Sustainable beachwear firm Love Model & Co.
Love Brand & Co founders Oliver and Rose Tomalin have been chasing the solar collectively since they met in 2010. With household ties to the Bahamas, the couple have spent final decade creating their final summer time way of life model. Their first line of males and boys swimming trunks launched in Selfridges in 2011, and ever because the pair have been redefining beachwear with a function. The truth that elephants could possibly be extinct of their lifetime motivated the British couple so as to add a philanthropic component to their model. Since day one, Love Model & Co has donated a proportion of income, not revenue, to charities serving to wild elephants and endangered species by way of their “Trunks for Trunks” initiative.
What does Love Model & Co supply that wasn’t already obtainable out there?
Oliver Tomalin: After we began nearly 12 years in the past we have been one of many first manufacturers with function, dedicated to donating a proportion each sale to charity, no matter any revenue. Through the years we have now immediately funded and supported among the most dear conservation tasks world wide, from serving to wild elephants in India to restoring seagrass meadows in Ibiza.
Add to that, what makes us completely different is the sensation our model creates if you put on our merchandise. And the aesthetic could be very private to me and in addition very a lot of the Bahamas, the place you might have each the sensation of old-world stylish assembly care-free island bohemia, topped up with a spirit of exploration and journey.
How do the Bahamas and your surrounds encourage your collections? My spouse’s household have an extended historical past within the Bahamas. Her grandfather was Governor within the Nineteen Fifties, and her grandmother began the orphanage, in addition to the library service delivering books to the outer islands. The orphanage nonetheless runs immediately, owing to the patronage of Rose’s dad and mom.
These Caribbean islands have been essential to Rose and supply the underlying inspiration for the model. Our model is impressed by island life, which might take you from boats to seashores, or from golf and tennis golf equipment, and even to rum shacks.
A lot of the unbelievable marine life additionally informs my prints, whereas the water and island mild conjures up our colors. It’s a few relaxed and cozy way of life, being understated, care-free and fun-loving, in addition to conscious of the atmosphere.
Globe Trotter and Love Model & Co trunk collaboration.
How has the model advanced because you launched in 2011? And what are your plans and ambitions for the long run? We’ve at all times caught to our roots as a model, targeted on our core pillars of island life, journey, sustainability, household and conservation.
After we began, I had little expertise on this trade. I studied architectural design at college after which began a small enterprise promoting brightly colored espadrilles.
The retail idea has advanced from an unique mens and boys swim label to turning into a one-stop-summer-shop forall discerning travellers. Alongside our personal model, we even have an edit of different manufacturers we love. We provide the whole lot from girls’s beachwear to artisanal hats to reef-friendly suncream. And the entire manufacturers we work with have a concentrate on conservation and sustainability. Trying forward, it is usually our additionally our ambition to be completely carbon impartial.
Inform me concerning the Trunks for Trunks initiative? How do you select which charities to help and the way do you help them? And why was that essential to you? I got here up with Trunks for Trunks within the tub. It was a eureka second. I felt for a while there wanted to be a brand new luxurious males’s swimwear model. And whereas creating plans for what that could possibly be I met Rose and went to the Bahamas. In that very same 12 months there was an elephant parade in London, elevating consciousness for endangered Asian elephants. The truth that elephants, our largest land mammal, may change into extinct in my lifetime, struck a chord and later within the day after seeing the elephant sculptures, one thing clicked—swimming trunks that assist elephants—”Trunks for Trunks.”
Over the previous decade we have now supported among the most superb conservation charities, together with Elephant Household, WildAid, Tusk Belief, Sheldrick Wildlife Belief and extra. Since day one we have now donated a proportion of our income to charities and environmental foundations, selecting a mixture of established charities and smaller grass- roots initiatives.
How do you get the inspiration in your patterns and colourways? How usually do you launch new items? All our prints are impressed by my travels and love of the pure world. Our present assortment, for instance, pays homage to Rose and my travels to India, after we went into the jungles and elephant corridors. Motifs and colors are drawn from these reminiscences—elephants, Indian palaces, leopards, big butterflies and nice hornbills.
We additionally typically collaborate with likeminded manufacturers. For instance, this summer time, we launched a limited-edition capsule assortment with Globe-Trotter baggage. We additionally launched an unique print for the Marbella Membership, centred round seahorse conservation and rewilding habitat within the Mediterranean. Later this 12 months, we’re launching an unique capsule with Harrods in London.
Oliver Tomalin, founder and CEO of Love Model & Co.
Inform me concerning the Staniel 100% recycled swim trunks. The Staniel swimming trunk is called after the Bahamian island, Staniel Cay, and we make them in Spain, utilizing a material created from 100% recycled plastic. The material’s journey begins when a plastic bottle created from PET is thrown away (PET is the title of the resin used to make clear bottles.) The bottles are collected and sorted in Europe and Asia, then cleaned and crushed into tiny flakes. The flakes are then melted down and spun to type fibres, the fibres into yarn, and the yarn is woven into our material, which is then dyed or printed and eventually lower and made into our superb Staniel swimming trunks.
What can be actually thrilling is that the swimming trunks might be recycled repeatedly. So the subsequent stage is to launch a scheme the place prospects can return their outdated Staniel trunks, they usually’ll be recycled.
What are a few of your favorite journey hidden gem locations and why?One in all my favorite seashores is Pine Cay in Turks & Caicos, the place we’re launching a small retail idea, our first outpost. An excellent seaside break is about disconnecting to reconnect.
Marketing campaign imagery from Love Model & Co.
What do you at all times pack in your suitcase? Aside from a wholesome provide of Love Model apparel, I additionally at all times pack my sketch ebook. I like to jot down concepts and inspirations after I journey. My spouse catches me in the midst of evening up in mattress writing issues down. For some motive concepts come to me at evening, and if I don’t write them down, then I neglect them within the morning, and it drives me mad for days.
What’s your secret for working collectively as a husband and spouse crew? We love what we do. I feel that’s the primary secret. We’re lucky to have had the chance to create one thing of our personal, the place we will pour the whole lot we’re keen about right into a single venture. After which we get to spend daily doing what we love.
