Growing up, Carly and Simone Wilkins were always traveling. Although they mostly ventured to tropical areas for family vacations, they immediately caught the travel bug. Carly, 30, lived in Europe and traveled through Asia. On the other hand, Simone, 24, traveled around with friends after finishing school. It is the same travel bug that inspired their online swimwear company, Eau Paix Vie.
"We wanted to do a job that we could both travel with, and we both sort of, just over time, discovered that we really wanted to do something online," says Carly.
The idea worked. With Simone as the designer, and Carly managing the marketing and business side, the company began to thrive only two years after its founding in 2011. During this time, the sisters both continued to travel. At one point, Carly was living full-time in Bali and also managing the company.
The mix-and-match bikinis that Eau Paix Vie offers come in a variety of fun colors, prints, and styles that are unlike those bought in an average department store. There's two-colored bikini bottoms, striped pastel-colored tops and even bottoms with watermelon prints. According to Carly, each swimsuit is made with a high-quality Italian fabric. She recommends ordering up a size since the fabric tends to give a bit. This all depends, of course, on how fitted you prefer your suits, and also how much coverage you like.
Because of their hard work and dedication along with their travels, Eau Paix Vie became mainstream in 2013. Carly gives credit to marketing on social media, especially Instagram. "We just developed a very large fan base on there and on social media, and then we had, I think maybe in 2013 or 2014, Kylie Jenner post a photo of Kendall Jenner wearing the swimwear," she explains, "so that made things go pretty big for us as well."
What makes the Wilkins sisters' company so attractive is their positive outlook on life as a whole; they focus on happiness and good vibes. They also promote body positivity, and strive to make mix-and-match bikinis that girls can choose based on their comfort zone and style. "We want everyone to feel comfortable being themselves, and comfortable in their own skin, and that anyone can wear whatever they are comfortable with," Carly says.
The sisters not only promote their views on body positivity with their bikinis, but they do so on social media as well. Like most companies, Carly re-posts photos of her customers sporting their bikinis. "If we see just a good photo, we pick it up regardless of body size," she explains, "We are just about girls being happy and having fun and
being themselves."
What sprung from a travel bug has quickly turned into a living and a passion for the two sister — a passion that they intend to keep in the family. With no intentions of selling their clothing to larger department stores, these bikinis are only available online. "We like having that customer interaction, and [having] our own kind of community through our Instagram and Facebook. We love being involved with all of that," says Carly.
As their company continues to rapidly grow, Carly and Simone continue to spread their message of travel inspiration and happiness through their fun-styled swimwear, hoping that other girls will be inspired to travel the world like they have. "Our whole entire reason for doing swimwear, and everything that we do behind it, is based on the fact that we want girls to have fun, be inspired to travel. I think travel opens people’s eyes up to a lot of things that they otherwise wouldn’t be aware of," Carly concludes, "I just think that’s a really good vibe, and it’s just really happy and that’s what we are all about."
