XELA SWIM
Xela Swim
2022–2024
Creative Direction
In 2022 I launched my first fashion label that initially started with an interest in pattern making and a love for sketching. I also discovered new sustainable materials that were beneficial to the environment allowing consumers to make conscious decisions about slow fashion.
I was a sole trader for Xela Swim and crafted everything from initial sketches, digital pattern making, model measuring and sizing, sourcing sustainable manufacturers, handling logistics, photography scheduling and moodboards creation, website builds and many more hats when it came to establishing a small business.
Below are some of my journey highlights, my learnings and why I decided it was time to retire Xela just after 2 short years in business.
Xela Swim started off as just a passionate hobby. I would spend my days working my 9–5 and come home sewing the night away creating pieces for my friends and family.
I had a deep interest in exploring geometric shapes and creating bold colour swatches that were unique to the market. Back in 2020 when covid hit, we highly relied on online shopping. But every swimwear brand I found online were plain solid colours that lack the personality and edge I was looking for.
After purchasing off a few brands online, the sizing was incredibly difficult to master. I would be a size small in one brand and large in another brand – or sometimes both a small and large from the same brand. There was no consistency and a lot of size exchanges were made.
I further researched swimwear statistics, Shopify had expressed that a whooping 50% of consumers generally make size exchanges when purchasing swimwear or undergarments online. This is where the lightbulb moment came and I knew I wanted to explore this pain point further and perhaps one day, see my unique designs out in the wild.
So off I went and further explored hundreds of design iterations on how to create a swimwear label that looked amazing, fitted comfortably and allowed my label to be completely made from sustainable materials.
These were some initial hi-fi sketches I created in Adobe Illustrator. This pattern didn't make the cut to continue into production as it didn't align back to our bold branding we wanted to execute.
The learnings I gathered here was an understanding of the print methods from manufacturers – it would take double the time and double the materials to print the blue patterned binding (border of the swimwear). This didn't fit my ethical concerns of becoming a sustainable swimwear brand as I didn't want to create additional waste and consume more energy than required.
This was a moodboard of the designs that did go into sampling and production. It took almost a year trying to source the best manufacturers and after multiple rounds of sampling, I was finally content with the eco-friendly material that was sourced and the printing outcome.
I went with a material that was made entirely out of plastic recycled bottles that were collected from our oceans – it was very expensive but it was the perfect alignment to our brand ethics.
After multiple rounds of sampling and adjusting measurements for each piece, I decided to launch 5 styles in our first collection called, Lavanda – inspired by the lavender fields in Provence, France.
The best feature of Xela Swim was the ability to adjust the styles to wrap onto your body with adjustable hardware and expandable straps. This was my solution to go from multiple sizes in one.
I worked with a global photographer to capture the perfect aesthetic for our marketing photos. These images really captured the detail and colour of Xela Swim and was used for our website and social media.
Our tags and packaging were also made from recycled cardboards and printed with soy-based inks. Hand written notes were delivered instead of over-used marketing materials that generally went to waste.
After 2 beautiful summers of opening Xela Swim online, I decided it was in my best interest to continue my career as a fulltime designer – after all, designing fulfilled my happiness more than the business related side such as doing taxes, working on expenses and packaging parcels at midnight.
My love for fashion will forever live on and this entrepreneurial journey was short and sweet but plentiful of joyous learnings – especially when I actually see my swimwear brand out in the wild!
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