If you’ve ever felt a little uncomfortable in your swimmers, Alyshia Morris feels your pain. In fact, it’s how she felt when she created Brisbane-based swimwear line, Shade Swim.
It was 2018 when Alyshia put a pool in at home and excitedly bought swimmers to enjoy her summer.
“I put on something and it just made me feel deflated,” she said. “I thought if I feel like this, I’m sure there are other women out there.”
With that, Alyshia started compiling a list of all the things she wanted in her swimwear and she was off!
“I need bust support so that was a big factor, I want my Mum tum to have a little bit more support so I don’t need to feel like I constantly need to suck it in and feel comfortable when I’m out by the water and I wanted a standard brief.”
“I wanted to create that feeling of when you put on a dress or favourite piece of clothing that you wear and it makes you feel nice, that’s what I wanted my swimsuit to do for women.”
There were some other very important factors as well though and living in Queensland, sun safety was number one. Even more so for Alyshia who had stage one melanomas detected and removed in 2013.
“For my family, we’re always out to the beach and you know swimming, surfing, kicking the ball and to be able to put on a swimsuit and just have to put sunscreen on my face is really good,” she said. “It’s that one less thing that I need to worry about.”
If all that wasn’t reason enough to feel good, Shade Swimwear does its bit for the environment too, made from recycled Lycra.
It’s certainly made Alyshia smile knowing she’s making a difference to so many.
“I think for women, we wear so many different hats no matter what we’re doing,” she said. “Whether you have children, whether you don’t, you all wear different hats and I think it’s really important to look after yourself number one and to find things that suit you and make you feel comfortable.”
“So I’m really happy that every person that has tried on my swimsuit, regardless of their size, it’s like ‘oh my god this feels amazing,’ and that to me makes me feel good because I know I’ve done one good thing.”
“I have lots of girlfriends who don’t want to go swimming and I’m like WHY? You need to enjoy it! Stop sitting on the sideline watching and go out there and enjoy yourself with your kids.”
