Start with one clear customer, two or three core styles and a single fabric, then put your money into fit, colour and branding rather than a wide range. That is the short answer to how to start a swimwear brand with white label production: you choose proven styles from a manufacturer’s range, and the work you do goes into who the range is for and how it looks.
Decide who you are dressing
Swimwear is personal. A customer buying a swimsuit cares about coverage, support and how the piece looks on them far more than they do with a T-shirt. So the first decision is not the style. It is the customer.
Ask:
- Where will they swim? A beach holiday, a hotel pool, a lake, a swim class or water sports each suggest different pieces.
- How much coverage do they want? Some buyers want a two-piece. Others want a one-piece with a higher neckline, a rash guard over a swimsuit, or full arm and leg cover.
- Who else is in the family? Many swim purchases are for a family trip, so swim shorts and rash guards sell alongside women’s swimsuits.
- What climate and season? In a warm climate swimwear sells all year. Elsewhere it is a short, intense season.
Write a short paragraph describing your customer. It will guide every later choice, from fabric to packaging.
Choose a small range of styles
Our swimwear range covers five styles. A new brand rarely needs all of them at first.
| Style | Sizes | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| One-piece | XS–3XL | Beach, pool and resort buyers |
| Two-piece | XS–3XL | Fashion and holiday buyers |
| Swim shorts | S–3XL | Men, families, resort shops |
| Rash guard | XS–3XL | Water sports, families, modest buyers |
| Full-cover swimsuit | XS–3XL | Modest-fashion buyers |
A focused start might be one one-piece and one two-piece for a fashion swim brand, or a full-cover swimsuit and a long-sleeve rash guard for a modest-fashion brand. A resort shop might choose swim shorts and a rash guard with the resort’s name.
Linings, cup inserts and leg shapes are confirmed when you choose a style, so tell us what your customer expects.
Pick the fabric and colours
We cut swimwear from nylon-elastane or polyester-elastane, both stretch fabrics made for wear in water.
Nylon-elastane has a soft, smooth feel and a slight sheen. Brands often choose it for fashion swimwear. Polyester-elastane holds colour well and has a more matte look, which suits swim shorts, rash guards and printed ranges.
For colours, a first collection does well with a short palette: one dark core colour such as black or navy, one or two seasonal colours, and perhaps one bright. Solid colours come from the fabric options, and the colour split per style is confirmed at quotation.
Plan your first order
Swimwear sits in our specialised band. The minimum is 300 pieces per style, and sizes can be mixed within a style, so one order can cover a full size run from XS to 3XL. You can also split a style across more than one colour, with the split confirmed at quotation.
Because the minimum is per style, a two-style start means two separate minimums. Plan the range with that in mind. Many new brands start with one hero style in two or three colours, rather than several styles in one colour each.
The order follows our usual process:
- Enquiry, with your styles, fabric, colours and rough quantities.
- Quotation, priced per style by fabric, quantity and branding, with the lead time confirmed.
- Sample, so you can check fit, lining, elastic and colour.
- Advance payment to start production.
- Production.
- Quality check against the approved sample.
- Dispatch, after the balance is paid.
Swimwear sells to a season. Work back from the date you want stock on sale, and leave room for the sample stage. Our page on minimum order and samples explains the sample step in more detail.
Make it your brand
White label means the garment carries your brand, not ours. For swimwear, a printed or soft woven label inside suits the fabric well, with a wash-care label in the side seam. A small heat transfer logo on the outside adds a visible mark. Rash guards and swim shorts can also take a screen-printed or sublimated design.
Finish with a hang tag and packaging that suit how you sell. A resort shop may want each piece bagged and tagged with a price space. An online store may want a printed bag with your logo.
Labelling requirements for swimwear vary by country, and we confirm them at quotation for your destination.
Your first step
Look through the styles on our white label swimwear page. Then send us a short description of your customer, the styles and fabric you are leaning toward, your colours, logo and rough quantities by size. We take enquiries from buyers worldwide. Shipping method, terms and documents are confirmed in the quotation.