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WELCOME TO BAIIA
Pronounced "bai-ah". Meaning: one who has the capacity to change the world for the better.
VISION + VALUES
Our highest vision is to help women be who they truly are. We best do this by creating unique and flattering swimwear that empowers women and honours sustainable practice.
Having values is of incredible importance to us, and ours are shaping every single thing we do in business. Our top 3 are:
1. Be the pioneers of compassion in women’s fashion.
We always want to make sure we're nurturing, empathising and truly stepping into our women’s shoes. Our customers are everything, and how they feel about themselves is why we started and why we’re still here.
2. Know what’s important, think of tomorrow.
Our planet and its inhabitants are the be all and end all. Let’s treat them as if our lives depend on them. They do.
3. Be bold. Commit. Get it done.
Allow yourself to dream, make yourself a promise, and stick to it. To us, there is no better measurement of self-love than showing up for yourself, every single day.
SUSTAINABLE FIBRES
The amount of plastic (including synthetic fabric) manufactured from 2000-2010 was on par with the total produced in the entire last century. After most likely only being used once or twice, this plastic was left in landfill to release toxins for the next few thousand years. So how do we help fix this? We use only the highest of quality recycled synthetic fabrics.
Our soft & durable recycled nylon is constructed in Italy and made from industrial and post-consumer waste such as fishnets, carpets, plastic bottles and textiles that would otherwise pollute our beautiful land and oceans. It is certified Standard 100 by Oeko-Tex; the world’s leader in testing fabrics to regulate harmful substances.
Our fabric supplier uses the world’s most efficient industrial system for the production of Nylon 6 from 100% regenerated waste materials.
MEET THE MAKERS
We are proud to say our swimwear line is made by incredibly talented seamstresses in China. We’ve partnered up with an amazing manufacturer who are genuinely concerned about ethics and sustainability, about environmental issues and worker welfare. Due to their change in adopting more of an ethical Corporate Social Responsibility, their prices have risen and they’ve lost a lot of fashion labels to cheaper manufacturers in other Asian countries. BAIIA felt it was our responsibility to support a business who is trying to do the right thing, but are losing support. BAIIA has no racial bias when it comes to who we work with. Our approach was born out of the appreciation of high quality goods - cause you’ll wear the heck out of something if it’s high quality.
In our research, most of the best manufacturers for long lasting and high quality garments are located offshore. Australia has wonderful manufacturers for swimwear, but for our designs, sustainable fabrics and eco dyes, the only resources that were up to the challenge were in China.
As well as:
- Seamstresses are encouraged to hand make each swim suit slowly and carefully. They are not paid on the amount they produce, meaning they are not pressured to reach a certain quantity by a certain time.
- Employees receive medical insurance.
- Employees work in a well ventilated, well lit and spacious working space.
- The factory owner himself was a seamstress for 10 years. He prides himself in his ability to care, understand, listen and respect his workers and their needs because he’s been there before.. So of course he also holds regular staff parties, excellence awards and surprises his workers with birthday gifts!
The very talented Jun Liu, one of the head Seamstresses & Sample Makers that we work with.
MEET THE FOUNDER
I’m Amber, designer and founder of Baiia.
I first developed an affinity with swimwear at the age of 4. I can remember the beautiful sunny day, crystal clear waters outside and the sound of palm leaves swaying in the wind were rustling against our roof - just your average day in Munda, Solomon Islands.
I remember my mum bringing me my favourite bathers; a cream one piece, dotted with bright pink flowers. It belonged to my older sister Jasmine, and like all annoying little sisters I wanted everything she had. Finally the day had come where Jasmine had outgrown it, and the hand-me-down was something I could finally call my own!
These bathers were more than just something to swim in, they were my permission to independently explore the world as I knew it. Whenever I put them on I felt as if I had just joined the ‘big girls club’ - where roaming endlessly along the beach, and venturing into tropical patches of rainforest behind our house - was completely allowed. These adventures didn’t just spark my adoration with the natural world, they gave me a unique confidence that has stayed with me throughout the course of my life - these were adventures that never would have happened if it wasn’t for that old, cream & floral swimsuit.
Fast forward just over a decade and I was fresh into my fashion studies. While this was an incredibly valuable experience, I felt I was falling into the trap of pumping out pieces that were designed with the aim of ‘looking good’ over ‘feeling good’. When I realised what I was doing was no longer aligned with who I was or what I valued, I let it go.
Two overseas trips and a business and marketing degree later, I became even more disheartened by the lack of genuine care in which my chosen professions had conducted business practices, usually by neglecting the needs of what in my opinion is any business’ most important stakeholder; the environment in which it operates.
I was moved to action, writing about the importance of genuine CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) in the fashion industry and highlighting brands who were doing an awesome job at it on my blog at the time. Throughout this process I realised I didn’t really enjoy writing. My heart was in design, even more specifically, fashion design - and it had been since the day I realised how empowered my little cream swimsuit could make me feel.
The whole swimwear epiphany started in late 2016. I’m sure most women have a similar experience, I was standing in a dressing room, about to try on this cute high waisted bikini set I had my eyes on for a while. Squeezing in one leg after the other, I can remember straightening up to face the mirror. To this day I’m still unsure as to what I exactly felt when I finally saw my own reflection, but what I did know is that I felt a million miles away from that young girl in The Solomons, running around and completely embodied in her bathers.
Recalling it now - it felt gross and restrictive - with fabric cutting into me in all the wrong places. I stood there thinking there must have been something inherently wrong with me, with my body. And even though I can easily look at the women in my life and see nothing but beauty in their unique and varying physiques - in that moment I couldn’t find that same love for myself.
I knew that if I was feeling like this, then other women were too. I felt this incredible sense of passion and drive to create something that would help eliminate those feelings for women. ‘Those feelings’ being feelings of shame and insecurity - that sense that there is something wrong with them and their body. My fashion studies helped me understand that ‘those feelings’ I experienced had nothing to do with me or my body - I just had to find a better swimsuit.
So I decided the best way to find a better swimsuit was to design it myself. I found designing again really exciting, but before I was swept up in the process I promised myself that I would never contribute to the disrespect and degradation of the planet and people involved in the making of these garments - something that is unfortunately all too common in commercial fashion production.
I’ve found that ideas strike at unusual hours, and the idea of Baiia was no exception. The name came to me early one morning, and with almost divine timing, my university had just sent out an email asking previous students to apply for a grant competition should they have a social good business idea. I read the email, I entered the competition - and I won!
Baiia - an idea, a series of fortuitous events, a lot of intention and a long time in the making - all coming together at exactly the right moment. Since then I’ve continued to dream and refine my designs to celebrate and accentuate the female figure. My creative philosophy is to empower women through design, and create something that they’ll cherish for years to come with minimal impact on the environment.
In early 2018 I made the decision to finally bring something to life that I had wanted to share with the world, but like any designer was hesitant to see how it would be welcomed. That was the birth of our signature reversible & multi-functional wrapsuits, and I can excitedly say has since won me DHL’s Emerging Australian Designer of the Year, but even more importantly has changed the way so many women feel about their bodies (life goal, accomplished!).
There really is nothing else that brings me more joy than knowing I can offer something to women that makes them feel incredible. Of course, I have my challenges (both business and personal) and there are so many things I can’t wait to improve on and share with my Baiia women. But what’s important is knowing that women of all body shapes & ages, from all over the world are celebrating themselves in our designs - which only makes me even more excited and focused on my business’s and my own personal mission:
To create unique and feminine swimwear that empowers all women and honours sustainable practice.
Thank you for riding this wave with both me and our baiia team, but most importantly, thank you for believing that together we have the capacity to change the world for the better.
Amber x
Different size than you expected? Let our fit experts help you.
LET’S CHATPlease note: Baiia swimsuits will initially feel firmer at first. Your suit will soften to your shape with wear.
Baiia is all women;
A celebration of difference