Speaker 1: You're listening to a Mamma Mia podcast. Mamma Mia acknowledges
Speaker 1: the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast
Speaker 1: is recorded on. Whoever said orange is a new pink
Speaker 1: with seriously.
Speaker 2: Diserved laurels for spraying groundbreaking?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you have to do it.
Speaker 3: You live for fashion.
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Nothing to Wear, the podcast that
Speaker 1: solves fashion problems and levels up your wardrobe. I'm Lee Campbell,
Speaker 1: and every week I chat to an expert who helps
Speaker 1: us work out how to get more out of the
Speaker 1: clothes we already own and tells us exactly what is
Speaker 1: and isn't worth adding to our wardrobes. Now, as promised,
Speaker 1: after covering all the summer essentials, it's time to dive
Speaker 1: into an episode all about swimwear. Today, we're joined by
Speaker 1: Nicole Banning, the owner and designer of e Femera. Known
Speaker 1: for their thoughtful designs, Efemera offers a wide range tailored
Speaker 1: to meet the diverse needs for women's bodies, from breastfeeding
Speaker 1: friendly options to a common tummy changes throughout the month,
Speaker 1: and finding the perfect cut for both boobs and bottoms.
Speaker 1: Their pieces are made with every woman in mind. Because
Speaker 1: swimmer is more than just a summer staple. It's a
Speaker 1: true feat of engineering, crafted with care to help women
Speaker 1: feel confident and comfortable, whether they're lounging by the pool
Speaker 1: or enjoying waves at the beach or chasing little people around. So, firstly, Nicole,
Speaker 1: welcome to the show.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: It's exciting to have you. All new guests answer a
Speaker 1: few questions before we get into the topic. So the
Speaker 1: first one is can you describe your style in three words?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think fun, definitely, colorful, and nostalgic.
Speaker 1: Nostalgic. I don't think we've ever had a nostalgic and
Speaker 1: that plays perfectly into your brand.
Speaker 3: Fun and colorful, and I love vintage, so there's a
Speaker 3: lot of nostalgia through vintage shopping.
Speaker 1: Yes, and fun because you know, things are so individual. Now,
Speaker 1: there's a saying that most people wear ten percent of
Speaker 1: their wardrobe ninety percent of the time. So that's the
Speaker 1: tried and true. Maybe the classics, maybe they're basics. Maybe
Speaker 1: for you, they're fun, But what's the stuff you reach
Speaker 1: for and wear over and over again.
Speaker 3: It's sort of a mix depending on what I'm doing obviously,
Speaker 3: so school right, I'm grabbing my vintage teas, sweats, denim.
Speaker 3: But when I'm dressing up, I'll grab print dresses. That's
Speaker 3: when I'll normally wear more of my collection if I'm
Speaker 3: going out and dressing stressing up. Footwear, Yeah, I've got
Speaker 3: a bunch of sandals that I love and they're a
Speaker 3: flat skirl to be host of the time. They me too,
Speaker 3: me too.
Speaker 1: Hey comforts a thing and it still looks really good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, Okay.
Speaker 1: I love that. Okay, So we're going to talk swim
Speaker 1: because the audience here and I think women in general,
Speaker 1: you know, with such an outdoor culture here in Australia,
Speaker 1: but swimwear can be scary. It can make people feel
Speaker 1: vulnerable absolutely, particularly trying on and shopping for So how
Speaker 1: do you approach designing with the concept of all different
Speaker 1: bodies and inclusivity and comfort in mind? I think sometimes, oh,
Speaker 1: that's a little bit of fabric, But actually swimmers like engineering.
Speaker 3: It is it is, it really is like a mix
Speaker 3: of engineering and design. And they always say that you've
Speaker 3: got to have that pragmatic mind and then you've also
Speaker 3: got to have that creative mind, and you really are
Speaker 3: because you were kind of almost scaffolding the female.
Speaker 1: Form absolutely, so where does the process start when designing thinking?
Speaker 1: You know, do you think of who she is? Or
Speaker 1: I just can't imagine where you start with that.
Speaker 3: I've had my business for twelve years now, so it's
Speaker 3: very much been a mission of building a library of
Speaker 3: shapes that I know can work for different body shapes,
Speaker 3: and we have different styles that work for different bodies.
Speaker 3: I started when I was thirty years old and I
Speaker 3: just had shape. I have boobs, and I just wanted
Speaker 3: to I found sort of a little gap in the
Speaker 3: market where you had your skimpy bikinis or you had
Speaker 3: the more major andly motherly ones, but I wanted something.
Speaker 1: I was sightly functional but not really beautiful.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Is that how it all started? It was like a
Speaker 1: need that you had yourself exactly.
Speaker 3: I felt like there was something I had because I
Speaker 3: didn't want to just produce more stuff in a marketplace
Speaker 3: where there is so much stuff out there. I didn't
Speaker 3: want to just make more stuff, and I felt like
Speaker 3: there was something missing in a swimwear market, which is
Speaker 3: support without it being too chunky and too.
Speaker 1: So you were thirty, You've sent sad children, yes, So
Speaker 1: have you been through any lived experience that your body
Speaker 1: has changed whereby you've gone, okay, I might create a
Speaker 1: design because my body's going through this. I personally go
Speaker 1: through perimenopause. It changes your whole life, including your wardrobe
Speaker 1: and including your body. So how did that influence I
Speaker 1: guess yourself what you wanted to wear in terms of
Speaker 1: swim and everything, and then how did you apply that
Speaker 1: to designs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was actually a really interesting exercise being pregnant,
Speaker 3: going through pregnancy and then breastfeeding, so my boobs I
Speaker 3: probably grew three sizes during that time, So I went
Speaker 3: was wearing our sides small and I went up to
Speaker 3: our extra large. So it was actually really informative from
Speaker 3: my point of view to be wearing the same style
Speaker 3: I wear three sizes bigger, and to know what that
Speaker 3: feels like, to understand if it's still supportive. And it
Speaker 3: did then inspire me to then maybe inject a few
Speaker 3: other things into the collection that I didn't have before.
Speaker 3: That sort of did give a little bit more support
Speaker 3: or coverage in the same way, but just a slight
Speaker 3: twig on things. So been really interesting and understanding how
Speaker 3: our styles work in different bodies, literally in.
Speaker 1: Your own body, Yeah, exactly, And I guess yeah, you
Speaker 1: are only one woman, although we do fluctuate through the
Speaker 1: decades and when we're having babies or menopause. But how
Speaker 1: else do you, I guess, find out what women want
Speaker 1: in terms of support for the bust or the bum
Speaker 1: or the tummy or what they want to wear? Do
Speaker 1: you use sales figures? I'm almost exclusively one pieces now,
Speaker 1: but I was always a bikini So then when I
Speaker 1: see so many bikinis, I'm like, oh, then doesn't everyone
Speaker 1: wear one pieces now? So what it informs what you make?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, it is a feedback loop. You put things
Speaker 3: out there in the market as a designer, and people
Speaker 3: respond by what they buy. Like it is essentially always
Speaker 3: a conversation, you know, as a business, and I think
Speaker 3: any business, it's the same thing. You put products out there,
Speaker 3: the customer responds, and then you're like, Okay, well they.
Speaker 1: Like that more less of that, and how to trans
Speaker 1: factor into that then? Because you know, swim, while it's
Speaker 1: a staple, it does seem to change quite a lot
Speaker 1: from summer to summer or season to seas.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean for me, there's always a classic cut.
Speaker 1: That's it's my body that I know. But you know,
Speaker 1: you see different prints. I know you're going to do
Speaker 1: with some show and tell, but everyone loves your Gingham Yes,
Speaker 1: everyone at Mama Mir included. So do you then factor
Speaker 1: in maybe trend colors or designs into your current shapes
Speaker 1: or Yeah.
Speaker 3: We definitely have our core collection where we've got our staples,
Speaker 3: the things that everyone loves are best sellers, and then
Speaker 3: we always do a fresh collection each summer where we've
Speaker 3: got the new prints and new colors and injects of
Speaker 3: newness into the collection.
Speaker 1: What you've got here and talk us through it, because
Speaker 1: I feel like show and tell is so important with swimwear.
Speaker 3: This is our classic bra and so you can see
Speaker 3: here we've got a really sort of discrete under our casing. Yes,
Speaker 3: so it's got the support but it's not chunky. No,
Speaker 3: we've got the dart with the top stitching. We've got
Speaker 3: the double bound straps which would give you that extra support.
Speaker 1: And it is like a bra, but it's nothing like
Speaker 1: a r It looks like this swimming top, yes, and
Speaker 1: it's fixed in the middle. Do you do any triangle
Speaker 1: bikinis that are on the sliding slide? No? Actually, I
Speaker 1: want not too much coverage. But then if it's not
Speaker 1: fixed in the middle for me. Yeah, it just still
Speaker 1: goes everywhere.
Speaker 3: That's just a different type of brown, a different girl
Speaker 3: our customer is. So I think I feel like that
Speaker 3: market is so covered off.
Speaker 1: It is. It's much easy to find that kind of
Speaker 1: triangle on a sliding piece of street.
Speaker 3: And it's easy to produce, whereas we've really worked on
Speaker 3: our shapes and so this is sort of our secret sauce.
Speaker 3: Really is like, you know, doing the triangle, but doing
Speaker 3: it slightly differently, Yes, with a bit more support and
Speaker 3: same here, So I probably developed this after my second pregnancy.
Speaker 3: That looks different, So that's similar. Yeah, it's really similar.
Speaker 3: But we've got an underwire that comes up a little
Speaker 3: higher the front. So for certain body shapes, and I
Speaker 3: found when I did go up into like the larger
Speaker 3: sizes when it was breastfeeding, I would sometimes come sort
Speaker 3: of come out a little bit of the front. So
Speaker 3: this comes up a little higher, so we've got a
Speaker 3: little bit more coverage around the center front. What's this
Speaker 3: star called the balconet? The balconets.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna pop links in the show notes to
Speaker 1: all of these because I think it's important for people
Speaker 1: to see. If I was shopping the line, I would
Speaker 1: see it, but to see them next to each other
Speaker 1: makes you really realize the subtle differences that would make
Speaker 1: a big difference to your body. Yes, yeah, okay.
Speaker 3: I miss. You've always got to try it on, you know,
Speaker 3: I think I always say to people, try on a
Speaker 3: bunch of different shapes.
Speaker 1: Yes, what else have you got?
Speaker 3: Well, then I bought in our three main pants. So
Speaker 3: high Wasted is actually really popular. Women love it. It's
Speaker 3: got that sixties vibe, that vintage vibe. If you've got
Speaker 3: a waste, it kind of shows it off in a way.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And then women that don't like to show their tummy, hmmm,
Speaker 3: that's a good one. It's good.
Speaker 1: Is that a classic kind of bikini bottom? Like? Does
Speaker 1: it offer coverage? I don't know the terms. I know
Speaker 1: there's sh I know there's a lot of g strings
Speaker 1: around them, which is lovely for some people. Not when
Speaker 1: I'm tasting a five year old.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it doesn't cover your full cheek. That's definitely cut
Speaker 3: away on the cheek a little bit.
Speaker 1: But it's not a cheeky kind of Brazilian no, no, okay.
Speaker 3: So we do have a minier option. I mean so
Speaker 3: this is our classic pant, which is still quite a
Speaker 3: bit of coverage. And so women now when they find
Speaker 3: the sometimes they say to us, oh my gosh, it's
Speaker 3: so exciting to fin pant that still has some decent coverage,
Speaker 3: because every pant has shrunk down so much.
Speaker 1: I feel that too. I thought it was just me
Speaker 1: getting older. And like you say, there's a market for everything,
Speaker 1: but it depends on what you want out of his
Speaker 1: swimmers and what you're gonna be doing in them exactly.
Speaker 3: So there are plenty of women that still want a
Speaker 3: bit of coverage, and so we're still catering to that,
Speaker 3: of course. And then for the girls that want a
Speaker 3: little less and less any pant. You know, it's not
Speaker 3: the full Brazilian No, it's not. But that's sort of
Speaker 3: as far as we go in terms of skimpy.
Speaker 1: Sure, okay, do you do a tie side ever on
Speaker 1: the bottom?
Speaker 3: No, I have that I've tried as well. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I think we were really offering something different to that
Speaker 3: classic triangle.
Speaker 1: Yeah, which I guess would generally go with that top
Speaker 1: I described earlier, which.
Speaker 3: That's like, yeah, it's so covered off in the marketplace, yes.
Speaker 1: That you didn't need to fill that gap. That gap
Speaker 1: is there? What else have you got? I've just bought
Speaker 1: a few one pieces, So then I do love a
Speaker 1: one piece, you know why because half the time, I
Speaker 1: mean with swim. I love shopping for swim, but it's
Speaker 1: like packing for holiday. I think I'm just going to
Speaker 1: be this person, but I probably go swimming or to
Speaker 1: the beach ten times a year, right, So I think
Speaker 1: this is actually a really great way to get sort
Speaker 1: of a bodysuit into your ardrobe jeans with like this
Speaker 1: beautiful blue gingham with a white skirt or not the
Speaker 1: top totally before you can justify.
Speaker 3: It, especially on vacation if you're going, yeah for dinner.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And what's this shape? So that's kind of like
Speaker 1: the first bra you showed.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's how a classic bra put onto a
Speaker 3: one piece body. So same thing, same underwire, same dart,
Speaker 3: same double bounced straps. Okay, yeah, got the power mesh
Speaker 3: in the back.
Speaker 1: So it really is engineering when it comes to support
Speaker 1: and you know, supporting boobs.
Speaker 3: It is yeah, folding ya. We just want people to
Speaker 3: feel comfortable at the beach. We don't want to be
Speaker 3: worrying about their swim. You want to show off your shape,
Speaker 3: so that styles great. It just shows it really does
Speaker 3: show off women's shape really well. And then this one
Speaker 3: is just in really easy fit, so it doesn't wear
Speaker 3: a neckline neckline. I enjoy it, and it doesn't have
Speaker 3: the underwear. So and there are women that don't want
Speaker 3: an underwear in their swimsuit.
Speaker 1: Yes, I ideally don't unless it makes me look phenomenal.
Speaker 1: But when I go shopping, I don't grab the underwirel
Speaker 1: But sometimes when I've tried them on, I'm like, oh that,
Speaker 1: why is really job well?
Speaker 3: I noticed that when I have customers that try on
Speaker 3: this style versus this style, their shape is different, very different.
Speaker 1: Okay. I feel like, no matter how I yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: nothing's going to fall out, absolutely, but it's still very stylish.
Speaker 1: It doesn't feel like that sort of miracle suit rouching,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Beautiful and then tell me
Speaker 1: you do a classic black because I feel like, well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we do well. I actually brought in something that
Speaker 3: we're really known and loved for that it was actually
Speaker 3: worn by Jennifer Lawrence in the film Red Sparrow in
Speaker 3: twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I love that movie. Did that do
Speaker 1: things for your brand huge. Oh wow, how did that
Speaker 1: come about?
Speaker 3: It was so unexpected. Actually, the costume designer just purchased
Speaker 3: from our website.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, she purchased a bunch of black one pieces and
Speaker 3: then she came back and repurchased this style and maybe
Speaker 3: five of them. And we didn't even know it was
Speaker 3: happening until the trailer came out and I had friends, Yes.
Speaker 1: That's your swimsuit. Oh my gosh. So it's a cutout. Yes,
Speaker 1: a bikini but joined together, sort of exactly bikini, but
Speaker 1: joined together.
Speaker 3: I wanted to do all these amazing design lines but
Speaker 3: also be functional where you can still feel held in.
Speaker 3: So again we've got that discrete underwire in here and
Speaker 3: all the bindings so you're held in. But yes, it's
Speaker 3: above them in peace. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I need to go back and watch that movie.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well it's even in the trailer, so it's like
Speaker 3: quite a key scene of the movie. So I was
Speaker 3: so exciting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now listen, I want to talk about shopping for
Speaker 1: swim where I've got more questions. But I think you
Speaker 1: touched it really well. We can buy everything online. I
Speaker 1: don't even I mean, I guess it depends on where
Speaker 1: you shop. But whether or not you can return swim
Speaker 1: is a contentious issue because of hygiene stuff. Do you
Speaker 1: suggest people shop for swim in person if they can?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think it's definitely helpful with a new brand to
Speaker 3: either if you're happy to purchase a bunch of styles
Speaker 3: and try them on at home.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And then there is a returns policy.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. I think you kind of have to offer that
Speaker 3: as a swim brand if.
Speaker 1: You well, especially if you're only online. It's such a
Speaker 1: riar is Absolutely. Are your bikini sold separately the top
Speaker 1: and the bottom?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 1: And is that because you do find women are different sizes?
Speaker 3: Absolutely? And I think when we started doing it, there
Speaker 3: were still a lot of major sort of designer swim
Speaker 3: brands that were still selling things by the steps. Yes,
Speaker 3: I had that problem where I wanted a bigger top
Speaker 3: at a smaller bottom. Yes, maybe it was a size
Speaker 3: bigger on top so that I was like, it might
Speaker 3: be a slightly difficult problem with infantry, which it hasn't been,
Speaker 3: to be honest.
Speaker 1: No, okay, but I guess it's a service to the
Speaker 1: customer also to you, because someone might be a fourteen
Speaker 1: bottom or a twelve top or Okay.
Speaker 3: And then I think a lot of women also love
Speaker 3: to buy a bunch of stuff online. You know, as
Speaker 3: long as it's a really easy returns policy, you can just.
Speaker 1: There's nothing like trying on something that where you're half
Speaker 1: naked in the comfort of your own home. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: what is your returns policy? There is one? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: So you haven't shopped for swim for so long online,
Speaker 1: I guess because I am one of those people that
Speaker 1: just assumes gotta do it irl. Oh really, and once
Speaker 1: I know what works for me. I'm not really that adventurous,
Speaker 1: but that's probably why I need a new swim Can
Speaker 1: I ask you before we moved on to trends, how
Speaker 1: do you care for swim Well, because I don't get
Speaker 1: that right, Okay, so you maybe swim in the beach,
Speaker 1: maybe swimm of a pool. How do we care for
Speaker 1: our beautiful swimsuit?
Speaker 3: Well? I just normally just wash my swimsuit with cold
Speaker 3: water at the end of the day to give it
Speaker 3: a rint. Yeah, let it dry flat in the shade. Ideally,
Speaker 3: obviously we're putting sunscreen on and oils and all those things. Occasionally,
Speaker 3: if someone has had a spraytn or something and it
Speaker 3: hasn't washed off, properly. You just want to be careful
Speaker 3: about things like that rub off on your light fabrics.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, and then can we check them in the
Speaker 1: machine or we don't need to?
Speaker 3: No, I wouldn't, and also you don't want to actually
Speaker 3: not if you have a metal buckle like we do,
Speaker 3: they can get knocked around.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the underwire, so treat it like a delicate
Speaker 1: bru I would.
Speaker 3: I would hand wash it for sure, in a gentle detergent. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It is such a good point.
Speaker 3: And then if there's any stains, I'd recommend like a
Speaker 3: pure soap. Okay.
Speaker 1: Now let's talk about customer preferences and trends. So we've
Speaker 1: we talked about, I guess depending on body shapes. But
Speaker 1: what do they always come back for? Is it the
Speaker 1: high waisted? Is it a classic one piece? What does
Speaker 1: your customer come to you for keep purchasing?
Speaker 3: Well, our Gingham is just sort of our signature that
Speaker 3: we're known and love for. I think it's because it's fun,
Speaker 3: but it's still classic enough that you can wear it
Speaker 3: summer after.
Speaker 1: Summer without all that was so two summers ago, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: So it's got that fun aspect, but also it's not too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not trend based, but it's not boring.
Speaker 3: No. And then it's got a nod to like the
Speaker 3: nineteen sixty screen sirens, I think as well. So it's
Speaker 3: got that little you know, fun yeah, vintage essence as well.
Speaker 1: Which you love.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I understand two sides of the coin. When it
Speaker 1: comes to swimwear. It's a small piece of fabric, yes,
Speaker 1: and sometimes it's two hundred dollars and you might be
Speaker 1: able to go up the road to get something to
Speaker 1: cover your body to go swimming for twenty yes. So
Speaker 1: I want you to justify and I get it from
Speaker 1: working on this side of the podcast. Why is well
Speaker 1: made swimwear expensive? Well, let's start with the fabric. Our
Speaker 1: fab we buy from Italy or from Spain, so they're
Speaker 1: from the top Licra suppliers. And what that means is
Speaker 1: that swimsuits going to last ten years or more. So
Speaker 1: LIKERI is not Likeras not likes the same.
Speaker 3: So a lot of Likras are meeting in China, but
Speaker 3: they don't have that same elasticity and lifetime. And I've
Speaker 3: got friends that are still wearing some of the swimsuits
Speaker 3: for my first collection and they still.
Speaker 1: Look and they're over a decade old.
Speaker 3: Yeah wow, And I will put that down to the
Speaker 3: licra that we've been using.
Speaker 1: Hey see, I just figured synthetic fabrics, you know, much
Speaker 1: of a muchness. So that's really good to know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're buying a premium fabric, and yes it is
Speaker 3: a small amount, but it's still part of the cost
Speaker 3: of the goods and then all the construction that's going
Speaker 3: into it. I'll make prices obviously much higher than a
Speaker 3: little triangle bikini because they're super easy to make and
Speaker 3: faster to make, so any support, the manufacturing cost is
Speaker 3: higher all of those things. Yeah, all the little black
Speaker 3: clips that we've got, we've got the metal back clips.
Speaker 3: We use really good rubber inside. So if you've got
Speaker 3: to really if they've cheap rubber inside, that's going to go.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you've had a swimsuit that's kind
Speaker 3: of gone.
Speaker 1: Absolutely I have, but I obvious see it the wrong time.
Speaker 1: You're trying to go for a swim and top on.
Speaker 3: Your life span of the garments.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so really cost for wear because you do put
Speaker 1: swimsuits through a lot. Like you say, you know you're
Speaker 1: wearing sunscreen you're going into chemicals or to salt. You're
Speaker 1: in the sun and the sun, Yeah, exactly, it's.
Speaker 3: Exposed to the elements. So yeah, and I mean yeah,
Speaker 3: just from an ethical point of view and a sustainability
Speaker 3: point of view, like we don't want to make things
Speaker 3: that are that.
Speaker 1: Are going to end up in land fell in a
Speaker 1: summer time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's an investment piece. I think once people try
Speaker 3: them on and they understand or they see it on
Speaker 3: a friend, and that's sort of I think there's a
Speaker 3: lot of word of mouth that happens too, and I
Speaker 3: think they understand sort of the value proposition of the
Speaker 3: fit and the cut and all of those things that
Speaker 3: we've invested in as well.
Speaker 1: Well. That leads me nicely to the next question, because
Speaker 1: I love that you do stay true to your personal
Speaker 1: design style and your philosophy of that kind of slower
Speaker 1: fashion in a very very fast paced fashion industry. How
Speaker 1: do you do that, how do you keep on the
Speaker 1: straight and narrow and what do you think is going
Speaker 1: to happen to the industry in that way.
Speaker 3: That's a really interesting question. I think the Internet has
Speaker 3: changed I'm noticing more and more how much the Internet
Speaker 3: has changed fashion and before brands had a monopoly and
Speaker 3: wholesalers had a monopoly, like stores had a monopolia about
Speaker 3: how it was all run and we all had to
Speaker 3: produce these seasons. But there's also the dark side of that,
Speaker 3: which is that there are a lot of brands that
Speaker 3: have come in selling a lot of cheap products, which
Speaker 3: scares me as well. Yeah, there's the good and the
Speaker 3: bad with like everything, but the Internet's what the good
Speaker 3: and the bad. I mean, personally, it's allowed me to
Speaker 3: slow down the pace of how we're.
Speaker 1: Operating because everything else seems not everything, but a lot
Speaker 1: of it seems to be speeding up. But I guess
Speaker 1: there's a different kind of customer for each lane. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense.
Speaker 3: I think so. And I mean just having a busy life.
Speaker 3: On a personal level, it's allowed me to slow down
Speaker 3: how many collections we're producing a year, and I can
Speaker 3: just focus on our core collections. And I used to
Speaker 3: produce three collections a year and now I'm only doing one.
Speaker 3: And I don't see why I should need to release
Speaker 3: because we've got the Southern hemisphere. In the Northern hemisphere, I.
Speaker 1: Can ask as a swimwear brand, and you know, I
Speaker 1: guess a brand associated with summer. How does that work?
Speaker 1: From a business perspective? You then launch in the northern hemispheres, summer,
Speaker 1: cover that off, then focus back down in Australia and
Speaker 1: vice versa exactly. And so when we feel like it's
Speaker 1: dead here, there's lots going on up there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we have a little shoulder season, like February's
Speaker 3: traditionally a quiet month as we're flipping over to the
Speaker 3: Northern hemisphere, and then September October sort of like the
Speaker 3: other lull.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean it's nice. We like a lull
Speaker 1: every now and then. There doesn't need to be something
Speaker 1: you want a website every week?
Speaker 3: Does it?
Speaker 2: No, it's very expensive.
Speaker 1: Let's jump into bougie and budget swim edition. Let's start
Speaker 1: with your bougie. I'm just going to put a disclaimer
Speaker 1: out there. I've bought brands that aren't yours because I
Speaker 1: figured you're going to bring your own. But I want
Speaker 1: to start with your bougie. What's your recommendation there?
Speaker 3: It's our now split one piece, noa.
Speaker 1: Split one piece made famous by Hollywood A listers. How
Speaker 1: much is that?
Speaker 3: It's two hundred and ninety dollars okay, but it's gonna.
Speaker 1: Last you forever. And you're right, it's funny unless you
Speaker 1: do kind of go shopping for somewhere irl and get
Speaker 1: it all together and play with it. It is such
Speaker 1: a different level of quality when it comes to the.
Speaker 3: Fabric yeap and construction into instruction.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful. Well, my bougie, I hope I'm saying this right.
Speaker 1: Is the Artisans. I don't know if you've heard of
Speaker 1: this brand. It's an Australian brand. It's under the same
Speaker 1: umbrella as Bondi, and Bondi is one size fits most.
Speaker 1: Artisans is also, but probably more realistically fits most part.
Speaker 1: So it's just a classic rig sort of one piece
Speaker 1: one eighty four ninety five. I do have this one, yeah,
Speaker 1: one eighty four ninety five, and it fits me beautifully.
Speaker 1: And then my best friend, who is a couple of
Speaker 1: sizes different to me, she has the exact same one.
Speaker 1: So interestingly, there is this whole one size fit most
Speaker 1: happening quite different to yours because yours is engineering and
Speaker 1: construction to support the bus, whereas this is more sort
Speaker 1: of just one fabric cut into a shape. They say
Speaker 1: it can go from size Australian twelve to size Australian
Speaker 1: twenty years.
Speaker 3: And I think that's all about that fabricicular.
Speaker 1: Fabric, it is exactly. It's a very specific fabric. But
Speaker 1: I just think that's a good one, particularly if you
Speaker 1: do fluctuate. I get endo and we'll have endo and
Speaker 1: I can be various sizes depending on what time of
Speaker 1: the month it is. So that's a helpful one. What's
Speaker 1: your budget.
Speaker 3: I'm loving a good baseball cap on the beach at
Speaker 3: the moment as an accessory with swim.
Speaker 1: Agreed, do you make any Yes? We do, Okay, I
Speaker 1: do love a good cap too. I need to keep
Speaker 1: some in my boots because I always forget my hat.
Speaker 1: I think my husband's hat, my son's hat, everyone's Sonny's,
Speaker 1: everyone's got Sun's green and them, oh Mum's got nothing.
Speaker 1: So I agree, we've got to we can never be
Speaker 1: too sun safe. My budget is from Marks and Spencer's
Speaker 1: so a million years ago I bought a really great
Speaker 1: swimsuit that they've stopped doing. And if I had a
Speaker 1: dollar for every time I get a DM saying Lee,
Speaker 1: what was that? Swims similar one? It's called the Marks
Speaker 1: and Spencer three sixty degrees tummy control, printed padded swimsuit.
Speaker 1: It reminds me a little bit of your square neckline.
Speaker 1: It's just a square neckline and it kind of holds
Speaker 1: everything in. It's more affordable than yours. I'm sure the
Speaker 1: quality is nowhere near the same. It comes in a
Speaker 1: whole bunch of different patterns. This is sort of just
Speaker 1: like a zig zag. They call it a black mix
Speaker 1: and it's sixty five bucks. So that's another option. But
Speaker 1: I'm definitely more of a one piece girl, as you
Speaker 1: can see from those two recommendations. Are you one piece
Speaker 1: of bikini?
Speaker 3: Bikini?
Speaker 1: Are you? I'm going to go try some bikinis on.
Speaker 1: I think I've just pigeonholed myself because when I was
Speaker 1: freshly postpart and I was like, oh, I wear one
Speaker 1: pieces now, mom, And that isn't that a silly thing
Speaker 1: we tell ourselves? So I'm going to go transer.
Speaker 3: I did that for a little while, did you, And
Speaker 3: I think it was just I felt like wearing one
Speaker 3: pieces for a while.
Speaker 1: Yes, well, thank you. That was such a good insight
Speaker 1: into how swim design works in the whole industry. So
Speaker 1: thank you so much for thank you, thank you, thank
Speaker 1: you for listening to Nothing to Wear. That episode was
Speaker 1: so interesting to learn about all the behind the scenes
Speaker 1: of Australian design when it comes to swim. So to
Speaker 1: celebrate Australian swimwear, I am going to write an article
Speaker 1: for Mummy subscribers all about the best and my favorite
Speaker 1: Australian swimwear and why so we'll pop a link to
Speaker 1: that in the show notes And if you haven't listened
Speaker 1: to our summer episode yet, there's a link to that
Speaker 1: in the show notes too. See you next week. This
Speaker 1: episode was produced by Grace Rourey with audio production by
Speaker 1: Lou Hill. This podcast is powered by our subscribers. If
Speaker 1: you believe in independent women's media and want to support us,
Speaker 1: there's a link in the show notes and a big
Speaker 1: thank you to all our current subscribers.