Melbourne student ditches degree to launch multimillion-dollar swimwear label
Ana Gavia was halfway through a medical degree when she was sidetracked by annoying swimwear issues. Now, she’s making millions.
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Melbourne woman Ana Gavia was a uni student in the middle of a medicine degree when she became frustrated while hunting for the perfect bikini.
She noticed it was next to impossible to find swimwear that was bright and colourful, high quality and affordable and also came in a variety of sizes – so she decided to start making her own as a side hustle.
At the time, she was studying podiatric medicine and had already completed a degree in medical biotechnology – and had next to no experience in business or design.
But she was convinced she had the solution to these common – and irritating – bikini “problems”, and her label Pinkcolada was launched in 2018 when she was just 24.
She taught herself how to design, learnt how to source fabrics, found a factory in China to make a single sample and gave it a go.
She ran a few Facebook ads with a budget of just $5 and made her first sale one week later.
The young entrepreneur then used the money from that single sale to produce a batch of 100 bikinis, and her company soon snowballed.
“It started as an aside and I never thought in a million years that anything would eventuate out of it,” the now 27-year-old told news.com.au.
“But I always loved designing stuff – when I was younger I was arty, so I put my designs up (online), ran a few ads and then there was just an influx of demand for the style.
“I didn’t specifically set out to design bikinis but I loved design in general and also saw there was a demand there.”
Before launching Pinkcolada, Ms Gavia said there was a gap in the market for swimwear that came in “really bright colours” and “cool designs”, describing many options on the market at the time as “boring”.
“A lot of labels weren’t catering for plus size which I thought was unfair because everyone should be able to have a great bikini at any size,” she explained.
“Some brands cut down costs by using cheaper fabrics, but I don’t sell anything I wouldn’t wear and I’m a perfectionist that way, so everything is made with the best quality fabric.
“And pricing was also so important – a lot of brands sell bikini tops for $100 and bottoms for another $100 which is quite expensive, but I tried to meet that sweet spot.”
But Ms Gavia said she still had no idea whether her business would take off – or fail.
“I didn’t know if anything would happen with it and at first I was trying to do both at the same time – study and run the business. At the time I was on a placement at a Melbourne hospital from 8am to 5pm, then I would be home by 6pm and would be packing orders until 4am,” she said.
“I was getting three hours of sleep a night, which was unfeasible, so it definitely was tough.
“When you’re the business owner, designer, content creator, marketer, photographer … and bookkeeper, it becomes very stressful.”
She found herself working seven days a week and regularly slept in her office to save time before ultimately deciding to quit uni and give up her dream of a medical career.
Just two years after leaving university to focus on her label full time, it had a turnover of $2 million – and this year, it is expected to double to $4 million.
“It was a risk – I had studied and invested all that time and effort into getting my degree, so it was tough to step back and venture onto a completely different path,” Ms Gavia said, adding that her friends and family had been supportive of her radical career change.
“But at the same time, I knew I could go back if it didn’t work out, even though it was scary.”
Ms Gavia said the knowledge she had acquired during her years of study had actually come in handy during her business journey, and she still hoped to work in the field of cancer research down the track.
Pinkcolada launched in the US less than a year ago, and one of Ms Gavia’s next plans is to break into the European market as well as release more clothing and beachwear and expand into larger collections.
But she stressed her business had not been an “overnight success”, instead requiring years of painstaking effort to grow it into the success story it now is.
Originally published as Melbourne student ditches degree to launch multimillion-dollar swimwear label