👙Tias & Olives: How we build our brand beyond bikinis

Here’s the co-story of Tias & Olives, a bikini brand that’s – well – just another bikini brand. But, also, so much more than that. It's about shared visions and creating an impact for good as female co-founders.

We are Tías & Olives. Sure, we are yet another swimwear label on the market. But what separates us from others is our mission. We want to help empower others. To help them feel confident in who they are, while wearing our brand, and standing together for the next generation of women. It all kicked-off one and a half years ago with the founding of our company in Switzerland. Already in the early days, we were supported by inspiring women: Tina, founder of Matiabeachwear, agreed (after meeting in person and getting a vibe-check mixed with rosé, in Portugal) to consult us and introduce us to her manufacturer in Portugal.

Where would we be if women wouldn't support each other? The market for swimwear is big. Seeing a brand come to life with this drive at its core… This feeling is just incredible," said Tina, founder at Matiabeachwear

It all started smoothly, but we knew this feeling wouldn't last. In March of this year, we received a message saying that our production slot had been delayed. Now, we’d be looking at end of July. And let’s be real here. Even though launching a bikini label in the middle of July seemed silly – also to us, yes – we decided to go for it. “Courage" is one of our brand's core values: We believe that courage is crucial for a happy life. Therefore, we are stepping out of our comfort zones by taking a risk and making tough decisions.

Bikinis for good: 1 bikini, 3 reusable period pads

When starting to discover our brand, understanding who we are and what we wanted to do in the world, we had no doubt about the fact that we wanted to make an impact. Not just on the environment but on the life of other women, too. We’ve been very privileged, growing up in Switzerland, where frequent travels, sabbaticals, and experiences – social security and a forward-thinking educational system – are the norm. We believe that education is the key to solving many conflicts and challenges. We admire all the efforts people make to protect the environment, and we do our best in that field, too. But without proper education, we believe it can never truly happen.

The second thought we had was related to being a woman. As women, we are all aware of the high prices and taxes for hygienic products. Period poverty wasn't something new to us. As families in many countries can't afford a lot of hygienic products, these girls miss out on school every month for one whole week due to their menstruation. Sue Barnes, the founder of Subz, an NGO we're collaborating with, told us that after two years, girls often drop out of school, as their parents see the value of them working an additional week at home. This was when we found the deeper purpose of Tías & Olives. We decided to donate three reusable period pads per order. Why three? These three pads enable the girl to attend school during the week of her menstruation, as they can be washed, dried in the sun, and used again.

A purpose-driven brand

Working in branding and marketing, Simon Sinek is well known to us. Starting our brand and being aware that we're not the only ones building up a swimwear label (in-depth research on Instagram sure gives you an idea), we asked ourselves the million-dollar question: why? And we found an answer: We want you to feel vibrant, authentic, and confident — all day long. This is our mission as a brand. And we'll have two approaches: First, the product, ensuring that you feel vibrant and authentic. Wherever we wanted to transmit confidence and strength with our brand, we needed to find a significant purpose:

"We know we can't live without clothing, but we can make the ones we buy matter. We believe we have the obligation as a brand in the fashion industry to be conscious and transparent, balancing our actions and the industry's actions. A clear conscience requires actions. We are committed to our values and we’re on a mission to educate and empower."

And so second, knowing that your purchase supports a young girl in her confidence and strength. We're still a fashion brand. And fashion is all about consumption, profit, and spending. Research has proven it – spending money on yourself only creates short-term happiness, but doing something for others is one of the true drivers of happiness. Knowing that, with one single order, you'll help one young girl pursue her dreams, attend school every week, and protect her from harassment – that’s a true enabler of inner confidence. For you, and for us. As a brand, we believe that using recycled materials or buying eco-friendly products – to have an impact and create a meaningful change with your customers – is not enough. Looking up to brands like Patagonia or MyMarini, we now found our own path with our brand. We support young girls in South Africa in reaching their dreams by enabling them to have access to education while staying healthy. Getting that support from women since our very first day, we will now continue to empower other females in this world.

About the Brand

Tías & Olives is a conscious and vibrant Swiss swimwear label rooted in Switzerland and Spain. The designs are made in Switzerland. We support ethical manufacturing and work closely with a family-run factory in Portugal. We use the highest quality of recycled fabrics called ECONYL® to ensure that each piece stays beautiful for years. This regenerated nylon is made of nylon waste like fishing nets, fabric scraps, and industrial plastic. Instead of polluting our ocean further, like many other brands out there, we turn pollution into swimwear.

The women behind the brand are Sibylle Nüssli and Carmen Viudez. Two friends that not only share their love for the sun, but also the determination to empower women, and to create swimwear that people around the globe can’t wait to wear all day long. Carmen has been part of WeCoCo since its early start.

Visit www.tiasandolives.com for more.

🎙 Nothing changes if nothing changes

Podcast alert: Andrina Tisi, founder of Life Curation, interviewed Patrycja Pielaszek, founder of WeCoCo, on the topic of “Nothing changes if nothing changes". Tune in and find out what it's all about being courageous, finding joy in experimentation and how un-learning can foster collaborative innovation where everyone is included.

Life Curation Podcast by Andrina Tisi

Andrina Tisi, founder of ANDRINA TISI – Life CURATION interviewed Patrycja Pielaszek on the topic of “Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes.

🎙 Listen to the full episode here.

One thread in this conversation is the concept of un-learning, re-thinking and, re-building together. And it is right there where the meaning of the title of the episode “Nothing changes if nothing changes” gets clearer. Now you might think, that this is rather business-related, but indeed it is very life-related.

How can we foster our relationships in our businesses and collaborations?

As nowadays the boundaries between business and private life are fluid, it is difficult to balance between them. You can just choose the way you want to live it. So, live the only life you have.

When it comes to new ways of collaboration, it's mainly about curiosity and being open to whatever comes. That means being open to different perspectives, different opinions, and all kinds of differences. We are all different which is the main asset of humanity. Now the question is, how do we embrace it? Are we rather irritated, blocked, or stressed or does it depend on the topic? How can we open ourselves to differences and reflect before reacting?

One way to handle new and irritable situations is to take a step back and acknowledge the irritation as such and the fact that the irritation has more to do with ourselves than with the other person. Another way could be to agree to disagree. This means our truth is not the other person’s truth, but we are respecting their truth.

I don't see things the way they are. I see them the way I am.

What happens when you don't speak the same language as your counterpart? A modern way of overcoming this obstacle and capturing the essential message is the power of the LEGO®️ Serious Play®️ Methodology. LEGO®️ Serious Play®️ is all about metaphors. That means, whatever we think, our opinion about something, or our visions and ideas are, we visualize it with a model that we’ve built with LEGO®️ bricks. By referring to this model and not to our personal thoughts or opinions, it's like taking out the tension in the room.

As an example, when speaking and presenting strategies in a business environment, we can all look at the same PowerPoint slides and the same strategy on papers, but in the end, it’s not the same. Everyone “sees” something different. It is very powerful to use this metaphor and to create a true common understanding.

How can we practice curiosity and openness?

How can we nurture our curiosity and the desire for creativity and also, to live the joy of experimentation and innovation? Well, it needs to be playful and maybe also a bit chaotic and with a healthy way of childishness. In other words, to un-learn, to re-think, and to re-build together. We can practice by trying, failing, trying again, and learn from our failures. Then we change something – in our behavior, in our experimentations. And yes, to do so it needs courage. Courage to embrace our trying and our failures.

All about changes

It is important to acknowledge that in order to be able to evolve changes are needed. We need to understand that not everything can and should be done as it has always been done. Even though we as human beings want changes but tend to resist change; we want evolution but without any changes. But frankly: Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes. The only constant IS change.

Often, we hear that embracing change means we have to get out of our comfort zone. Meanwhile a well-worn expression. But how about we enlarge our comfort zone, making it bigger, instead? That way, we can still stay in our comfort zone and at the same time feel well, powerful, energetic, and creative. Like traveling – when we widen our horizon. Not only literally, but also in our minds and heart. And then, we come home to our comfort zone.

Difference between collaboration and co-creation?

Without consulting Google or Wikipedia 😉 — here is an attempt to explain what these buzzwords could mean.

Co-creation is creating something together with one or more people.

Collaboration is more an exchange of our ideas, it has a masterminding aspect.

When it comes to collaboration, first of all, it doesn’t matter if it's just a team, two people, or an entire organization. In collaboration, a clear target is defined. Together it is defined how the target can be reached within this collaboration. What are the roles? What are the tasks? What are the milestones? How to reach the predefined goal?

When it comes to co-creation, things are completely unclear. The end/goal is totally open. In co-creation, we open up to curiosity and creativity and start interacting, without knowing what's going to happen and where it's going to lead.

Imagine now, why collaboration became so important during the last one and a half years. Suddenly we have more players. Not only players, in the meaning of human beings, but also machines and tools and channels.

We just started to collaborate with these tools in these channels without agreeing on how we're going to use them.

In the offline world when everyone was at the office where we could easily exchange our perception of an email messenger note. Over lunch or during a coffee break.

Today, we are confused because we don't have these “clarification islands” any longer. One misunderstanding is building up another misunderstanding and this all piles up to a huge intransparent heap.

So, in a mostly virtual environment, we have to find new ways to communicate, to get the necessary information in a flow. How can we achieve that?

We can plan virtual but private meetings and chats. Why? Because this is a possible tool to build up trust, by speaking about you, your family, your friends, your pets, etc. You interact in a different way. As soon as there’s a good basis of trust, the information flows naturally.

Mind you, this is only one possible tool. And don’t underestimate that the virtual & planned personal talk lacks the spontaneity that often helps to open up in that kind of conversation.

But on the other hand, let’s not forget: We – all together – were forced to un-learn, to re-think, and to re-build. We were (and still are) all on a crash course over the last 2 years. Therefore we must be gentle with ourselves.

Business and personal life are no longer separated

Regarding business versus personal life - our current situation is definitely not the same as two years ago.

Not only startups but also corporate companies worldwide are really trying their best to turn around the big ship and it's a large ship. But let's break it down to the people because this is what counts. With people, you can do enormous transformation and have a great effect on everything that has to do with an agile, collaborative, and innovative culture. In that case, it doesn't matter if it’s a startup or a corporation.

What is important? It's not just being diverse, and wow, you're successful. Not at all. It's actually all about these crucial combination of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging.

D-I-B. Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging.

It is human to want to be part of something. We are social. Social human beings. We are not made to be alone. We want to belong to something or someone and be part of a project or an initiative, an idea, a vision. This is a human approach in every kind of constellation. If it's an organization or just a team. They need to be enabled with diversity which simply means stay open and don't exclude anybody. And not only for the quota. It's not like having all different kinds of cultures, skin colors, or gender in your team. Not at all. It's about being open and then, inclusion comes naturally. Actually, inclusion makes diversity work. Inclusion says: okay, we embrace the differences; we are open and we listen to each other.

Working alone, together. Allowing to work alone together and meaning that you, create your own thoughts and ideas. Then you make it part of the team and you allow that others have other ideas or a different understanding. And combining that is what co-creation is all about.

When this works – not only diversity but inclusion, belonging makes every person jump out of bed in the morning, because we feel and believe the magic of what we do and create.

🎙 Listen to the full episode here.

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A gift to you from Andrina Tisi ♡

If you are feeling the need for change, to move in a new direction, Andrina has the right gift for you. She offers a 5-day journey from Chaos to Clarity to you for free supporting you to move from stress and overwhelm towards your dreams and goals.

Andrina calls herself Life Curator, as she considers her work highly creative and at the same time very healing. As a certified Holistic Coach and integral Life Consultant as well as registered Yoga Teacher she works with people who want more in their life; be it the realization of big dreams, the implementation of a wild project or to get unstuck and find the deep healing and transformation inside and out.

The combination of Yoga, different lifestyle practices, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Essential Oils as well as my own life experience contribute to the whole. Visit www.andrinatisi.com for more.