Eco friendly swimwear
Swimwear for fashionistas with a conscience.
When you live in Cap d’Antibes a lot of your time is spent on the beach and on the water. As a keen paddleboarder and occassional rock jumper I know how difficult it is to find a bikini which stays in place. Therefore I was over the moon when I saw a group of ladies at a recent beach and sea clean rock up in some gorgeous sporty swimwear. Among them was Choos’in swimwear designer Geraldine, the founder of Choos’in.
Choosi’in swimwear is a new brand aimed at active and fashion conscious women who also care about the environment. Not only is Geraldines’collection bright and colourful it is also made from recyclable materials. Each bikini comes delivered in eco friendly packaging. The emphasis is on quality and design rather than cheap and disposable products. The prices are no higher than those of well known competitive brands however these bikinis are made to last. Geraldine wants to challenge today’s disposable mentality. I for one am trying to reduce my waste constantly and that includes clothing. I would much rather buy something which will last me several years than spend less on something which doesn’t.
“At Choos’in we strive to do our best to offer future generations a less polluted planet by improving the footprint we leave behind.
At each stage of the process, we will take care of our beautiful planet as best as possible!”
When Geraldine decided to launch her swimwear collection it was driven by the lack of availability of sports bikinis expecially in France. She also knew that she wanted it to be an ecologically responsable brand. The company uses 100% recycled Polyamide fabrics, has Zero plastic in packaging from transport from factory to delivery to the customer. Pretty pockets are included for your recycled cotton / linen swimwear and all packaging is made from recycled and recyclable materials. The company also partners with an environmental protection association.
A keen and talented kite surfer Geraldine was aware of the lack of choice in the sports swimwear area. While travelling in South America she found that there, the choice seemed endless. Like a kid in a sweetshop she bough herself a few new sports bikinis. On her return to France whenever she went kitesurfing girls would ask her where she had bought her bikinis. This apparent demand for something more fashionable is what ultimately ignited the idea to launch the Choos’in swimwear brand.
Geraldine and I met up recently on Plage de la Garoupe where I asked her about her brand and what inspired her to create it.
I used to work as a sales manager for a big travel company for 10 years but I was so bored of it. I didn’t like my job one bit so I decided to quit.
That was at the end of 2017. I took a year off to travel and think about what I could do next. Finally, in March 2019 I decided to create Choos’in swimwear. While travelling I visited Venezuela with a group of friends. We are all kitesurfing girls. I had several bikinis which I had bought in different countries like Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Germany. They were very strong bikinis for sports with comfort and good support and nice colours.
We all realised that it was really difficult to find things like this in France. There are a few sports brands here but abroad especially in South America they have much more choice for sports women. So, I said to myself,actually there are a lot of girls who do watersports in France. When I came back all my friends were like Wow your bikinis are really nice where did you buy them. This made me realise that there was a market here. So, I decided to launch Choos’in swimwear.
I knew I had some transferable skills like sales, management etc which would be useful for launching a business. The only skill I didn’t have was the design aspect. So, I started to draw. When I was younger I used to draw so I was able to draft some basic ideas.
I learned to use drawing tools so that I could produce technical designs from which to create a pattern and turned my ideas into workable drawings. I worked on this project for almost 10 months and I worked very hard. Luckily I had a family friend who had worked for a famous swimwear brand for 10 years. She was able to give me some invaluable advice.
Where to source the fabric was the first step.
I wanted strong comforatable fabrics with nice colours and I had no idea where to find them. This is one of the things my friend helped with. She advised me to go to an international swimwear fabric fair in Cannes, it’s one of the biggest in the world. There were so many exhibitors I was amazed. So I went to visit some specific companies she recommended to me and collected lots and lots of samples.
I was crying all the time as there was so much choice and I felt totally out of my depth. Finally I managed to simplify the process and make some decisions. I found many designs I liked but they all came from different companies and I also wanted to find companies using eco materials. Eventually I found one supplier for the fabric and one for the printing of the pattern.
At the beginning I wanted to sell my swimsuits for less than 100 euros but it just wasn’t possible without compromising the quality.
Rather than compromise on the quality I decided to compromise on the price a little. My products start at aslightly more than 100.00 Euros which I think is good value.
All the fabrics are eco friendly and made from recycle polyamides. The fabric is made from recycled plastic bottles recovered from the ocean. It’s also a very soft and comfortable fabric.
Currently I only have the samples, due to COVID I don’t have the actual Choos’in swimwear products yet. I will launch some pre-sales soon.
The plan is to obviously sell them directly via my website but as soon as I take delivery of the collection I will jump in my car and start visiting stockists too. That’s the plan for 2020.
What about the guys. Will you design a mens Choos’in swimwear range in the future?
At the moment I am focusing on Ladies swimwear but the plan is to do Choos-in swimwear range for men too.
Why Choos’In?
I am a Libra, a real Libra. A person always trying to find a good compromise. I want to buy this one but I prefer this one and finally I buy both but then I decide I don’t like one after all. It is very difficult for me to choose anything. I have been like this all of my life. I wanted to be a dancer, a singer, a performer but could never decide which. My parents said that’s good to want those things but please study as back up. So that’s what I did. I don’t regret listening to them but my choice would have been something creative but as I said I was never able to choose.
Now I have done the secure working thing, I did it for 12 years and I hated every single day of it. Now, finally, I have made the choice to change my life. This is kind of where the name Choos’in came from.
Where do you see yourself in two years time?
I have two options, the first is that I make Choos’In a success and I keep going and grow quickly. If it doesn’t work in 2 years then I will stop. It’s very interesting to create a company but it’s a lot of work and dedication. However I am very confident in my business as everyone who sees my swimwear loves it and wants to buy it.
We will see, watch this space I guess……