Two years ago, independent British brand Rixo made a splash with its debut swimwear launch, which was snapped up by retailers around the world and swiftly sold out.

“The first season did so well and then, obviously due to Covid last year, we didn’t launch a summer collection,” Henrietta Rix, the brand’s co-founder, tells Stylist. “But then Orlagh hand-painted all of these gorgeous mermaid prints with lovely shells and colours and we just knew we had to do swimwear for it.”

Cue Rixo’s sophomoric swimwear collection, which launches today and is an 11-piece line comprised of swimsuits and bikinis, all of which are throbbing with the brand’s ‘future vintage’ DNA in an array of pretty prints and are made from 100% recycled materials.  

It was important for Rixo’s founders to build on their eco-credibility with their second swimwear launch, and that came not only from crafting swimwear from recycled plastic, but also by working with only a handful of suppliers. While it’s commonplace for brands, particularly those with Rixo’s clout, to have a roster of hundreds of suppliers to meet their demands, McCloskey and Rix intentionally rely on only a few so as to build strong relationships within their supply chain and minimise the waste created by mass production.

“I get a bit fatigued from seeing brands talk about being sustainable in a way that feels like a marketing tool, you know?” says McCloskey. “It’s actually so much more than the material uses as well, it’s also about how brands work and the supply chain! Compared to when we started out, there’s so much more interest around consumption and sustainability which we love seeing.”

It’s not just their eco-credentials that the girls are building on. While Rixo, which London College of Fashion alumni Rix and McCloskey first launched in 2015 from their living room, has become revered for its easy-to-wear everyday dresses, its founders are clear on their intention of making it as size-inclusive as possible. The brand currently only offers its ready-to-wear pieces from a size UK 6 to UK 16 but, for the first time, from September, Rixo’s clothing will be available up to a UK size 20, a move which has been two years in the making.

“When we first launched, the factory would only allow us to place orders of small, medium and large,” says McCloskey. “It takes a lot of building relationships with your suppliers and ensuring you understand the fit and sizing as well as you can before they will often let you place an order for different sizing.” 

Indeed, inclusive sizing is of such priority for the founders, that they jumped at a recent opportunity of launching a diffusion line with American retailer Target, alongside burgeoning brands Christopher John Rogers and Alexis. The limited-edition collections were available in sizes XXS to 4X (UK size 24), with all pieces available to buy for under £60.

Part of the allure of the collaboration, a first of its kind for Rixo, was that Target’s design team promised to give McCloskey and Rix feedback on the most popular colourways and styles of the collection among their customer base, along with constructive criticism on how each piece could be improved. Rix and McCloskey both learned ways to improve their plus-size offering, and saw first-hand the appetite for more extensive Rixo sizing, which has further fueled their ambition.

“Our aim is to keep on doing as much as we can do and, even if we get criticism, we will keep on chipping away,” Rix adds. “We’re not going to give ourselves a pat on the back for extending our size range, we’re just trying to do as much as we can.”

Once the ready-to-wear is extended, swimwear will follow suit (it is launching with a size XS to XL, an equivalent of a UK size 6 - UK size 16-18 initially), with a view to eventually making all Rixo wares size-inclusive.

Despite the restrictions that the pandemic has placed on the fashion industry as a whole, Rixo is powering ahead. There’s been the launch of its debut bridesmaid dress collection, its first shoe collection, its conscious green swimwear launch, and next up is its first foray into outerwear with a range of vintage-inspired quilted coats and suede jackets that prove that Rixo has found its winning formula; future vintage done right.

Rixo Swim is now available to buy. Prices range from £125 - £155 and sizes range from XS - XL.

Images: courtesy of Rixo and Target.