Inspiring Conversations with Aubrey Maggard of Amini Swim

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aubrey Maggard.

Hi Aubrey, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was blessed enough to have parents who took our family on vacations to the beach numerous times throughout my childhood years. You could always find me playing in the ocean, the rougher the waves the better! Those are truly some of my best memories. Part of those memories was also picking out swimsuits to take on vacation, knowing they will only last for the one trip because of the fading and stretching of the fabric.

Skip to years later, I met one of my best friends, Cierra Porter, in 2010. We were friends through high school, college, and then post-grad. We always had this desire to create something together that would better the world and away we could give back. A few months after we graduated college, we moved to different cities and focused on our own separate careers.

As I am realizing the job, I was doing was not fulfilling and bettering the world, I receive a text from Cierra asking if I would be interested in starting a sustainable swimwear line together. After pouring ourselves into research, listening to podcasts, and asking advice from any connections we had, we decided to go for it and created Amini Swim. The next thing we both agreed on was donating 10% of our profits to charities and organizations around the world.

Our faith is of the utmost important thing to us both, and that is how we can tithe our earnings back to God. Neither of us knew anything about starting a company, had ever studied fashion, or really had any idea where to start. We just went for it. What we lack in skill and knowledge, we make up for in unsubstantiated confidence! That is still what keeps us going sometimes.

We found a manufacturer that uses recycled fabrics, provides great working conditions and wages to their employees, and was willing to work with our designs and ideas. Again, even though we knew NOTHING, we believed it would be something big. For those that don’t know, “Amini” means “believe” in Swahili. A belief in ourselves that we are able to change the world.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
While it has been such an exciting and wonderful journey, creating Amini Swim has been anything but a smooth road. My business partner and I have had to learn SO much along the way, and two years in, we still have so so so much to learn.

From the operations to marketing and social media, to designs and dealing with manufacturers, we have had to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Also, we live in different states! I am in Kansas City, and Cierra is in Phoenix. That alone has added major obstacles to how accessible we are to each other and how we can communicate efficiently.

We both have full-time jobs outside of Amini which makes it difficult to find a healthy work/life balance while trying to grow our brand. Since we are still in our early years of growing Amini, we have had to find ways to spread the word to reach people outside of our friends/family with little money to spend on marketing and ads.

Thank goodness for our resilience to keep going (and a little pride)!

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Amini Swim?
Amini Swim started in July 2020 (yes, in the middle of the pandemic). We are a sustainable swimwear brand that uses recycled materials to create our suits. Each swimsuit is designed to last from playing in rough ocean waves to laying out sunbathing.

We want to facilitate a change in the fashion industry. We believe there is a way to successfully be fashionable while not participating in the horrors behind the fashion industry. Our suits are made from Repreve and Econyl. All material is OEKO-TEX certified. The fabric is ultra chlorine-resistant, sun cream and oil resistant has UV protection, and is piling resistant.

The manufacturers we work with provide excellent working conditions for their employees, offering free medical insurance, fair wages, and done to local charities. Amini Swim also gives 10% of our profits to different charities and organizations around the world that help people and save the oceans. We have been able to donate to places such as Child Rescue Coalition, The Ocean Clean Up, Family-to-Family, and UNICEF USA.

Our packaging is all made out of eco-friendly material, from our biodegradable bags, recyclable tissue paper, biodegradable liners, and recyclable tags. Amini means “believe” in Swahili, to which my business partner and I both have connections.

Our goal is to be a brand people can believe in when it comes to quality as well as to help change the world and the fashion industry.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: aminiswim.com
• Instagram: @aminiswim

Image Credits
Cierra Jade Productions – Cierra Porter