Brandon Blackwood’s expansion is not slowing anytime soon. The viral accessories designer is launching his first swimwear line on Friday.
Blackwood has applied the same classic, color-focused perspective that made his handbag designs famous to a range of bathing suit styles.
Speaking by phone, the designer said that while some may think swim is an unusual category for his brand, it’s quite the opposite.
Blackwood made a name for himself on the internet and continues to utilize social media to engage with his community and poll consumers on their needs and wants.
One thing he noticed is that, “every summer we saw people posting their travels and really cool content with the bags, a lot of the time wearing swimsuits.”
In an effort to push this image-making element of this brand forward, Blackwood felt like introducing his own swimsuits could bring his company further into the lifestyle sector. One of his key styles — a retro lap swimsuit shape — has his brand’s logo written across the chest, which will only help with brand awareness and promotion in those summer selfie snaps.
This is the second major category launch for Blackwood in recent months. In March, he also branched out with his first line of shoes.
Blackwood’s first swim line includes eight styles — five mix-and-match bikini pieces and three different one-piece suits. They are priced from $35 for a swim bralette to around $80 for a one-piece. They will be available on Blackwood’s website, as well as in-store at Kith Miami, a location where the brand does “really well,” according to the designer.
Blackwood says that the swimsuits’ accessible pricing is in line with his brand’s general product launch strategy. “All of our first launches tend to have lower prices at first so our customers get can a feel for the items and we can get good feedback,” he said.
The swim designs are manufactured in both Portugal and Turkey and are offered in a full-size run from extra small to extra-extra large.
There is a range of bright colors — as well as simple black — to choose from. “We chose colors based off of our popular bags because people like to match their bags to their shoes and we brought that over to swim,” Blackwood said.
For the launch campaign, Blackwood continued his focus on unconventional marketing techniques. He commissioned Zoe Poulis, a world-acclaimed artistic swimmer, to record videos of herself performing while wearing the new swim designs. For still imagery, Blackwood linked with marine biologists in the Bahamas who model the designs alongside wildlife like stingrays and game fish.
