Ansea: Abigail Makes Surfwear for Women, by Women Who's Saving the Planet?

By the age of 25 Abigail Lorick had clocked a successful career as a Ford Model and was on her way to launching her own brand. From there her career would continue to unfold in the fashion world, as the ghost design behind the WALDORF brand on TV's Gossip Girl and the design director for Stance. When she was approached by a female run private equity firm (more on that later) to create a women's surf brand by women for women, it was "a dream come true opportunity." 

Ansea was designed intentionally to bring a women's perspective to the world of surfwear, owned and operated and supported by the people who not only design the clothes but also are the target market. Large companies largely run by men had long dominated the board-shorts and bikinis featured in surf mags which ubiquitously featured very fit, generally young, and mostly white models. Abigail and her patrons at Solera Capital saw an opportunity to create a brand that would champion women of all shapes, ages and shades, translating the openness of the ocean into a clothing line that celebrated the broad diversity of ocean lovers. 

Much of this story is about the why which drove the creation of Ansea, as well as the what that defines their product. Their principles of course also stretch into the sustainability of the clothes they make, choosing to forgo Neoprene for the Yulex, a plant based material which is more expensive and harder to source, but also won't spend the next millennium degrading in a landfill.