We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andrew Desiderio. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Andrew below.

Andrew, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Naming a company is one of the most exciting aspects of starting a company. You are full of dopamine and excitement about the future potential of your ideas and it’s finally coming to fruition. Then almost immediately you realize, wow this starting a company thing won’t be easy eh!??!

One of the biggest challenges that we found was ironically not the navigation of trademarks or narrowing down all of the cute names on our short list, but rather finding social media handles that were available. How do you come up with a new name that is available after billions of social media handles are already taken, even if dormant?

After running into the wall a few times I was sitting at work with my dog Riley who became our shop dog. He had been by my side almost daily for 12 years and it was clear that not only was he a hit with customer but I had to honor him as he was reaching the tail end of his life (no pun intended).
Naturally Riley is so common of a name that it was not available but I always loved how a brand like RVCA had such an unconventional name that you didn’t know how to pronounce it and customers always would have a conversation about how to say it. So I came up with the idea to make an unconventional spelling of Rhyle, something to get you talking. Now, my dog Riley has passed away and there is no greater pride than being able to hear his name every day and to know his name is memorialized.

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.

I am the epitome of when then they say you are born in a job and when a job is in your blood. My family started Gone Bananas Beachwear a San Diego staple since 1975. Years later I was born and I quite literally grew up in the shop, sitting on the counter before I could walk, getting dropped off before I could drive to work the night shift and in 2019 finally taking the reigns and continuing the Gone Bananas legacy. For those who grew up in a family business, there is always a turmoil about continuing a previously built legacy and defining your own. With that in mind, Rhyle Swim was born. It felt natural to take a literal lifetime of knowledge of the swimwear industry and to put it into action. Now to see the growth and compliment to Gone Bananas it has been as much fulfillment as one could have hoped for.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

Finding a manufacturer is so much more than a transaction. It becomes a relationship. It is important to have a strong bond of trust amongst each other. It also is important to be able to have healthy communication as there are a lot of intricacies that need to be ironed out to execute a product from vision to a finished product. Manufacturing margins are always razor thin so there is always a battle to keep prices beneficial for both. As tariffs are a big talking point now in the US, being mindful of your country of source is important, but this is not just a factor now. Global exchange rates, international policy and workplace conditions and skills are essential factors to consider in where and who to source with.

Manufacturing products is the best way to be humbled. There is no greater feeling than having a creative idea and putting it into fruition. Especially when you are able to see your product reach the market and be received happily by consumers. Much like any creative endeavor however there are follies and failures that are part of the process. Sometimes when you think you have a perfect product and put it into production you find out a miscalculation or an unknown shows itself and makes you question all of your expertise at the moment. Trying to thoroughly product test always helps. Paying attention to the smallest of nuances is even more important. Truth is, this is really a circumstance where experience pays dividends.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Before Rhyle was created, I left my career here in San Diego to attend the University of Miami to receive an Executive MBA. I left across the country expecting to take over the town and had every hope to land a high powered corporate job and ascend the ranks. Boy was I wrong. I fell flat on my face and struggled to find work everywhere I looked. Days became frustrating and anguish set in. After finishing my MBA as the valedictorian but still not finding strong placement, I came back to San Diego with my tail tucked. I learned two big lessons from those challenges. One, that we can always persist. Keep moving forward and let our innate human nature find a path. Challenges will come about, but breaking through those challenges is what makes our path. Which taught me the ultimate lesson, which is key for a start up, to never give up. You feel your back against the wall every day. You find challenges that feel insurmountable. You find days of ultimate success and night of ultimate failure, but when you stand amongst your peers, so often perseverance is key.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rhyleswim.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/rhyleswim
• Other: https://tiktok.com/@rhyleswim

Image Credits

Mariana Leon Photography