3 MINUTES WITH KOZII SWIMWEAR’S KAY SHALLCROSS
It seems more and more of our guests are rocking jazzy swimwear on tour – and we love it! The brighter the better. This week we chat to Kay Shallcross, the Sole Proprietor of Kozii Swimwear, and new Australian brand of swimwear, which has just hit the UK.
When did Kozii start, and where are you based?
I started Kozii in 2003 in my garage in Kingscliff NSW where I operated until we moved into our factory premises in 2011.
When I started in 2003 we manfactured our swimwear mainly in plain colours for Surf Clubs and a small retail market and also purchased prints from fabric suppliers to make garments for our retail range.
Your prints are quite vibrant! Was this a conscious decision?
As I now have my own sublimation printing and pressing machines we are able to design our own prints and print these designs into white fabric and come up with our own unique prints. I have an artist who is Tina Louise King. Tina works for me as Head Graphic Designer and she is able to produce unique Kozii prints from her own artwork, photos and other ideas that we often come up with.
What makes Kozii unique?
The thing that makes Kozii design so unique is a mixture of great pattern designs that are specifically created to fit the body well, and our consistent high quality of manufacturing i.e. construction of the garment using the best quality products we have available to us here in Australia.
We do everything ‘in house’ in Australia this is also very unique.
Which is the most popular design?
We are constantly changing our fabric designs so it is difficult to say which design has been the most popular but our most popular styles for the girls and ladies would have to be the
Strapii One and Two Piece. We have had these styles in our range for over 6 or 7 years now and we were the first brand to come up with these styles and consequently the style is now copied by a lot of our competitors!!! With the boys and mens range our knix are very popular.
Describe Kozii in 3 words
That is a hard one – there is a great slogan that we have used off and on for many years now and that is “Feel Great In Kozii” – 4 words I know but it does describe Kozii quite well as we receive great feedback from our customers on how great our product is to wear and how comfortable it is to train and compete in.
Why did you decide to try the UK market?
We were keen to bring Kozii to the UK to expand our clientele and thought that the UK and Europe would be keen to try some Aussie Kozii as it is a unique brand offering a wide variety of styles and ever changing fabric designs.
So, which Kozii is your favourite?
My favourite Kozii thats a hard one – I love them all!
Thanks Kay! Looking forward to sporting our Koziis on tour.
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