Fort Myers Florida Weekly

Locally owned company makes lifestyle swimwear from recycled bottles and plastics




Locally owned company makes lifestyle swimwear from recycled bottles and plastics

Locally owned company makes lifestyle swimwear from recycled bottles and plastics

If I told you about a new company in Naples called OLSSA, what would you guess it is? A hip IKEA competitor? A high-end Danish sports car? Maybe a new Swiss watch?

Fortunately for those of us in Southwest Florida, OLSSA is a new swimwear company founded by Gina Stankard and Jeff Stankard. Setting the brand apart from other labels is the fact that the fabric being used was once garbage. OLSSA’s swimsuits are made from discarded water bottles and plastic debris that has been clogging up the very oceans we love.

Approximately 14 million tons of debris clutters our waterways per year. Plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris, polluting the Gulf and posing danger to its wildlife.

This is especially important for those of us living in Florida. We spend a good deal of our time in beach wear and enjoy the Gulf as a leisure attraction. To be able to wear something that was once harming that very body of water feels particularly relevant.

Always appreciative of the outdoors, the Stankards have been saddened by the conditions of the world’s waterways. “We are beach people,” Gina says. “We were inspired to do something when we saw the abuse and trash, and the condition of water as well. We wanted to improve the health of the water.”

Jeff Stankard and Gina Stankard founded the OLSSA swimsuit brand, using recycled material made from plastic debris that is clogging up our oceans.

Jeff Stankard and Gina Stankard founded the OLSSA swimsuit brand, using recycled material made from plastic debris that is clogging up our oceans.

The Stankards moved to Jupiter on Florida’s east coast in 2014. Early retirement in 2020 brought them west, when they settled in Naples and embraced its beach life.

Gina, having worked in fashion retail for over 25 years and Jeff, a former automotive industry professional, didn’t stay retired for long. Once settled in Naples, they decided to provide the town with a doubly advantageous product; fashionable beachwear, which repurposes materials that threaten those beaches we both enjoy and rely on to fuel our tourist economy.

While recycled polyester has been around since the early 1990s, improvements in the technology have made it much more comfortable and long-lasting, say the Stankards. “We looked at dozens and dozens of samples before choosing our 92% recycled polyester/ 8% spandex fabric,” said Gina. “The material has a surprisingly lux feel and is quick drying, with a 4-way stretch for comfortable fit and motion.”

COURTESY PHOTOS

COURTESY PHOTOS

The line, featuring men’s board shorts, T shirts and hats, also offers an elastic waist hybrid that moves seamlessly from the boat to the pool to the gym or a restaurant, making it a perfect Naples staple. The company is also hoping to add women’s wear down the road. But as Gina says, with such a versatile cut and universal fit, “We have a few women customers buying our men’s swim short!”

The process of creating OLSSA’s unique fabric begins when the plastic is reconfigured into a raw material adaptable enough to eventually be woven.

“The practice of converting water bottles into recycled polyester fabric is quite high-tech, and using it for swimwear was still pretty cutting edge even as recently as 2017,” says Gina. “The first step in the process involves breaking the water bottles down into flakes. After that, the flakes are melted into very small pellets. Once the melting process is complete, the pellets are filtered and spun into threads and woven into fabric.”

Customers viewing the website will notice the natural colors and lack of splashy design options. Gina explains the ecological reason for this choice.

“When it comes to swimwear, you may love a playful print or a bold color, but soon find that it quickly goes out of style, or you get bored with it. Our mission is to design modern-fitting swimwear in solid, timeless colors that will pair well with almost any shirt, from a Budweiser summer tee to a traditional golf shirt and will remain a staple in your closet for years.”

For variety, OLSSA offers three different colors, multiple lengths, and two styles from which to choose. A new color option will soon be introduced, giving buyers another choice for their environmentally friendly wardrobes.

Substantiating the couple’s mission to improve our waterways, OLSSA donates a percentage of sales to the Loggerhead MarineLife Center in Juno Beach, The Ocean Conservancy and the Save the Manatee Club.

While most buyers are grabbing up their OLSSA wear on the company’s website, the line has recently become available at a few stores in Naples as well as Marco Island, Sanibel and Captiva. The Stankards are negotiating with other brick and mortar retailers in Southwest Florida to get the line in local shops.

Visitors to the OLSSA website will notice the Stankards so wanted to create a welcoming shopping experience for beach lovers that the site even includes a Spotify playlist to inspire the coastal lifestyle.

“We were sitting on the Naples beach listening to music and watching the sunset when the idea for OLSSA was born,” says Gina. “This is a new experience for us. It’s an adventure of sorts. We like to think that instead of just dipping our toes in, we’re diving in head first.”

Whether diving in head-first or swimming out on the breakers, Floridians now have an Earth-friendly option for their Sunshine State swimwear. Finally shedding light on the meaning of the company’s name, one can see the couple’s dedication to this endeavor and the mission of their brand. “OLSSA,” Gina says, “is ‘Our Little Swim Suit Adventure.’” ¦

In the KNOW

OLSSA

www.olssaoutdoor.com

Area Stores:
The Old Naples Surf Shop
1311 3rd Street S., Naples

Thoughtful Threads
2144 Tamiami Trail N., Naples

H2O Outfitters
Chadwick’s Square
14830 Captiva Dr., Captiva Island

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