Fashion people love to take very chic holidays – and post a lot of photos while doing so – and chances are, your currently consists of your favourite models, editors, designers and bloggers vacationing in some far flung destination or another. Said vacations often involve a beach meaning countless photos of swimwear and, quite in the same way everyone seems to flock to similar destinations, they tend to gravitate towards the same swimwear labels, too. The choice du jour? Well, anything Kiini designer Ipek Irgit turns her hands too.
Over the last couple of years, sports styles with a surf edge became a thing with the fashion set flocking to the likes of Lisa Marie Fernandez for anything with zips and neoprene, but right now if it’s Irgit’s eye-catching combos of colourful crochet swimwear that’s captured everyone’s imagination. We know this thanks to masters of data Lyst, who recently reported that searches for the brand are up 822% since this time last year.
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Like many successful launches, it happened almost by accident. Having grown up in Çeşme on the Aegean Coast in Turkey, she grew up spending half of the year on a beach but struggled to find any swimsuit that worked. Nothing she tried on was quite right so what to do? Create your own. “Now, it’s so great to make something that I love, but that the whole world likes too,” she says. “But none of it was strategic. I just really needed a good swimsuit and a job!”
Spurred on by friends, she launched her first collection – which she describes as “bohemian, sporty, chic, sexy and playful at the same time” – in 2012, selling it in a boutique attached to a restaurant. A few months later she hosted a small launch party, sold a handful of pieces to a few select local stores. One week later, they were completely sold out and the phone hasn’t stopped ringing. In fact, she’s the first to admit that trying to satisfy the demand (especially with a tiny team) has been one of the biggest challenges, albeit not a shabby one to have. Here she explains why swimwear was always her first love, why she made the decision to leave Europe for the bright lights of New York and why she has no intention of giving her pieces away for free.
ON HER EPIC CAREER JOURNEY & TAKING TIME TO FIND HER CALLING: I worked numerous jobs after I moved to New York – it was enough to give my parents’ a heart attack – from waitressing to trying to do my own TV show about New York Arts and Culture. I didn’t really stay long in any of those fields. My first fashion job was at Max Mara where I learned about quality, brand integrity and that I never want to work in a corporation. Then I worked for a very cool designer Tracy Feith where I learned about mixing unexpected elements in design and how not to run a company. Then there were several jobs in branding, styling and art directing. Kiini is where I can bring in my knowledge of a little bit of everything. But it is still a lot of learning as I go.
HER BIG MOVE TO NEW YORK: I always liked travelling and knew I had to get out of Turkey and leave my comfort zone for my personal development. I also really wanted to surround myself with creative people and different creative industries. New York was always first choice since it is the most challenging and also accepting city in terms of diversity. So as soon as school finished I packed my bags and never looked back…
WHY SWIMWEAR WAS ALWAYS HER FIRST LOVE: Even though I love New York, my escapes were always to the seaside. I love the beach lifestyle and can’t imagine a life without it. I would totally lose my ground without that balance. Growing up, the summers we spent on the Aegean coast have been the most formative times of my life. But beach life also always meant a struggle to find the right swimsuit for me. I used to get depressed looking for a swimsuit – there was nothing out there that truly matched my taste. That’s where it all began for me. Now, it’s so great to make something that I love, but that the whole world likes too. I feel like the apparel industry is way more competitive than swimwear so it would have be harder to stand out if I’d gone that route. But none of these were strategic decisions. I just really needed a good swimsuit and a job!
HER STRUGGLE TO FIND THAT PERFECT-IN-EVERY-WAY PIECE: Up until recently there was a real gap in the swimwear industry, especially in the US where the cuts were really unflattering. There were either granny styles or that Victoria’s Secret overly sexy, eyesore pink push-ups. I have travelled to Brazil numerous times and I found that some brands like Lenny have really nailed the art of flattering the body. Also the prices in Brazil were much more reasonable due to currency exchange. I find the Brazilian bottoms to be a little too small too so I made sure Kiini’s are somewhere in between American and Brazilian. Kiini represents my personality – it doesn’t fit in one genre. It can be bohemian, sporty, chic, sexy and playful at the same time. I love offering handmade details and crochet too – before I started there were no crochet bikinis with support. Nowadays If I am not wearing Kiini, I am either wearing Eres or Lisa Marie Fernandez because they are very different than Kiini styles and I can finally afford them too!
ON MAKING KIINI DIFFERENT: So much thought goes into everything we do. The colour combinations, for example, are very complicated. I always want to mix unexpected combinations. I start from a reference point, but time to time get lost and reject many samples until I fell 100 per cent happy about the combo. Some colours came together very easy and some are just a never-ending process. The handmade sensibility of my pieces is always really important to me. My mom is amazing seamstress and so was her mother and sister – she made most of my clothes growing up – so she definitely instilled a DIY tendency in me.
My pieces are awesome so don’t need to be pushed onto people. And besides, celebrities can totally afford to buy one. In the beginning I didn’t have the budget for gifting anyway. Each piece is really hard to make and expensive too. Why should I send it to someone who may never wear it or can afford it?
EVOLUTION OVER REVOLUTION: I don’t change collections every season – I just add on. This season, for example, I had a lot of sunrise, sunset, Lucite and light reflections and zero art movement on my mood boards and the imagery we shot for my website has all that too. No matter what I’m inspired by, the Kiini signature is in the trim and it will always be there. I’ll always make the classic flattering bikini top and bottom but this season I added a whole range of new shapes like one pieces, a high waisted bottom and one shoulder one-piece.
ON THE PIECE THAT KICK STARTED IT ALL: The first piece I created was based on a style my grandmother knitted for me when I was a kid and some other samples I had collected over the years. It is very similar to my Tasmin style but it wasn’t made in a swim-friendly fabric and the fit wasn’t as good. I improved it to what Tasmin is now and launched that along with two other colourways.
THE BIGGEST STRUGGLES: One of my big challenges has been trying to keep up with demand without losing integrity and hiring the right people to help without panicking. My biggest challenge right now is the copiers around the world. People say I should be flattered but I despise all of them. It just shows a very ugly face of humanity to me. I am taking legal action towards some of the big names that have copied. I also hired a company that will help with takedowns of infringers in social media and marketplaces. It’s all coming down very soon!
HER ZERO GIFTING POLICY: My pieces are awesome so don’t need to be pushed onto people. And besides, celebrities can totally afford to buy one. In the beginning I didn’t have the budget for gifting anyway. Each piece is really hard to make and expensive too. Why should I send it to someone who may never wear it or can afford it? Once the word is out, it was clear that I didn’t need to gift it away and people were happy to buy it. I think this whole gifting thing is a bit ridiculous and has created a vast amount of entitled social media personalities that think that just because they can hold a cell phone, pucker their lips and push the camera button, they should be sponsored by brands on their next trip to the Maldives.
OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGLES OF RUNNING A BUSINESS: There is no moment that I can’t think of work, which gets annoying. Even if I try to not think, someone will find a way of reminding me. But I would never change it for the world. I don’t like working for others. I just never had good luck when it came to working with my bosses. I’d much rather be a slave to my own company that someone else’s. That’s what keeps me going. Also whenever people ask me what I do and I say I make bikinis, it always puts a smile on their face. Girls, boys, old, young, everybody likes to think about bikinis. It’s really lovely. I am not here to save the world but at least I make people smile somehow.
ON HER HILARIOUSLY BUSY DAY AS A DESIGNER: When I am in New York this is how it goes: wake up around 5am from some form of anxiety. Check emails. Tell myself I shouldn’t check emails in bed. Hopefully managing to get back to sleep around 6am. Wake up again at 8am. Check emails in bed telling myself I shouldn’t check emails in bed. Contemplate going to gym. Realise I left my sneakers in the office. Arrive at work at 9:30am. And then…well its 10:50pm and I am still here. No bueno. Somewhere in between I get some work done.
THE ‘PINCH ME’ MOMENTS: The first British Vogue article, then seeing people from all around the world (celebrity and not) posting themselves on social media wearing Kiini. If there wasn’t Instagram, I don’t think Kiini would be anywhere near where it is now. I still pinch myself everyday.