4 minute read
Becoming infamous
Melbourne mother of three Gemma Crowe has always loved swimwear. What started as an expensive teenage addiction, fuelled by a job in the surfwear industry and a mother who loved to sew, grew to Gemma now running her very own swimwear label. A rather famous one too! Online brand Infamous & Mini Swim, founded in 2018, caters for women, men and their minis, and the internet simply can’t get enough of her gorgeous swimmers!
Firstly, quickly tell us a bit about your family.
I have 3 boys (Taj 12, Jet 5, Duke 2), and another on the way, due in January! To say life is busy is an understatement, but we manage with hard work, organisation and the support of our amazing family. Weeks are spent juggling the business with kids’ school/care/activities, and weekends (whenever we can) we’re at the beach or the river wakeboarding.
How did the idea for a swimwear brand come from? What were you doing before this?
My passion for the Infamous & Mini Swim collection came about through Instagram. I am Instagram mad and adore the supportive communities of women built through the platform, not only for the divine imagery but the day-to-day conversations about kids, breastfeeding, husbands, working with kids - you name it, we discuss it!
I have such a love for beautiful Instagram accounts where Mumma’s would match with their minis! It’s such a hit and I realised there was nothing in the market for complimentary and high-quality swimwear for mums to match with their kids. And so, my concept for Infamous & Mini Swim was born.
I’ve always been creative. When I was younger, I was a professional dancer, and while this was short lived the hard work and dedication has stayed with me and helped me get to where I am today. I have tried my hand at many other sectors including retail, marketing and buying, but my passion for boutique shopping led me to co-create a homewares brand. After a few tough years, I decided to close the doors and pursue Infamous Swim. I’ve never looked back.
Once you introduced miniswimwear, so mums and kids could match, your socials blew up. Tell us about this instant growth and how you handled it?
It was out of control!... and a little overwhelming at first ha-ha… but honestly, my approach is just to keep it real and authentic, and to create a community where women feel empowered to embrace the essence of who they are – no filters – what you see is what you get. As women, and mamas especially, we play so many roles – life is crazy – I wanted to celebrate that! Having the opportunity to connect with so many amazing women, through different stages of life has been the best part!
To answer how we’ve handled it.. hmmm, I’m not sure we have in certain ways... but I have a really amazing small supportive team who are like family and that helps keep us grounded.
What’s the process for designing a new print?
My initial consideration is thinking through summer trends, colours and patterns for the coming year. This gets me ‘in the zone’ pretty quickly and from there I’ll sketch or play around with creative ideas. I’m a perfectionist, and the first range took around 8 months to bring to life. Each of our prints are hand-drawn designs. This part is a carefully curated process that includes
sketching, colouring in with pencil, and scanning into a computerised program to make final edits and ensure our prints are perfect.
You’re clearly a very busy mum. What does an average day look like for you?
Haha yes! Well, it’s basically get up, breakfast, get kids ready, drop off at school/care, and then more often than not I settle into work by 9am. Between 9am – 3pm every day is different, but right now, being heavily pregnant with my 4th bubba and a penchant for working late, I’ll work for a few hours, have a nap, work for a few more, pick up the boys from school/care, organise dinner/bath/ bed, and then jump back online around 8pm, sometimes until midnight.. I know it’s bad!
It’s not easy juggling it all but having the flexibility to pick my own hours so I can spend quality time with my family definitely helps.
What’s your favourite thing about being a mum?
The cuddles and big squeezes, the laughs from the silly things they come out with, and hearing ‘mum, I love you’.
Self-care is so important. What is your favourite thing to do for yourself when you need some metime and a break from parenting/ business?
Prior to running my own business, I would typically say regular workouts, healthy eating and minimal alcohol intake to nourish the body and mind. However, I must confess that since the launch, my self-care has taken a bit of a backseat. 2020 has also been a really crazy year with COVID – not being able to get out and about as much as we’d like has been hard! To be honest, now I’m just enjoying being able to get out with friends and family for dinner!
What exciting things can we expect next from Infamous?
We have some big things on the horizon! Look out for cute matching tracksuits/ lounge wear!
