Fashion designers Emma La Rocca, Adria Oelofse and Amy Till have each built successful swimwear lines that prioritise sustainability. Now, they’re reaping the rewards, with all three Bay of Plenty designers selling worldwide.
Emma La Rocca
Pioneers rarely fly under the radar, but Emma La Rocca’s way of doing things is against the grain.
She is the creator of the world’s first zero-waste swimwear label Emroce, made inside a small cabin studio in her Pāpāmoa backyard.
Despite being a trailblazer for global ethical fashion, those in fast fashion are slow to follow her, she says, with a willingness to try zero-waste hinging on the designer and consumer.
La Rocca has developed an innovative zero-waste pattern-making design which sees no fabric go unused.
Up to 30 per cent of fabrics end up on the cutting room floor in normal pattern-making, and it’s estimated New Zealand sends up to 200,000 tonnes of textile waste to landfills. The fashion industry has been known as the second-biggest polluter in the world, right behind the oil industry due to waste from fabrics, water and dyes.
La Rocca was inspired to launch Emroce in 2018 during travels overseas, and she now sells to customers in 30 countries.
“I was teaching surfing, and I was always trying to find the right swimwear that wouldn’t come off in the surf. I’d adapt my swimwear - tighten it at the side seams or stitch it at the front so it [wouldn’t] open up like a curtain.”
On her return to New Zealand, she began playing with zero-waste patterns, having been inspired by zero-waste philosophies at university. She then adopted a method that fits swimsuits together like a jigsaw puzzle so that no fabric is thrown away.
“The tessellating of swimsuit tops and bottoms - which are mostly triangles, and putting the same pattern pieces together - is my area of expertise.”
She was one of a handful of zero-waste designers to be recruited in 2020 by international French sporting goods retailer Decathlon to work on some of their patterns and teach the retailer their processes.
“After that project, Decathlon put together a zero-waste team. It wasn’t even rolled out throughout the whole company, and in one year, they saved the length of the North Island in fabric.
“Once you try it and see it’s a possibility, you can never go back to creating that amount of waste again,” she says.
La Rocca currently has English fashion student Ellie Mitch from the London College of Fashion working with her on an intern placement. Mitch hadn’t previously heard of zero-waste design.
“At uni, they talk to us about sustainable fashion, but zero-waste has never been mentioned by my teachers. I want to do this for my final year now, which will be challenging, because it’s changing the whole way they teach you to work. The amount of fabric that goes in the bin is insane because we are not educated on it, so people don’t think it’s a problem,” she says.
La Rocca uses the Italian product Econyl, a thicker alternative fabric to nylon, made from waste products including recycled fishing nets, and her swimsuits can last up to seven years.
Her collection includes bikinis and one-pieces, children’s swimsuits, and non-binary swimwear designed with trans women’s bodies in mind – feminine styles with a wider crotch.
She has been teaching her skills in masterclasses nationwide and feels her way of doing things trumps trends, but changing long-held industry practices is a challenge.
“For me, a swimsuit is a tool that allows you to enjoy this beautiful element, which is the water, without having to worry about a boob falling out, or pants going down to your ankles. I put trends aside, I put aesthetics aside. It’s going to end up beautiful anyway, and it does.”
Since 2000, people have been buying twice as many clothes and keeping them for half as long, she says.
“Zero-waste design will be a trend.”
Visit emroce.com.
Adria Oelofse
Using recycled fabrics was once “niche”, but now more companies are “having” to use them so that they don’t look bad, says Adria Oelofse. However, it should be the industry standard.
The 22-year-old fashion designer and surfer from Pāpāmoa owns the label Written in Sunlight and started off making clothing, before branching into swimwear last summer and selling to customers in New Zealand, Australia and the United States.
“A lot of people my age have come to realise how cool it is to have clothing that is made in New Zealand. I’ve seen an increase in people who value that.”
Oelofse struggled to find ethically and sustainably-made clothing, and that inspired her to start her label. She hand-crafts the apparel herself or employs locals to help.
“I did a lot of repurposing using second-hand fabrics, and then when I started making my swimwear, I chose a fabric made from recycled post-consumer plastic [RPET], or I use deadstock fabric, which is leftover from other brands that often get thrown away.”
Some of her fabrics are custom-made, meaning she designed the artwork and then had it printed on to fabric.
“I have two of those and one print, which was a deadstock fabric, so it was just what was available, and then I have two solid colours.”
When it comes to aesthetics, retro 1980s and ‘90s styles are back.
“I’m picturing Pamela Anderson with quite high-cut bottoms, and you can’t go wrong with the classic triangle bikini.
Visit: writteninsunlight.co.nz.
Amy Till
One of New Zealand’s newest swimwear labels is Solsea Swim, designed by Amy Till, who is also behind the popular Australasian brand Hello Stranger Kidswear.
Like La Rocca and Oelofse, her life is “deeply connected to adventure and the ocean”, and they inspire her designs, which are released in small, monthly drops. Come winter, she will also have small drops of loungewear.
The absence of resort-style swimwear in New Zealand inspired her to address the gap and design items that could be used for surfing and swimming, but could also serve as “wardrobe staples”. She sells to New Zealand and Australia and has a flagship stockist in Bali.
She is also working hard to expand sustainability practices.
Hello Stranger Kidswear achieved Global Organic Textile Standard (Gots) certification in 2021, and the experience emphasised the importance of not “merely utilising certified fabrics, but integrating sustainable practices across the entire business”, she says.
That includes choosing sustainable suppliers, dyeing processes, transportation, packaging and hygiene labels; and producing in small quantities to minimise waste.
Till, from Mount Maunganui, uses recycled fabric Econyl for her swimwear, and her printed designs use certified “eco ink” Oeko-Tex.
As far as trends go, individual taste “transcends them”.
“Considering that women’s bodies change, it’s essential to provide options beyond what’s momentarily trendy,” she says.
As for price, sustainability may result in a higher price, but it’s “crucial” to understand that quality typically equals a longer lifespan.
“You ultimately save money by buying fewer items over time.”
Visit: solseaswim.com.
Carly Gibbs is a weekend magazine writer for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post and has been a journalist for two decades. She is a former news and feature writer, for which she’s been both an award finalist and winner.