Getting To Know Emerging Swimwear Brand, Series The Label
/Minimalism at its best, Series the Label is the new swimwear label you should be wearing. Founded only last year by New Yorker Marina Malafis, she focuses on the four pillars of her brand: quality, style, fit and consistency to produce a line of swim pieces that are both classic and contemporary. The collection is designed, developed and made in New York, it would only seem right then that the color palette consists only of black, playing to the timeless nature of the pieces and of course, its cool confidence.
Series the Label was born in June 2016. The name was inspired by the definition of the word “ series”, which is defined as "a number of things of related nature or same class, coming one after another". Similar to our brand message which is to create a line of swimwear that its core value will reflect quality, style, fit and consistency. The brand is based in New York, where all the designs are created, developed and manufactured. I love New York, and I wanted our brand to reflect the energy and vibe of this city. Black is somewhat of an iconic color here and what better way to represent that with the debut SS18 Collection all in black.
I have always been a big fan of fashion, but I was never the type to follow the trends. I would invest in key statement pieces that I could wear season after season. However, when it came to swimwear, finding a great quality suit that not only fit well but also had a sense of style was not always easy to come across. Especially in black. Swimsuits were either very minimal in design and lacked structure and support (especially for a mom of two active little boys!), were loud in print/color or over-designed and too complicated to wear. I would always find myself buying just a random solid style season after season. I had a drawer full of semi-decent suits that were just there.
I studied fashion design in New York at the Fashion Institute of Technology out of high school. Designing has always been my passion, even as a young girl. Now, almost 20 years later, a mom and wife, life is different, but I thought I could do this, even at this time in my life, it's never too late.
I may be a New Yorker, but I’m also Greek and summers on the Mediterranean were part of growing up. Designing swimwear was just not only out of pure necessity for me but also a natural choice. I remember while trying to find a suit for a summer vacation, I came across a brand that was selling neoprene bathing suits. The fit was great, and the thickness of the neoprene really smoothed out the silhouette, but once I got on the beach with my kids, I started to sweat! I couldn’t wait to get it off. I thought, there has to be a fabric out there that is breathable and comfortable to wear, but has the same bonded fit and feel! Most important be functional for days in the sun. So I started sourcing fabrics, visiting trade shows, researching factories, until I came across the fabric we are using now. The bonded material we found from Italy really checked off all those boxes. It really creates a feeling of empowerment when on, as it just sculpts and smooths out the silhouette. Yet, its functional to wear in and out of the water. It also has extra comfort, won’t pill, dries quickly, has UV protection, resistant to salt and chlorinated water and most important, travels well as the fabric does not wrinkle. I started to sketch a few key styles, found a pattern maker and factory to make a few samples for me to test and from that moment on, a collection was evolving. The label was born.
