ABOUT AKOYA

The company name was inspired by the AKOYA pearl; a saltwater pearl that is both luxurious and always unique, encompassing our company's values. We wish to remove size biases that affect women’s mental and emotional health by encouraging us to love the skin we are in! 

AKOYA provides swimwear that is both size inclusive and thoughtfully designed for comfort and confidence. We provide well fitted and stylish swimwear for every body. We do this through detailed sizing research, and thoughtful design. We celebrate body diversity and promote that all bodies are beach bodies!

We use quality Italian fabric created from recycled materials. Our made-to-order model and take back program mean AKOYA is not contributing to the fashion industry's over production and waste issue.

ABOUT OUR FOUNDER

AKOYA’s founder, Olivia Bickerstaff, is a graduate in Fashion Design and Technology from Kwantlen Polytechnic University and is currently enrolled in the MPS Fashion Management program at Parsons The New School of Design. Olivia incorporated AKOYA in 2018 and launched her business in February of 2019. The brand has given her the opportunity to show collections at Vancouver Fashion Week and multiple pop ups including in New York. Inclusivity and sustainability are key values to both Olivia and AKOYA. She is committed to changing fashion industry norms through the brand and it’s ever growing platform!

AKOYA'S CORE VALUES

  • We believe clothes should be made to fit you! Not the other way around. We acomplish this by designing our sizing and fit chart based on ASTM research on the average body size. We guarantee a perfect and comfortable fitting suit. Our variety of classic and trendy styles offer an array of coverage, support, and details. To help you find the perfect suit, if you buy multiple items in one order we wil pay your return shipping for what doesn't work, or schedual a one-on-one fit meeting to find the perfect size and style for you!

  • We focus on showing AKOYA products on those who are not being represented in the fashion industry, such as BIPOC and women outside the fashion industry’s sizing norm. At AKOYA we challenge the fashion industrys' beauty standards and make space for every body in the swimwear market. We offer sizes XXS-10X, with the goal of being completely size inclusive. If you don’t see your size send us an email and we will add it to our size chart!

  • Our Italian swim fabric supplier Carvico manufactures their fabrics using the highest standards of production and is known for its many years of excellence in swimwear fabric development. We pay special attention to construction details and material testing to ensure AKOYA swimsuits last.

  • AKOYA is 100% manufactured in house in Vancouver B.C., Canada. We source as many materials as we can from within Canada such as trims, elastic, notions, and labels.

  • Our swimwear fabric is made from re-generated nylon by ECONYL® and knit by Italian fabric company Carvico. The Carvico factory is committed to reducing water & electricity usage in the production of their fabrics, and releases only clean water from its factories in addition to using mainly solar for regenerated power. The fabric of other products is from deadstock facilities. Products are made to order in house, eliminating over production and limiting transportation of materials and stock. Our goal at AKOYA is to have zero waste in all aspects of our buisness. All excess fabric and end of life products are used or recycled through Fabcycle and other recycling facilities.

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