Remnant bikinis
Remnant Bikinis is a swimwear brand with a mission. Featuring bold colors and cuts that stand out on the catwalks of Swim Week, the mission goes far beyond selling fashionable swimsuits. With a dedication to ethics, sustainability, and empowering women to feel beautiful in their own bodies, Remnant Bikinis is a brand that truly embraces the power fashion has to shape, influence, and change our world. I had a chat with founder and designer Layli Toth to learn more.
You showed your collection at LA and Miami Swim Week Presented by Art Hearts Fashion. What has been your favorite part and how has the experience been?
LA was my first show. First shows can be overwhelming and exciting at the same time. It’s a lot of pressure, yet this is something you’ve always been looking forward to. Remnant Bikinis has been live for around two years, so we’re still super young, but Swim Week has always been that thing on the pedestal that we’re dreaming of and thinking about. It was an incredible experience in both LA and Miami. Once I got there and started meeting all the people, the energy was so different. Everyone was incredibly welcoming, friendly, excited, and supportive – other designers, models, photographers, and producers – every single person I met has been incredibly kind and supportive. The energy is absolutely incredible. They were the busiest days, both LA and Miami, and exhausting, but probably the best days I have had. I had an incredible experience.
“If you’re in harmony with yourself and you’re able to love yourself, you’re able to love the rest of the world.”
The energy of fashion week events is definitely unmatched. It’s the best creative energy to be around. To segue a bit, I want to talk about your brand mission and values because I know that’s super important to you. Two of the words you really emphasize in your brand bio are ‘art’ and ‘earth.’ So, I thought I’d let you elaborate on that a bit and explain why those words are sort of the pillars and backbone of your brand and vision.
Sure! I started my brand for two reasons. One, sustainability. I love the ocean and it’s a place that feels like home all the time. If you’re by the ocean, everything is well. I spend a lot of time in tropical places, traveling, and just being in nature. Sustainability has always been right in front of my face. The sustainable revolution is coming, but we have a long way to go. I had a hard time finding swimwear that I loved, that would fit well, and that was fun and fashionable. I think fashion is art, it’s how we express ourselves. One more thing I wanted to bring into this is that it’s difficult to see when women don’t love their bodies and don’t treat themselves with kindness. That’s rampant, it’s everywhere. Bikinis will either make you look amazing or they won’t, but it all depends on the cut, the fabric, and the fit. A bikini doesn’t look off because of your body, it’s just the wrong cut. So, I kind of just married the things I love most and that’s how Remnant Bikinis was born. My biggest mission is sustainability and cleaning up our oceans while also helping women on their journeys to love their bodies more.
You’re also passionate about ethical manufacturing. There’s so much exploitation of people in the industry and it’s certainly something we need to improve upon, so why is this such an important value to you as well?
I think everything we’re talking about – your identity, how you see yourself, wellness – it’s not separate from the rest of the world. If you’re in harmony with yourself and you’re able to love yourself, you’re able to love the rest of the world. We can’t possibly live fulfilled lives and be complete people when we’re exploiting somebody indirectly by buying clothes they made [under poor working conditions]. I think it’s a full circle; you love yourself and you love other people. Buying things from a brand that’s using sweatshops is not love. The worst part is that most consumers have no idea. I had no idea what was happening. There’s kind of a general concept, but you don’t really understand how rampant it is. The majority of large brands are not manufacturing ethically, in any way, and it’s very sad. We’re so far removed from it. It’s a lack of awareness. For me, it’s very important to create a brand that doesn’t perpetuate the same terrible things. We don’t need any more fast fashion brands that not only pollute our planet but also exploit people. That’s not love. I tried my best to work hard on every part of our manufacturing so that we not only take care of our people but every step along the way. We use toxin-free dyes, we don’t use plastic packaging - it’s all home compostable and bio-degradable in plant pots. I’ve invested a lot of research, time, and energy into making every part of the supply chain sustainable. To go into a bit more detail, our seamstresses make twice the minimum wage. They get health insurance for themselves and their families. They get meals at work. They work in a community. We manufacture overseas, but I’ve been to the facilities, and I know what the people go through and feel daily. We’re proud of that.
How did you come up with the name Remnant Bikinis, and what’s the significance?
Thank you for asking, a lot of people are, like, ‘What? What do you call it?’ So, Remnant stands for the remnants of plastic. Our swimwear is made out of 78-82% recycled nylon that comes from either fishing nets or post-consumer/pre-consumer plastic that hasn’t been used in textiles. Plastic water bottles as well. Most people don’t know this, but anything that’s stretchy in your clothes contains nylon or synthetics that are actually plastic. What we do is take nylon from fishing nets or recycled plastic and turn them into high-quality fabrics. The fabrics are incredibly soft and stretchy and they don’t fade. I still have my samples from three years ago when we first started and they haven’t faded. I can still wear them and they haven’t stretched.
From a creative and artistic standpoint, what are some of your biggest influences? I know as I was watching your collection move down the runway, all the bright colors and fun cuts really caught my attention, so what’s the inspiration?
The inspiration is my long, hard, and ultimately failed search for fashionable and fun sustainable bikinis. I feel like a lot of sustainable or eco-friendly brands are very gorgeous but also very monotone in a lot of ways – a lot of beige, black, white, and linen. I’m a fun person and I love wearing loud and fun things. I think colors, for summer especially, are so fun. You can’t have summer without red or blue or pink. So, I want to create a line that’s incredibly fun. The colors are inspired by, I guess, who I am.
What are some changes you expect to see over the next 5 years for your brand?
I want Remnant Bikinis to be an international brand that is recognizable everywhere. I would love to continue incorporating and allowing our creative direction to help women understand that life is beautiful, their bodies are beautiful, and loving your body also equates to loving the world around you. I love creative directing. I actually shoot all of our photos that are on the website. I think the biggest goal is to do more inspirational content and partner with photographers and videographers who also care about sustainability and love to live life and have that spark. I want to continue evolving and helping women understand that fashion is fun and that they don’t have to feel intimidated. It shouldn’t inspire comparison or other negative things that sometimes come from social media or fashion shows. We can be fashionable but we can also love ourselves and love the planet. I really want to continue partnering with other organizations that work on cleaning up beaches and reforestation projects. My biggest wish is to partner with organizations that clean up our oceans.
Those are wonderful goals and so important. I’m glad to hear you’re working on all these things to help our planet, and to help others love themselves and in turn love our planet more.