A new mum has revealed the ‘aha moment’ which lead to her developing the first activewear, swimwear hybrid in an attempt to condense her wardrobe and tackle fast fashion.
Caroline Cornish, 37, is trained in pharmaceuticals and worked in a good job as a medical rep before turning to the fashion industry.
Branded CeaCea, the clothing is aimed at ‘adventurous women’ who want activewear that can double as swimwear and be treated like streetwear.
Speaking to FEMAIL the mum-of-one from Perth said her range an be used as a capsule wardrobe and is hardy enough to endure through the seasons.
Perth-based mum Caroline Cornish has revealed how she developed activewear with swimwear properties so adventurous women would only ever need one set of workout clothes
The mum said she had too many clothes in her wardrobe and wanted to condense her activewear but couldn’t until she came up with the new fabric which can be used on for exercise on land as well as surfing and swimming
Caroline said the first seeds for the brand were planted when she came to live in Australia from the UK.
‘I fell in love with the active lifestyle, everyone here does a little bit of everything,’ she said.
‘In the UK if you are one of the few people who are active it is usually only in one thing, like you do yoga, or pilates or you go to the gym twice a week,’ she said.
Before too long Caroline found she had hundreds of pieces of clothes to cater for her new-found favourite activities.
She had dozens of bikinis, clothes to run in, clothes to hike in, clothes to surf in.
‘The real push came when I went to Bali and copped an excess baggage fine because of all the outfits for each activity I planned on doing,’ she said.
‘I had previously tried surfing in tights, but they got damaged,’ she said.
She had also looked around for activewear that doubled as swimwear so she didn’t need as many pieces but came up empty-handed.
‘That moment in Bali made me realise that if nothing existed out there for everything then I would have to come up with it myself.
The 18 months that followed consisted of Carolina coming up with a fabric that had qualities needed for swimwear as well as quality activewear and finding someone to make her vision come alive.
The result is a slightly thicker than normal fabric which is durable enough to last ‘through years of use in the sun, surf and with exercise’.
Caroline is part of a surfing mums group in Perth, where mums take turns looking after each other’s kids and hitting the waves, and they all love her range
‘I surfed every day for a year in South America in one of the original sets we had made up,’ she said.
‘They still look good and are comfortable to this day.’
Sustainability is important for Caroline, who wanted to design a product that would last.
‘When I first moved to Australia I was buying new swimmers every year because they would become faded from use,’ she said.
But the CEACEA dream isn’t all about the end product.
‘We also work closely with our manufacturers to make sure the people making our clothes are paid well and have a safe working environment.
‘We initially tried looking for manufacturers in Bali but found that they were good at selling the idea – but in reality they had people working in yards or in their homes.
Pictured here with her partner, Caroline said she won’t return to her old job after maternity leave, because CEACEA has gotten too big to manage as a side hustle
‘We also limit out use of plastic, most garments come from manufacturers individually wrapped, so you end up with thousands of plastic bags.
‘We just get our sent in bulk, in a box,’ she said.
Now the Perth-based business woman is a mum, and her business is going so well she will no longer need to go back to her past life in the medical field.
‘Since Covid our profits have jumped over 700 percent, not only would I have no time to fit a full time job in with Ceacea but I don’t have to because I can pay myself and I am earning as much as I did in my old job,’ she said.
‘I never want to take from the business but have paid myself a wage since last year, the rest goes back into the business.’
Caroline said part of being her own boss is recognising the parts of the business she needs help in.
‘I don’t have any permanent staff but I do outsource the accounting, have a publicist and have a photographer,’ she said.
The mum said the bike shorts are the most popular piece in the collection which can be worn as streetwear, swimwear and in the gym
‘I also work with a lot of local women, especially artists, to come up with the new prints for each collection.’
The business was always popular locally, especially with members of the surf-mum group but sales exploded in the pandemic.
‘I guess people want to support Australian businesses now, and also other brands had problems with supply issues early on,’ she added.
The clothing is sun safe as well, according to Caroline, who became more aware of sun safety while living in Australia.
She also decided to sell it at a competitive price to help make it affordable for real people despite the extra costs of materials.
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