Gold Coast swimwear label Capriosca Swimwear takes plunge into US market

GOLD Coast swimwear label making waves in sizable US market with its colourful and fun designs for bathers.

A COAST swimwear label for plus-size women is set to make waves in the lucrative US market after a successful trade show appearance in California.

Capriosca Swimwear founder Marcia Pilkington said 17 stores in the US were placing orders after the Swim Collective show earlier this month.

“The retailers were very excited to see us. They were saying we were the best find of the trade show,” she said. “We were there for two days and ended up doing 17 showings.”

The trade show success came after Capriosca picked up a US agent, who also represent Jets Swimwear in North America, with a big push into the US market on the cards.

One of the swimsuits from Capriosca Swimwear, which is set to crack the lucrative US market.

The company also has a distributor in Europe.

Ms Pilkington started Capriosca Swimwear in 2011 as a swimwear line for women looking for bathers from size 10 to 30. “What was around were older style prints,” she said.

“Being big does not mean you are not fashionable.

“The whole idea was to give bigger girls really great, fashionable prints, and colours, and make it fun.”

Pictured at her Southport Factory is Marcia Pilkington, who is CEO of Capriosca swimwear. The swimwear label is for plus-size women. Picture: Mike Batterham

Ms Pilkington said her parents were in the “rag trade” and she decided to give the industry a shot.

“I started to do T-shirts and things like that, and then I got in with a great factory,” she said. “They mainly produced swimwear. They kept on saying to me that I should introduce swimwear.

“I looked into it and realised there was a big gap in the market for plus-size swimwear.”

Ms Pilkington said at the time most plus-size swimwear was bland and targeted at mature women.

“It was mostly black and plain,” she said.

One of the swimsuits from Capriosca Swimwear, which is set to crack the lucrative US market.

Her first steps involved drawing the designs for her first collection and trying to find plus-size models.

“That was not easy at that time. But we were lucky to find Sydney-based Bella Management agency,” Ms Pilkington said. “They were starting up at the same time as us and offering curvy models.”

Within 12 months Ms Pilkington had a line of swimwear on the market. “Initially we started selling to retail stores. It was not until we started selling online, through curvyswimwear.com.au that it really took off,” she said.

She said the store, which uses eCommerce platform Shopify, has done exceptional business, leading to Capriosca doubling turnover year-on-year for the past three years.

One of the swimsuits from Capriosca Swimwear, which is set to crack the lucrative US market.

“We also launched at Christmas Curvyswimwear.com into the US market,” she said. “That was really lucky to buy that. The name really helps people find us.”

She said, for the first few years, there was resistance from retail stores to stock swimwear for curvy women.

“We really had to persevere. People accept the industry now, but, back then, many retailers questioned why they would sell plus-size swimwear.

“Some customers would reshoot our stock on size 12 models because they did not want to market the swimwear for plus-size women.”

However, she said, those attitudes were changing.

“People say they are so glad to have found us.”

Capriosca now sells to 100 stores in Australia.

“The online side is growing fast, but also the bricks and mortar side too,” she said.

Ms Pilkington said the fashion business is fast moving.

“We drop a new print every month. We plan all our marketing around that.

“The great thing about selling into the US is that we can sell all year round: When it is winter here it is summer over there.”