Infamous Swim is more than just a swimwear brand. They believe every woman and every kind of body deserves to feel confident, sexy, empowered and comfortable in their swimwear.
They are passionate about promoting positive body image, loving the skin you’re in and creating a community of like-minded women who support one another. From bikinis, one piece swimsuits, rash suits and beyond, every garment they create is designed for the female form, in every shape and size, through every stage of womanhood.
The origins of Infamous Swim
Gemma Crowe has always known what she wanted and how to get it. It’s no accident that the entrepreneur would go on to find her niche in the competitive and highly saturated swimwear market to great success. Ever since her teen years, the mum of four has loved retail, particularly in the surf and beach lifestyle space, and today it has paid off massively with multi-million dollar label Infamous Swim taking off in Australia and overseas.
The original mummy-and-me swimwear brand, Infamous Swim is leading the ‘twinning’ fashion craze blowing up Instagram. With a 651k strong following, Infamous is perfectly positioned to dominate the matching family wear market with its new lines of activewear and loungewear.
“I have always worked hard,” says the Melbourne-based businesswoman. “When I was younger I scored an entry level role in the surf retail industry, but I was always trying to get into the head office side of things. My goal was to work for Billabong or Rip Curl or something along those lines, but the problem was no one would take me into the office because I had no business degree or marketing degree or anything like that.”
Gemma ultimately scored a junior office position for a toy wholesaler. “I was getting absolutely peanuts pay,” she said, “but I just worked my way up in that company. I said to myself ‘I’m going to seriously succeed in this company so I can move to something that I want to do’. But I ended up loving that company so much I was there for quite a long time.”
From there Gemma moved to Melbourne to build a homewares brand which taught her many of the skills needed to run a small business. When she eventually went on maternity leave feeling burnt out and uninspired, a friend asked her to go into business running a swimwear label.
“And then the rest is history,” says Gemma. “I ended up saying to my husband shutting this business down and doing an Instagram swim business with matching family outfits is the way to go. I was either wanting to do swimwear or fashion.”
After buying out her friend, she re-launched the brand with a new range of matching swimwear and accessories: “I did matching headbands and scrunchies with the swimwear and stuff like that. It was much easier to do because I already had the factory contacts for swimwear, but now we are moving more into fashion now because that’s what I want. I want us to be a matching fashion house.”
Infamous Swim values
“Infamous Swim’s design ethos is based on being fun, feminine and comfortable,” says Gemma. “We want our swimwear to last – bold patterns, flattering cuts and high-quality materials. We don’t skimp on any detail cause these designs are meant to be worn again and again.”
Infamous Swim’s unique attitude to swimwear is one of the key drivers of its popularity: “We’re all about family, enjoyment and feeling comfortable in your own skin. Most of all we love spreading body positivity, which is such an important movement at the moment. I think back to when I was a kid, my mum would never be in photos. She would never get in the pool with us. She would never get into swimwear. And now at the age of nearly 70 she’s absolutely loving the skin that she’s in and she’s so proud of what we stand for.”
Gemma believes Infamous has a role to play in normalising body acceptance and getting mums out there to swim and spend time with their kids. “I just want mothers to enjoy the fun bits of motherhood,” she says.
As summer fast approaches and more swim brands compete for attention, Infamous stands tall amongst its rivals for the sheer amount of passion and conviction that Gemma puts into the label.
“I’m living the dream and it’s been a privilege to realise my vision for Infamous Swim,” she says. “We haven’t reached our full potential of becoming a matching mum-and-me fashion powerhouse yet, but I believe it’s just a matter of time.”
“I love that Infamous Swim have something for everyone on their website! I love how inclusive they are showing all different types of bodies looking beautiful in their swimwear. After the hard decision of which swimwear to get, it was very helpful to have the sizing guide on the website to ensure I got the correct one piece. I haven’t been comfortable or excited to wear swimwear since having kids, but having a bright and colourful one piece, made me feel more accepting of my body and allowed me to swim and spend quality time with my kids during the latest school holidays. I highly recommend Infamous Swim and love the idea of matching with our little people.” – Nicole, a Northern Beaches Mum
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Website: https://infamousswim.com.au
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/infamousswim
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infamous_swim/