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Visitors to the beach or pool this summer will be hard-pressed not to find someone wearing the “Sidestroke,” a one-shouldered, color-block offering from swimsuit brand Summersalt. The well-known product, listed as “Best-selling” on the direct-to-consumer brand’s website, has been a must-have for many millennial women in recent years as Summersalt has exploded in popularity, emerging as a fierce rival to DTC competitors and mainstream brands such as Athleta.

“Summersalt has a very identifiable style,” said Kristen Classi-Zummo, director and apparel industry analyst at market research firm NPD Group. “It stands out—you can spot it if someone is wearing it.”

That distinction has certainly worked to the brand’s advantage. But other strategies are also helping Summersalt turn the tide in the $5.2 billion swimwear category, including a marketing message rooted in inclusivity, selective partnerships with popular influencers such as The Home Edit duo, sustainable fabrics and size-helpful messaging.

The five-year-old St. Louis-based brand, which sells primarily through its own e-commerce site, has amassed $26 million in venture capital funding and now sells in some 140 countries.

Below, details on Summersalt's origin story, its marketing strategy and what lies ahead.

How it started

Summersalt founders Lori Coulter and Reshma Chattaram Chamberlin trace the brand’s roots back to a fateful lunch they had in 2016 to talk about the future of retail. Coulter, a former professor at Washington University in St. Louis, had an eponymous swimwear company that specialized in sizing with digital body scanning technology, and Chattaram Chamberlin ran her own agency and had experience running a DTC bootcamp. Coulter, CEO and president of Summersalt, had noticed a dearth in women’s apparel brands founded by women.

“So many other DTC brands at the time and even still so, to a lesser extent, really came from a male perspective and a lot of agencies at the time did too,” she said. “We wanted to bring out a brand made by women for women that really celebrated inclusivity.” After some transition, Chattaram Chamberlin eventually came on board and Summersalt was born in May 2017.

From the beginning, Coulter and Chattaram Chamberlin focused on a broad “everywoman,” rather than shoppers only found in urban areas like New York and Los Angeles. It helped that the brand is headquartered in Missouri. In contrast, DTC competitor Andie is based in New York and Left on Friday is from California, for example.

“When we launched Summersalt, we knew the opportunity was not just coastal—it was global,” said Chattaram Chamberlin. “We focused on the moms in Tulsa, Oklahoma as much as we did the cool girl in Brooklyn.” She added that Summersalt sold to all 50 states in its first summer in business.

Tipping point

Summersalt had a serendipitous admission into the swimwear market—one of the largest brands in the category, Victoria’s Secret, had stopped selling swim products in 2016, paving the way for Summersalt a few months later. The void left by Victoria’s Secret, along with a favorable price point of one-pieces starting around $95, helped Summersalt gain traction with customers. By the time Victoria’s Secret, rebranded and with new management, returned to the swimwear pool a few years later, Summersalt had already established its own fanbase. The brand expanded its product assortment, moving beyond swimwear to dresses, loungewear, activewear and outerwear. Experts say such expansion can help grow revenue in keeping with larger established competitors like Speedo and Gap’s Athleta, two of the largest brands in the swimwear market, according to market research firm Euromonitor International Ltd.

In both 2020 and 2021, Summersalt grew sales 100% year-over-year, according to Coulter, who declined to provide specific figures. She noted that the brand is on a similar growth trajectory this year.

Data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb supports Summersalt’s popularity, at least among its DTC rivals. For the month of April, worldwide visits to Summersalt’s desktop and mobile platforms topped 628,000—more than double that of competitors Carve Designs and Andie, Similarweb found.

Marketing strategies

From the beginning, Summersalt made a name for itself as a champion of inclusivity with women’s bodies and a product that fits all shapes and sizes. Though the brand does not sell in physical retail, communication around fit, including a section on “boob support” and “butt coverage” for each product, helped win shoppers over. Last month, the brand released the third iteration of its annual marketing campaign “Every Body Is a Summersalt Body.” This year’s group of 27 women ranges in age from 18 to 63 and features writer and activist Eli Erlick and Special Olympics ambassador Lily D. Moore. They join a roster of previous models that include Elon Musk’s mother Maye, who is 74.

“We are seeing the fastest growth in apparel come from Boomers,” said NPD’s Classi-Zummo.

The swimwear brand uses social channels, connected TV and catalogs to reach its customers; all marketing is created in-house. Roughly 40% of Summersalt’s 75 full-time and full-time-equivalent employees work in marketing and data science.

“Because our product is a loyalty driver, we’ve been able to build on this viral and organic traction as well,” said Chattaram Chamberlin, noting that producing everything internally enables the brand to respond to market signals early on and adjust media spend accordingly. “We have a data-backed platform at the foundation of everything we do.”

Summersalt is also laser-focused on staying connected with its customers as a way of maintaining loyalty. For example, the brand ran an emotional support hotline during the pandemic.

Partnerships with like-minded brands are also giving Summersalt an edge. The company’s limited-edition product collaboration with stationery purveyor Rifle Paper Co. sold out in five days last year, according to reports. A similar offering with the design duo behind The Home Edit also saw success.

What the experts say

Marketing experts applaud Summersalt’s inclusive messaging and accessible price point as effective strategies to entice return shoppers—and combat competitors.

“Summersalt came on the scene at the perfect time and continues to hold its own in the category as an inclusive brand because it cemented a true, long-lasting connection with women by solving a real problem—making women of all sizes look and feel good in its signature swimwear and better yet, it’s priced accessibly,” said Ruth Bernstein, CEO and co-founder of Yard, the agency behind body-positive campaigns from brands like Athleta. Yard does not work with Summersalt. Bernstein added that Victoria’s Secret, which rebranded last year to embrace a more diverse and inclusive identity, is “very late to implement necessary change towards inclusivity” and therefore still has to “earn” the brand love that Summersalt already enjoys.

Yet some experts say that for Summersalt to maintain its momentum, it will need a physical store presence. Most DTC brands have embraced brick-and-mortar. Shoe company Allbirds recently opened a New York City outpost, while activewear brand Vuori wholesales at Nordstrom and REI.

“A lot of digitally native brands can do well online, but what we’ve seen is to scale, they have to go to stores, whether standalone stores or a partnership—that’s the path to growth,” said Classi-Zummo, noting that physical stores still account for 63% of total apparel dollars.

What’s next

As it looks to the future, Summersalt is focusing on cementing its customer relationships and offering more incentive to buy. The brand currently has a loyalty program in beta that it is growing. In addition, Summersalt is deepening its product assortment in winter categories such as cashmere sweaters. It’s also collaborating with new design partners on collections rolling out later this summer.

“The future of retail is about enabling the customer to discover, try and shop throughout her everyday life,” said Coulter.