Splash !

Netta Ziv

Splish, splash! It’s swimwear season!

We recently reached out to a local mom who knows how to celebrate summer in style! Carlsbad mom Netta Ziv is the founder and head designer of Naya Swimwear. Netta says she started the swimwear line with a vision to create a brand that reflects her personality while helping women and girls to feel beautiful, trendy, optimistic and comfortable, especially at our most vulnerable in a bikini.

MOMSTOWN: Tell us about you and what inspired you to start a swimwear company.

NETTA: As a young girl growing up on the coast of Israel, I became enthralled with the sea. I would walk through dense banana groves to arrive at Mediterranean beaches, spending sun-soaked days floating in the warm water. I became the sea child that I am today; a product of the sea.

I have always had a creative mind, spending my time drawing, painting or sewing "interesting" looks.

Fashion became a way to express my creativity, making people feel good, bringing color to the world and smiles to everyone my designs interact with. I quickly realized that fashion could actually become a way to make a living while pursuing my passion. After my acceptance to Textile Design studies in Shenkar Design Institute, a new spark propelled me forward and opened up doors for me that I never knew existed. Textile is the core of everything in fashion. My understanding of the role of textiles enriches how I express what is inside my mind onto a canvas, an expression of art on fabric. During the third year of my studies, I discovered swimwear design. That is when everything started to come together. To combine my passions for the sea, the waves, the sand and all its creatures with fashion, colors and trends.

MOMSTOWN: How did you come up with the idea to start Naya Swimwear? How did you come up with the name of your brand?

NETTA: I founded Naya Swimwear during my last year of school my final project was surf-wear and beachwear inspired by Polynesia, and girls just started reaching out to me and asked if I can make them a suit. So I started by sewing custom suits by myself, at school after hours. My business grew first from word-of-mouth while living in Tel Aviv in a tiny one-bedroom apartment. Girls would come choose the print they wanted and I would create the swimsuit of their dreams, measuring and fitting them according to their own unique bodies. It was hard work doing this alone, sometimes stretching long hours into the mornings, but it was worth it to see the girls’ smiles when they tried on the suits, looked in the mirror, and finally loved what they saw.

Each Naya Swimwear piece starts with a drawing. I hand-draw and paint each print in my collection. The designs are printed on high-quality fabric, tested for quality and durability then cut and sewn. My inspiration comes from travels. In Hawaii, I discovered the vibrant colors that exist in nature, flowers in shapes I’d only imagined possible and exotic fish and animals unlike anywhere else. Even the name Naya is from the Hawaiian word Na’ia which means Dolphin. In India, I absorbed the richness of hues and the expressiveness of patterns. I started my swimwear line with a vision to create a brand that reflects my own personality but also enables women and girls to share their own vision with me, to feel beautiful, trendy, optimistic, and comfortable, especially when we are most vulnerable in a bikini!

MOMSTOWN: What brings you the greatest joy in turning your creativity into wearable art?

NETTA: My main motivation is to create swimwear that provides women with confidence. When I see the smiling faces of my “Naya Girls” when they look in the mirror, I know I’m on the right path. As part of this, I look at female entrepreneurs, succeeding and making their dreams reality, and look up to them. Naya Swimwear is a way to express my vision of women all over the world, in all sizes and colors, wearing my art my “Naya Girls.”

Another huge achievement that I am proud of is, turning Naya Swimwear into a sustainable brand, using only recycled and sustainable materials. I have already made the change and use recycled fabrics made from plastic bottles and fish nets as well as fabric remains, and use sustainable materials for my hang tags and liners.

MOMSTOWN: What has been the greatest challenge in starting your business?

NETTA: The main challenge is being a female entrepreneur in the fashion industry, without any connections to start with. Swimwear is widely known as being particularly competitive and harsh. There are so many swimwear companies and today, anything can be bought online for an inexpensive cost.

I use the highest quality and sustainable materials for manufacturing because I believe the material and fabric are an important part of a comfortable, functional suit that will last for years.

Another challenge is funding and to be able to manufacture high-quality sustainable products at an affordable price. The risk that I am taking in not using cheaper materials is daunting but non-negotiable, for me and my brand.

In 2019, I left Israel, and moved to San Diego to expand Naya Swimwear to the U.S. market. Moving to a new country and starting a business is very challenging and exciting at the same time. My experience running the business in Israel gave me the courage to pursue this goal, but I still needed to start the entire production process and getting the word out from scratch here in California, which makes it challenging but so exciting.

There is so much potential for growth and awareness for one-of-a-kind swimwear designs made for all body types. I have already seen the success of the Naya brand with those women and girls in larger sizes and with bustier figures.

MOMSTOWN: What advice do you have to help others follow their passions and dreams?

NETTA: Persistence and not to let the ‘No’ bring you down. Just suck it in, let it go and keep going.

MOMSTOWN: How can MomsTown readers find your swimwear, clothing & accessories?

NETTA: I learned that there is a real challenge for women who don’t fit into a ‘type' the bustier ones, or those with different proportions to find a swim suit that fits their body, and is still trendy and cheeky. Working together with these women, I designed special cuts for real women busty, curvy, and everyone in between. I want my clients to feel like they have found trendy swimwear that fits their body perfectly.

Netta's line is available online: nayaswimwear.com

Customers seen by appointment @ Netta's studio in Carlsbad (858) 333-9203 naya@nayaswimwear.com instagram.com/nayaswimwear