men – the nine were promptly arrested and spent four nights in jail – the Sydney-based swimwear company, run by a group of 20-somethings, were “unable to meet the increase in demand from people around the world requesting custom made flag smugglers”, its R&D head Jarrod Allen told Australia’s Business Insider.
Allen said orders have flooded in from the Philippines and Morocco, even Malaysia although they were treading carefully with the latter.
“We’ve even had over a dozen orders from Malaysia although given the political sensitivity we are going to let them go through to the keeper and will not produce again. We’d never set out to intentionally disrespect.”
He was referring to the nine, who were not only arrested but faced potential charges of having insulted Malaysia’s national flag. Nicknamed the “Budgie Nine”, they were however let off with a warning by the Sessions Court in Sepang after pleading guilty to a charge of causing public nuisance.
According to the Business Insider, the Budgy Smuggler had already made a name for itself internationally before the F1 incident, in a publicity stunt that entailed willing customers to strip down to their swimming trunks in public settings and post their photos on social media. The company then opened the photos to a vote every month, and those winning the most votes received an AUD100 voucher.
“We’ve produced for about 50 countries around the world and this is the first time it’s caused an international incident,” Allen said, referring to the arrest of the men in Malaysia.
“I’m confident that four days in jail will prevent a repeat occurrence,” Allen said, adding that the company nevertheless felt it owed the nine for making the Budgy Smugglers the talk of Malaysia and the world at large.
“Given the increase in sales from around the world, we probably owe the boys a few shooeys,” he said.
“After this cultural enlightenment, we’ll wait until they’re home though. Lesson learned.”