ANA COLON

ADAY won us over with its sell-out leggings. It solved many a workwear-to-realwear dressing issues with its collection of tailored staples. Now, the direct-to-consumer brand is introducing a brand-new category that, given its track record, will likely be a hit: swimwear.

"We first had the idea to create a swimwear collection in late summer 2015 when we asked ourselves the same question we always ask ourselves in our design process: What are the pieces of clothing ADAY women want to spend all their time in?" co-founder Nina Faulhaber told Refinery29. Naturally, swimwear was top of mind at that time of year, so she and Meg He decided to tackle two staples — the one-piece and the bikini — with ADAY's sustainable and versatility-minded bent. The "For The Win (Swim)suit," a one-piece style, took 18 months for the brand to develop, and 10 iterations to obtain the perfect fit. "Each size was engineered to suit each body type, by continual fittings and wear tests on different body types to ensure it complimented every body shape," Faulhaber told Refinery29. ADAY didn't start working on the "It Takes Two Piece"until 2016.

It's a natural extension of the brand's philosophy, since it's a company built on the idea of making the pieces you already know and love better (and more durable), ADAY's co-founders explained. "In the summer season, we found ourselves investing in swimsuits and loving them on the beach or on vacation, but packing them right away when we were back in New York City or London," He said. "Alas, we wanted an 'all-around' swimsuit that was seasonless and highly functional." Plus, the category isn't too far off from the performance-based garments ADAY launched with and is best known for — and while developing the samples, they found the materials in swim to be quite similar to the ones they were already working with. "One of the fabrics we used to design our Fast Forward Bra featured many cool properties that would also be great in swim: excellent UV protection, two-way stretch, sun cream and oil resistance, chlorine resistance and excellent coverage," He explained. "It was also made from a 100% recycled polyamide and a fiber technology that fights against fading and holds its shape even after many wears, waves and washes."

Faulhaber and He narrowed down the swim silhouettes according to what they considered "fundamental pieces in a women’s wardrobe" — i.e., ones you could wear beyond the pool or the beach. That's what the co-founders felt was missing on the market: There are plenty of colorful, inventive bathing suits available right now, but none really had that "summer layer" quality, a.k.a. truly versatile items that are meant "to be worn between moments and designed for durability and comfort," according to Faulhaber. Because swimwear is typically made to be worn for a limited period of time, certain features — like comfortable clasps, non-itchy fabric, and breathable gussets — don't tend to make the final cut on suits. "People are then reluctant to wear it throughout the day because the fabric doesn’t provide the basic comfort and is difficult to care for," she noted. So, ADAY took all these concerns, and the result is two suits that each possess those four descriptors: "versatile, technical, eco-friendly, seasonless." The For The Win one-piece will retail for $125, while the It Takes Two-Piece bikini will be $105 ($65 for the top, $45 for the bottom.)

It's not a far cry from the technical design ADAY was already doing. But this launch is packed with learnings that could affect future launches — from the bonding technique utilized on the one-piece style, to how to ensure stretch without compromising fit (and vice versa). "The development of these two products has definitely taught us about new ways to work with the female body, as well as interesting new construction techniques," Faulhaber said. "It has also taught us new ways to make more styles reversible."

The collection, which is titled the Re-Gen Capsule, is only the beginning for ADAY's beach-ready pieces — but there are some exciting things on the horizon to tide us over until the brand introduces new styles. Besides swim, the label plans to expand its Technical Tailored collection and leggings offerings. The co-founders have also amassed a lot of demand for men’s categories, too, but that isn't going to happen quite yet: "we’d like to stay focused on women’s clothing for a little longer, as there’s still so much to do here!" Faulhaber said. Agreed.