Short Stories and Tips

In today’s fashion landscape, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by fleeting trends and impossible beauty standards. But at Sun Patrol Swimwear, we believe true style isn’t about fitting in, it’s about standing out, authentically and confidently.

Our mission goes beyond bikinis. We’re here to redefine what it means to feel good in your swimwear. We create pieces that empower women to feel confident, sexy, and strong...no matter their shape, size, or stage of life. Because at the heart of it, we believe that you don’t wear the bikini, the bikini wears you.

Designing for Anybody and Any Body

From the start, our vision has been clear: swimwear should never make you feel intimidated or uncomfortable. That’s why every Sun Patrol piece is designed with a deep commitment to fit, comfort, and elegance. We conduct extensive fit testing on real, diverse bodies, not just industry models, because we believe that real women deserve real representation.

Our collections merge glamour with function, luxurious enough to turn heads, yet comfortable enough to actually live in. Whether you're walking the shoreline, lounging by the pool, or simply enjoying your own skin, our swimwear is made to enhance how you feel, not just how you look.

Inspired by the Sea, Designed from the Soul

Sun Patrol’s founder, Kerri Hayes, was born on the Mediterranean island of Malta—an oasis of golden beaches, crystal waters, and vibrant sunsets. Her roots and travels have deeply shaped the aesthetic of the brand: tropical pastels, ocean blues, and silhouettes that echo the effortless rhythm of the sea.

Each piece tells a story, of island days, sunlit escapes, and the beauty of feeling at home in your body.

Fashion with a Future: Our Sustainability Commitment

As creators, we carry a responsibility, not only to our customers but to the planet we call home. Sun Patrol Swimwear proudly uses recyclable fabrics and environmentally conscious manufacturing techniques to ensure our footprint is as elegant as our designs.

Sustainability isn’t a buzzword, it’s a promise. A promise to protect the earth’s natural beauty, so generations to come can enjoy the same golden sands and clear waters that inspired our first collection.

More Than a Brand We Are On A Mission

At Sun Patrol, we believe body confidence isn't about how you look, it's about how you feel. And that feeling comes from knowing you’re supported by a brand rooted in values:

• Community: Celebrating elegance, grace, and strength in women everywhere

• Passion: Elevating women through thoughtful design and honest storytelling

• Accountability: Standing by our product and our customers with care

• Integrity: Always doing the right thing, even when it’s not the easy thing

• Leadership: Advocating for change in the fashion industry, toward inclusivity, quality, and sustainability

• Foresight: Building a brand today that the future will be proud of

• Quality: Never compromising on excellence

We’re not just designing swimwear. We’re building a culture of confidence, sustainability, and grace.

Join the Patrol

Whether you're a customer, collaborator, or fellow advocate for women-led, sustainable businesses, we invite you to join our mission. Follow us on @sunpatrolswimwear , explore our collections, and reach out to learn more about how Sun Patrol Swimwear is making waves, for all the right reasons.

Here’s to bikinis that feel like freedom.

#SunPatrolSwim #DesignedToEmpower #WearConfidence

At Sun Patrol Swimwear we manufacture sustainable swimsuits that are environmentally friendly and manufactured ethically. But have you ever wondered what exactly makes a sustainable bikini, and what the difference is between the standard bikini and an eco-friendly one?

To answer some of these questions, lets take a look at what goes in to making a bikini.

Most swimwear is made from virgin polyester or nylon. This kind of material not only sheds micro-plastics into the water with each wash, but it’s also a waste of natural resources.

Thankfully, there are several innovative, sustainable swim fabrics out there that swimsuit companies can use in their swimwear.

One of the best eco-friendly materials is ECONYL – it’s regenerated nylon from pre and post-consumer products.

To make ECONYL, waste like fishing nets, fabric scraps and carpet flooring are used in a regeneration and purification process. Then, the nylon is processed and turned into new swimwear products.

There are other types of recycled swimwear fabrics, such as REPREVE, which is made from recycled plastic bottles. Yet another material is EcoLux, which is just another term for recycled nylon fibers. Sun Patrol has swimwear made from both REPREVE and ECOLUX manufactured in an ethical Columbian factory.

Most sustainable and ethical swimwear brands will limit the collections they release each year to ensure the quality of their pieces. Not to mention, less collections also means less materials and resources needed to make the swimwear, keeping it sustainable.

Ideally, swimwear production should be energy efficient, value water, contain recyclable fabrics, and support ethical working conditions. We should all me mindful to do our part to care for the environment and support business who take care of and treat their workers and staff in a humane and kind way. You can do that by shopping for ethically sourced clothing, shoes, household items, and products when given the opportunity. :)

On July 5, 1946, French designer Louis Réard unveils a daring two-piece swimsuit at the Piscine Molitor, a popular swimming pool in Paris, European women first began wearing two-piece bathing suits that consisted of a halter top and shorts in the 1930s, but only a sliver of the midriff was revealed, and the navel was vigilantly covered.

In 1946, Western Europeans joyously greeted the first war-free summer in years, and French designers came up with fashions to match the liberated mood of the people. Two French designers, Jacques Heim and Louis Réard, developed competing prototypes of the bikini. Heim called his the “atom” and advertised it as “the world’s smallest bathing suit.” Réard's swimsuit, which was basically a bra top and two inverted triangles of cloth connected by string, was in fact significantly smaller. Made from a scant 30 inches of fabric, Réard promoted his creation as “smaller than the world’s smallest bathing suit.” Réard called his creation the bikini, named after the Bikini Atoll.

Before long, bold young women in bikinis were causing a sensation along the Mediterranean coast. Spain and Italy passed measures prohibiting bikinis on public beaches but later capitulated to the changing times when the swimsuit grew into a mainstay of European beaches in the 1950s.

In prudish America, the bikini was successfully resisted until the early 1960s, when a new emphasis on youthful liberation brought the swimsuit en masse to U.S. beaches. It was immortalized by the pop singer Brian Hyland, who sang “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini” in 1960, by the teenage “beach blanket” movies of Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, and by the California surfing culture celebrated by rock groups like the Beach Boys. Since then, the popularity of the bikini has only continued to grow.

According to French fashion historian Olivier Saillard, the bikini is perhaps the most popular type of female beachwear around the globe because of "the power of women, and not the power of fashion". As he explains, "The emancipation of swimwear has always been linked to the emancipation of women.” By the early 2000s, bikinis had become a US $811 million business annually.

References: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bikini-introduced