THE SECRET TO JOLYN'S SUCCESS 🙊 // Swimming World Magazine

THE SECRET TO JOLYN'S SUCCESS 🙊 // Swimming World Magazine

Written by Samantha Dammann, Swimming World College Intern, for Swimming World Magazine.

JOLYN is a small but wildly popular clothing company born in California that designs and manufactures swimsuits and dryland clothes for female athletes. Walk into a swim meet or on deck during a practice and the vast majority of girls that you see will be dressed in these revolutionary suits. JOLYN has taken the competitive swimming world by storm, and for good reason.

Several years ago in sunny California a group of swimmers, water polo players, and lifeguards gave up on traditional competitive swimwear. The founders thought the suits offered at the time were clunky, poorly designed, and ugly. These athletes wanted suits that were tailored for their specific sports and fabrics that represented their spirits.

Not many people outside the watersport scene know about the company, but those inside are absolutely hooked. JOLYN prides itself on being a niche company. "It's amazing that no one outside of a few sports knows JOLYN, but inside those sports everyone does. We like that — it's like our little secret," JOLYN said.

Their unwavering focus on the specific needs of female athletes is what makes the company so successful.

"We don't design for men* and we don't do kids. We live in a world of limited resources. An hour spent thinking about those people is an hour taken away from our core customer," the company said.

JOLYN's focus has allowed them to come up with products that are exactly what female athletes want. The popularity of JOLYN's tie-back suits, one of their most iconic products, is an example of this.

"We simply look to our athletes to design new products. Athletic bodies vary a lot, so some people have a hard time finding a fixed-back suit that feels great. We listened to our athletes, and made a supremely adjustable training suit… it just happened to be a tie-back," the company said.

Jenny London, a University level swimmer, believes JOLYN stands out as a company because of the number of options they provide to their customers.

"When they came out, I think especially with the two-pieces, there wasn't really any other company that was using them, so they definitely grew more in that width because girls want to wear two-pieces. I think they definitely had the advantage. And then with one-pieces they have styles that other companies don't have at all, like the cut outs and the tie-backs, because most are fixed backs. I think having so many options can get to a broader area of people," London said.

JOLYN suits are also beloved for their durability. Nothing is worse than a suit that wears thin or stretches out before the season's over, and JOLYN's high quality fabrics make sure that doesn't happen. London still wears the JOLYN two-piece she bought four years ago, and she's not the only girl who can say that.

The quality of JOLYN products won the hearts of the swimming community and has created a cult following. Athletes' love for JOLYN products can be seen all over Instagram, with follower tags remaining popular even during the chilly winter months. During this time girls simply switch from submitting pictures of themselves in JOLYN at the beach to submitting pictures of themselves wearing JOLYN while running through snow banks.

Although most people know JOLYN for their suits, the company has recently produced a line of workout clothes. The company believes using the name Dryland reiterates that these products are made specifically with their target audience in mind. While sports bras and running shorts aren’t unique to the swimming community, referring to an out of the water workout session as a dryland practice is. "Calling it 'Dryland' is like a password for those who know what's up," according to the company.

JOLYN may have caught on like a fad, but the company definitely isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

See more of this article at Swimming World Magazine, including some amazing comments right down the bottom about the bum coverage of our onesies - some people, sheeeeesh, worth a laugh 😂

*this article was originally published in 2017, since then we have produced a very limited men's range, because we felt bad for the boys that we keep all the secrets of rad swimwear to ourselves 😉 - see the collection here.