A few weeks ago I spoke with Clara Fortini
about her swimwear line, Nua. She told me that Nua translates to naked in
Portuguese, in which she is fluent, meaning that the suit fits in such a comfortable
way that it feels as though you are wearing next to nothing, like a second skin.
She wanted to bring life and colour to
her customer’s life palette and that is reflected heavily when looking at the
collection.
Season five of Nua is about to debut in a
few months and the collections have only improved each season. All of the
pieces are constructed of thick nylon and spandex swimsuit fabric. As
functional as they are for beach and poolside lounging they can all be dressed
up into chic outfits. Fortini says that this was something she highly focused
on during the design process. “You can’t wear swimsuits in
the restaurants at some resorts, she says. But zip on the sleeve and slip on a
skirt and it suddenly looks like a chic outfit” showing me a photo to
demonstrate, wearing a white one sleeved swimsuit with a mini skirt, Michael
Kors heels, a clutch purse, and hoop earrings.
Asking where the inspiration came to do a
practical but glam line of swimwear she told me that it was after a vacation to
the party island in Ibiza where almost all party goers were dressed up in
bathing suits with stilettos and full hair and makeup in the early evening. Pop
singers like Rihanna and Beyonce can be blamed for this “bottomless” look.
Music videos showing woman in sleek bodysuits, high heels, and full glam are
becoming increasingly popular inspiring a nightclub trend. The first season of
Nua was shown in an actual nightclub on King Street West. “I wanted to show it
off as a leisure suit, a lounge suit, and a chilling suit” she said, bringing
it back to the first design goal of being able to dress it up into an outfit.
Starting to talk more about the business
logistics of the company, she told me that she has space in a warehouse just
North of the city that holds the product until it is ready to be sold. She has
some samples at her condo to show or sell to people that are close to her but
the rest is at the warehouse. The bathing suits are manufactured completely
locally here in Toronto which really adds value to them. At first glance the $150
price point may seem a bit steep but seeing they are all made in Toronto it is
a very reasonable price. Canadians love buying products that are made in
Canada, supporting local and helping our own economy. Fortini says that her
customers show this when giving feedback about the company always saying that
it is an attracting feature. The Canadian manufacturing sets her brand above
mainstream swimwear lines from companies like Victoria Secret which is made
overseas.
The suits are sold exclusively online, the
entire website is set up for just Nua. The website is visually appealing and
shows not only this years collection but collections from previous years too
which is nice for new and old customers being able to see how the brand has
grown and changed each season. The website is split into two categories,
swimsuits and cover ups. This arrangement is perfect because the customer can
choose the perfect suit for themselves and then go over to the other part of
the website and find a cover up to match.
Being sold online only makes running the
company easier. Not having to deal with communicating back and forth with
stores and transporting the product from the warehouse to each store saves a
lot of time and money. Running the business strictly as an online store
eliminates the second person. Once the order is placed online it can be
received and processed at the warehouse. After the warehouse receives the order
it can simply package it and ship it directly to the customer. This eliminates
the amount of places the product has to travel to therefore reducing the risk
of theft and damages. When asked if she see’s the bathing suits being sold in
stores in the future Fortini says that she loves the operations of the online
store but won’t rule it out as an option.
As fashion students this company can be
inspiring to us all. Taking the concept of wanting every woman to feel sexy,
Fortini was able to develop an entire company around it. Being able to connect
her love for fashion, sex appeal, functionality, and empowering woman makes the
company a model for anyone wanting to start their own business, showing that
you can do something that brings all of your passions into one. The story of
this company shows us that it is possible to create your own business without
spending millions of dollars. Hopefully the glamorous, unique, but practical
aspects of the bathing suits will allow Nua to be equally successful and grow
in the collections and years to come.
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