Blossoming Through Adversity: Roxanne Ohayon
Lessons To Learn About Making An Impact For The Better With Her Sustainable Bikini Line, Lotus Swimwear.
If you’re a college student then you know how hard it is to balance school, work and having a social life. Not to mention extracurriculars, sports, trying to perfect your LinkedIn profile – oh, and save the world? Bottom line, adulting ain’t easy! But as life gets more challenging, we are often inspired and pushed to create, disrupt and innovate unlike ever before. Our generation (whether you like to be considered a Millennial, Gen Z-er or Gen X-er) is becoming increasingly more aware and more concerned about our impact on the planet. From conferences to street riots – we aren’t afraid to let our voices be heard. There is an endless amount of inspiration coming from young people today. That said, meet Roxanne Ohayon – founder of college student, female-entrepreneur, and founder of Lotus Swimwear, an eco-friendly swimwear brand based in California.
The awe-inspiring, Roxanne Ohayon
What’s your story? What caused you to create a sustainable swimwear brand?
I’ve always had a love for fashion design and art. From a young age my family encouraged me to express myself through art, and I always found myself painting or sketching in my free time. My best friend and I would always come up with crazy outfits and new color and design combos whenever we were together. I even considered going to art or fashion school after years of art classes. My dream job was to be an editor at Vogue.
Things changed when I got to high school, and my grandfather, my role model and biggest supporter, passed away from cancer. I decided I wanted to pursue science and get a PhD so I could be involved in immunotherapy research, a rising biomedical field in which your own immune system can be programmed to fight cancer, that could have saved my grandfather if the field was more advanced at the time he was diagnosed. It was hard for me to see an intersection between my love for art and fashion and passion for science at the time. When I began my time at UCLA as a freshman, I had a few ‘side hustles’ aside from doing research that included selling clothing and jewelry, that were primarily from wholesale manufacturers, on online platforms to help pay my college tuition.
I made a generous amount of money doing this and felt excited to expand my efforts. However, at the same time, I began learning about the startling impact the fashion industry and fast fashion corporations have on our planet. I started doing more research on it. I interned at a sustainable fashion startup. I watched documentaries like “The Real Cost” and was appalled that no one was talking about the environmental destruction and worker exploitation resulting from the norms of the fashion industry.
The fashion industry is the most wasteful industry in the world. So, one day, after a swimwear company that clearly purchased their pieces from a bulk overseas manufacturer and raised their prices to profit tremendously reached out to me on Instagram to be an “ambassador” for their brand, I thought to myself, “I need to do something. I have to disrupt this industry.” After that moment came a lot of sleepless nights, and a lot of excitement, balancing my classes, extracurriculars, a part-time job writing science articles for Stanford Medicine, and doing research all while building the brand.
I had no technical design experience. I remember sitting in the library at 2am one night with a sketchbook, just sketching ideas for suits, and then sending them to any ethical suppliers I could find and hoping they’d be able to bring my ideas to life. I was over the moon excited when I discovered the sustainable fabrics. I had help from my wonderful roommate from Bali who helped steer me towards tropical color schemes that are now the foundation of our line. Then came the idea of making the suits reversible, and then the top that’s now our exclusive design, where you can wear the same top four very distinct ways to get the most out of your garment.
I’m looking forward to all that’s to come, and I know it’s going to require a lot of hard work and time management. But my mantra has always been to seize every opportunity in front of you. Never waste your potential. I want sustainable fashion to be the norm, not a luxury, and I hope our brand can be at the forefront of that. It’s been a beautiful journey.
Can you tell us a little bit about how your culture has influenced your brand? Where do you get your inspiration from?
I come from a Persian and Moroccan background. Both cultures have a big emphasis on aesthetics – the beauty and vibrancy of nature, and of design in endless forms. My culture has definitely influenced the colors I’m drawn to, often deep or bright hues, and the kind of fits I can see the strong, confident women of my cultures embracing.
I’m definitely inspired by nature and tropical aesthetics. I gravitate towards a lot of natural tones in my pieces. It reminds me of my ideal getaway – being surrounded by lush florals and greens, bright blues from ocean, the sky, and breathtaking sunsets. There’s so much inspiration to be taken from all the natural things around us. Art imitates life!
Industry trend reports have been a great resource to gain a foundation and decide on color palettes, but at the end of the day it comes down to having the confidence to come out with print and color combinations that I love and can see a diverse range of women wearing.
We wanna know it all, give us the rundown on your sustainable fabrics!
The fabric we use is a blend of 100% regenerated nylon and elastane. The supply chain starts with recovering abandoned ocean fishing nets from the ocean. These fishing nets are dumped into our oceans in hundreds of thousands of tons per year and are made of nylon, a material that never biodegrades. Through a repolymerization process, the nets and other nylon waste are turned back into the soft, vibrant fabric we use for our suits! The fabric even has the same UV and chlorine resistant properties as virgin nylon, which is exciting, and a reminder of the value of keeping companies and supply chains circular.
As a female entrepreneur – why should our clothes make us women feel empowered and confident?
I’ve always seen clothing as a form of self-expression. It’s amazing to see women being unapologetically themselves, and exuding that confidence through colors and styles in ways that don’t need a verbal introduction. It’s important to give women the space to express themselves and feel confident in the clothing we wear. That being said, the fashion industry as a whole needs to able to expand these options for women and make sustainable fashion the norm. It’s difficult to find a wardrobe of sustainable pieces that make women feel confident without spending thousands of dollars, and that’s hard to keep up with if you’re a woman who loves to experiment with style. It shouldn’t be a luxury.
We’re dying to know…what’s your favorite place to shop (and have your shopping habits shifted since starting your brand)?!
I’ve been really into thrifting lately – and there’s so many great finds in thrift stores around LA. Finding pieces with character and scoring deals on vintage looks no one else has is not only better for the environment (and my wallet!), but it’s exciting to put together a look that is original and authentically me, and you never know what you’ll find!
I’m happy I’ve stayed true to my promise to myself to stop buying from fast fashion companies, even though it can be hard as a student on a budget. Thrifting has been an easy switch and the perfect solution- the other day I snagged a brand new Reformation top for $8!
Thanks to the incredible work done by Roxanne, we can look ultra cute, feel ultra cute and reduce our impact while strutting on the beach! It’s officially time to say goodbye to cheap bikinis that we only use once, if that! Roxanne’s sustainably made Lotus Swimwear pieces gives us a feeling of nostalgia – a retro look accentuated through thick quality fabric, bold reversible prints and killer contour seams. In the process of creating her all-time swimwear brand (as a fricken college student!), Roxanne has inspired us all to see how much our fashion choices matter. She’s cleaning up the fashion industry one sustainable bikini at a time!
Photographer: @kianakanoa
Models: @malia_nicole @_sagenelson @goodvibes.and.highfives @babehnells @sawa_patch
Words: Kiana Kanoa