We recently connected with Claire Forrest and have shared our conversation below.

Claire, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

When I was 19, I was a snorkel instructor for a summer in the Florida Keys. I got PADI scuba certified and learned so much about the coral reef and life it supports underwater. Our mission as a swimwear company is to plant one baby coral for each swimsuit sold, and the customer gets a Card with the GPS coordinate of the coral they have planted. Our Coral reefs are in need of some help ! And I love that having a swimsuit company, encouraging women and men to spend more time interacting with nature and outdoors can help with our mission of planting corals.
We use fabrics made from recycled plastics pulled from the ocean as well.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I got into swimwear during the pandemic, as my main business of photography went on hold for a few months and I found myself with spare time to research the basis of founding a swimwear company, sourcing fabrics, understanding manufacturing, and shipping costs, and make a few mistakes to get to our first collection.

I love that our suits have something for the adventurous, options for more modest coverage, and ultimately serve as an inspiration to the modern woman to seek some time in the water and be held by nature’s most primordial element.

I am proud of the work we have done in replanting a reef system in the Maldives for an island nation that depends directly on healthy oceans.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

Manufacturing has been a huge learning curve- ethically and morally, I desperately wanted to manufacture everything in the USA. That is still a goal of ours, and I hope to hit it in the next two years. However, to get my business off the ground with my own capital, time restraints, and the obvious delays affecting every aspect of business in the US in 2020, the fastest and most cost efficient option to create suits with sustainable recycled plastic fabric came to mean manufacturing in Bali.

I sampled (and continue to sample) seven different companies and the one we settled on had the best communication and ability to meet deadlines. I feel confident providing customers with a product that is as ethically sourced as I can at this juncture. That being said, I still hope to find a partner here in the US that can work with low bulk numbers and create our collections at home in the future.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

So far, the things that we have done that have attracted the most attention and sales have been moves and decisions that have come completely from the heart. As this is a side hustle / passion project, it has made sense at this juncture to keep my intentions life-giving, and those moves have been well received on social media and in real life. That being said, I’m aware that we are still a small company!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.coraleeswim.com
• Instagram: @coraleeswim

Image Credits
Maggie Adams Photography Claire Forrest Films