We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Loulou . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Loulou below.
Alright, Loulou thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
The idea for JAZZYBELLE SWIM started in 2018. As a busty woman, I’ve always struggled with finding clothing that were flattering and bikinis weren’t an exemption. I started to host parties as a side gig during summers and most of them were for pool parties. I searched high and low for sexy, full coverage, supportive bikinis and all I could find were maternity one-pieces or plus size swimwear with outdated designs. I would have to resort to wearing smaller size bikini tops that would leave me uncomfortable and unable to really enjoy the events. I began to get more invitations to parties and the process of finding new swimwear was frustrating. I finally decided to find a seamstress to get my bikinis custom made to my size. I started to wear my custom bikini tops to the parties and so many women who were also busty, would approach me to ask, “where did you get your bikini?!”. I would recommend them to my seamstress but then I had a lightbulb moment and realized that I was solving a problem for myself, that other women experienced as well. I had a business idea and niche here.
Before the lockdown, I was working a miserable job managing a store. I knew I needed to start looking for other options and I wanted to be out of corporate all together. I started to take the idea more seriously, but I had no prior knowledge of the swimwear industry and whether or not it was a profitable market. As a black woman I also didn’t see many Black owned swimwear brands. I became dedicated to learning more about the industry. I researched if there were competitors in the busty swimwear niche, the cost of starting the business, where to find manufacturers and on how to start a brand.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My name is Loulou, CEO of Jazzybelle Swim. I’m Haitian-Canadian but I’ve lived in Miami most of my life.
I would consider myself a hustler. I’ve had many small business ventures before JZB SWIM, but this has been the most successful and fulfilling one. I got into the swimwear industry simply by taking a leap of faith and solving a problem a lot of women could relate to. What sets JZB SWIM apart from others is that we provide busty and/or plus size women an experience that we were excluded from before, which is the confidence to wear sexy, comfortable swimwear. The swimwear industry assumes that all busty women are plus size or that plus size women want to be in one-pieces or maternity swimsuits. The feedback from my customers has been positively overwhelming. Being an entrepreneur hasn’t been easy, it has required a lot of discipline, sleepless nights and dedication to keep going even when things get rough, but it’s been worth it. I am very grateful for my loyal customers who’ve kept the business flowing and growing. JZB Swim is still a very small company with more room to grow, more designs to come and I hope to become a staple in the swimwear industry one day. My hope is for more black women to enter this industry because we need more representation and I’m proud to be a part of that.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I’ve experienced so many of those moments lol, but I would say in late 2019-2020, during the covid lockdown. I was furloughed from my job with no guarantee of having a secured position once the lockdown was lifted. Bills were due, months were going by with no call from my job, unemployment didn’t cover much, I didn’t know what to do but I knew that I had to think of something and fast. “Jazzybelle Swim” was still a vision on paper, because it was very expensive to launch a brand from scratch. I confided in my best friend about everything I was going through at the time. She was aware of my swimwear idea and asked me “well what’s stopping you from starting?”, I mentioned to her that I didn’t have the large sum of money to get it started and to my surprise she offered to loan me the money to start the brand. I was in tears and so grateful for her believing in me. I accepted her generous offer and got started working with manufacturers right away. I launched the business on January 2021 and due to its instant success, I was able to officially quit my job to focus solely on the business. Being new to this industry, I had no idea that the hardest wave was coming during the fall/winter season. During the fall/winter season, sales dropped drastically. I didn’t take into consideration that the business was seasonal, I relied on the sales for inventory, and this was my only source of income at the time. I became very depressed and came close to shutting the business down, but I knew I couldn’t let my best friend, supporters and my customers down. I told myself that this could be another failure or a learning experience. I chose to make it a learning experience. Despite my depression, I found the motivation to keep going because I knew this was my only way to financial security and I had something that was needed, I just had to go harder. I had to keep going. I used this time to learn about marketing, ads, outreach, you name it, I was on it. I pushed myself to my limit and kept the business alive to survive the slow season. We’re now at our 1 year and 6 months mark in business.
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
Yes, all of our bikinis are designed and manufactured, because the sizes aren’t available on the wholesale market. When I started the business, I thought “well i know how to sew, I can do this” but after making one sample which took me 3 days, I knew that there was absolutely no way I could make 100 lol. I knew that I would have to find a manufacturer to get the design exactly how I envisioned them and because I had prior businesses in retail, I knew where to find one. Our bikinis are made in China by 2 professional swimwear companies. It took a lot of research and samples from many manufacturers to find the right one. I believe it took me 6 months to find my manufacturers. Trust and Quality control was very important for me.
I’ve learned many lessons throughout my manufacturing journey. The main one would be that it’s not CHEAP. Samples, shipping and buying in bulk is very expensive. You also have to be very patient for many reasons and patience was not my forte. Building good relationships with your rep(s) is very important. The language barrier is a common issue, because although the reps speak English, they don’t always comprehend what you’re trying to explain which makes it harder because you can’t be hands on. I draw everything down to the smallest detail to make it easier. I’m lucky enough to work with reps who speak really good English, and they are both fashion students. They’re like my partners, they help bring my vision to life. It’s also important to find manufacturers that offer fast production and shipping. Fast production usually takes a month and fast shipping is about a week otherwise, you will have a hard time getting your inventory on time. In the swimwear industry, we only have a peak season of 6 months. We have to be very organized to get our product on time.
Another lesson is to NEVER rely on one manufacturer. I learned this the hard way this year when my main rep, who I’ve worked with for a year, caught covid and could no longer work for her company. I was devastated, I didn’t know what to do when she left because she was the other force behind my brand and summer was around the corner. We had a great business relationship. She knew exactly what I needed and executed it perfectly. I had to get it together quickly and outsource another manufacturer. I had to literally start from scratch. This cost me 2 months in my peak season, but I was able to find another trustworthy swimwear company and got the show back on the road.
Entrepreneurship is all about problem solving, unexpected obstacles never stop coming. You have to always be on your feet, ready to face anything to save your business. You have to be obsessed with wanting to succeed and you can’t beat yourself up over things you can’t control, just keep trying until something works. Being transparent with my customers has also been very helpful for my mental health on hard days because they get insight into what’s going on behind the scenes, the good, bad and ugly, to get the products they love made for them, and they go on the ride with me. They keep me motivated; I love my Jazzybabes.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jazzybelleswim.com
- Instagram: @JazzybelleSwim
- Twitter: @MsJazzybelle
Image Credits
customers: @bosssken @soldegold @taibella @ayeeyonayy