California native Ani Breslin has been making a name for herself in this swimwear industry – and people have been noticing. The self-titled swimwear brand Ani Bikini’s is the epitome of California cool, two words that could also be used to sum up the designer herself. A savvy business woman and blonde bombshell, Ani has made some major strides in the industry already, such as working for Tavik Swimwear and being featured in this year’s Surfing Magazine’s Swimsuit Issue. She also recently put together the current look book for her collection, California Gold, that includes some bad ass styling with a little help from up and coming jewelry company, TRADE. We caught up with Ani to find out what’s in store for her in the future and how exactly she got started.
Where did you grow up?
I’m originally from San Diego and basically grew up on the beaches of La Jolla and Encinitas. I also spent a lot of time in Hawaii.
How did you get started designing swimwear?
Because surfing everyday became such an addiction at a very young age, I basically lived in bikinis. I remember wearing my first “brazilian” style from Salinas back in the day and just fell in love with the comfort and style of the smaller cut designs. A few years ago, there weren’t really many brands doin the cheeky thing, so I decided to sew up my own pieces out of scrap fabric and the business sort of came as a whim after people starting asking me about my one of a kind pieces, and the demand grew. It’s almost second nature to pick out rad fabric and design super unique brazilian style pieces now but the business part I’m still learning everyday.
Where do you pull your inspiration from?
Everywhere!! Streetstyle, beach style, exotic travels, fashion blogs, mens fashion, music, all my weird friends, and so on. This world we live in is pretty ridiculous and so i find it very easy to be inspired.
I remember buying my first suit from you when you were still on Etsy! How has the transition been with your brand becoming more well known in the swimwear industry?
Ha yes! I remember that too! The transition of getting recognized a little bit more and doing awesome collaborations has been amazing. I honestly had no idea how insane the swimwear industry would get when I started the business and to think that it is more of a lifestyle now that anything really excites me. There are so many places to go and ways to grow in this business theres almost no telling how far or how big any of us designers could be! Working for Tavik Swimwear last year also gave me some rad opportunities to meet some really inspirational people in the industry that are so great to network with and talk biz and really dream up cool things to work on. I’m syked for the future!
What are your current top three favorite swim trends?
CHEEKY CHEEKY CHEEKY! I love the fact that women EVERYWHERE are realizing how amazing a cheeky bottom and make your buns look. Men are probably goin crazy with all the good lookin buns on the beach these days. I also love the idea of styling swimwear into everyday trends. As well as mix and match fabrics and styles and making a statement in your swimmers.
Song on repeat?
Foreign Language- by Flight Facilities… Super sexxy.
Anything exciting we should know about coming up for Ani Bikinis?
Collaborations, insane photoshoots, MIAMI…. 2014 Collection will be epic. Nuff said x
