Esprit: a beachwear capsule by Caroline Blomst

By

Bruno Joly

Published
Dec 11, 2014

Esprit is getting a fashion boost. The retail brand, which has experienced a difficult last few years, is diving into fashion and preparing for warm summer days with a 25-piece beachwear capsule collaboration with Carolina Blomst. The young Swede, who works alongside her partner Daniel Troyse, is well known for her blogs Stockholm Street Style, launched in 2005, and Caroline's Mode, launched just two years later with the support of Swedish company Bonnier press.

This is the first time that Esprit has collaborated on such a line with a third party. Blomst, who has worked for Zara and Vogue, has also overseen the lookbook and campaign for the line, which she describes as Scandinavian, modern and minimalist.

With a collection designed to be mixed & matched and to fit all kinds of silhouettes, Blomst and the brand's internal team have designed models that are both simple and attractive.

The collection includes bikini bottoms, some of which feature elastic side bands, ultra-simple or beehive bikini tops, asymmetrical tank tops to mix with bikini bottoms for the beach or with shorts or a skirt for the city, sophisticated, one piece swimsuits to wear under various summer clothes, as well as simple tunics and sarongs.

The collection will be available in April in select monobrands and retailers as well as on the brand’s online store.

Esprit, which has reduced the number of its lines and licenses, has always considered bodywear as core to its business, having also worked alongside the giant Triumph on these products.

For its last fiscal year ending on June 30, Esprit bodywear sales increased by 4.5%, taking into account exchange rate fluctuations, to more than one billion Hong Kong dollars, or 82 million pounds. Notably, this was Esprit’s only segment that improved last year. Bodywear makes up 4.5% of the company’s total business—more than accessories (4.4%), footwear (4.1%) and children's fashion (3.3%).