Sportkini in Laguna Beach Magazine: Athletic swimwear feature
We’re thrilled and honored to see Sportkini’s athletic swimwear featured in Laguna Beach Magazine!
Here’s what they had to say:
ATHLETIC AESTHETICS
Women who play hard in the water know better than anyone the importance of a snug swimsuit. “When I push off a wall or get get hit by a big wave, I don’t want to wonder if my bottoms are around my ankles,” exclaims Lagunan Stephanie Havelka, an open-water swimmer and coach, who grew up as a competitive swimmer and then got into outrigger canoe paddling and flatwater kayaking, competed in triathlons and even served as a lifeguard. Although there’s no Olympic trials for swimwear design, she added this to her roster.
“Even as a kid, I hated the standard Speedos that were available to athletes,” Havelka says. “When I was 14—ya know, the age when you’re really getting your sense of style going—I started sketching my own designs because I was so disappointed with how boring everything else was out there.
Through different athlete circles—from fellow aquathoners to friends, training partners and professional volleyball players—Havelka listened to what was missing in the market. She’s seen all sorts of “rigged” suits, including a volleyball player who used safety pins and a rusted key ring to hold her garments together. “I thought, ‘I can engineer a better swimsuit,’ ” she says.
“A bathing suit is like equipment; it’s got to work, but you also want to look good. No woman has ever said, ‘Make me look dowdy.’ ”
Enter her Kandu Sport company and its Sportkini collection of flattering swimwear for active women (“and moms of active kids,” she notes) that won’t leave you deep-diving for a bikini top or trying to cover yourself as your suit floats away in a crowd of surfers. What else it won’t do: gape, dig, pinch, chafe, get spongy, sag or disintegrate with wear.
“We’re meticulous about construction,” Havelka affirms, pointing to three new tops, two bottoms and two one-pieces being added later this year to the current seven-piece collection.
“They’re all made to withstand a lot of abuse, while also making women of different shapes and sizes look and feel good,” she says. “For instance, there are places you just don’t put a print. You want to draw the eye upward toward your face so the whole body looks svelte. That’s done with design and how you lay color.”
A personal fan of the Ringback top and Sassy Hipster bottoms, there’s a cut for every bosom, bottom and comfort level.
“Fit and how you feel in it is everything,” Havelka says. “It’s empowering to have the freedom to do your thing.”
Sportkini is only available online at sportkini.com and fittings are offered at Havelka’s office in Laguna Beach; to schedule an appointment, email steph@sportkini.com.
“Suit Yourself,” Laguna Beach Magazine, August 2021
