Salty Mermaid

Salty Mermaid is an American women's swimwear brand founded in 2017 by Sarah Jon (Sarah Jon Porreca), with its operations run from St. Petersburg, Florida. It sells bikinis, one-pieces and cover-ups online at saltymermaid.com in sizes XS to XL, and it describes itself as woman-owned. Its best-known product is the banded bikini, a wide-band, sport-cut style the company calls its signature.

A name chosen over a glass of wine

The company tells its origin story in one scene. Jon and a group of friends were talking late one evening over wine when the name came together. "Mermaid" stood for water, femininity and freedom. "Salty" was the counterweight, a word for attitude and a bit of edge. The brand's stated aim from the start was swimwear that "should feel as good emotionally as it does physically."

That is the whole of the founding record. There is no trade-press profile, no disclosed investment round and no published revenue. Salty Mermaid is a private, founder-led business, and what is known about it comes from the company itself. The dates and claims below are attributed to the brand where they cannot be checked elsewhere.

The banded Salty Mermaid bikini

Most small swim labels are known for a print. Salty Mermaid is known for a cut. Its banded styles put a broad elastic band under the bust and at the waist of the bottom, which gives the look of a sports bra and a firmer hold than a string bikini. The range includes a Banded Triangle Bikini Top, now in a "2.0" version, a matching Semi-Cheeky Banded Bottom, a Cheeky Banded Bottom and a Banded One-Piece. In autumn 2026 the tops and bottoms were each priced around $60 to $70 and the one-piece at $90.

Around that core, the catalog is unusually granular. Tops are sorted into triangle, halter, bandeau, underwire, bralette, ring-front and sport shapes. Bottoms run through mid-rise, low-rise, side-tie, high-hip, banded and full-coverage cuts, and then by rear coverage: full, semi-cheeky, cheeky, semi-Brazilian and Brazilian. Few labels of its size bother to split coverage that finely. It suits a customer who already knows that a cheeky and a Brazilian are not the same thing, and it makes mixing a top and a bottom easy.

Prints and named pieces

Collections are built around prints with holiday names, among them Sea of Sirens, Neon Drift, Hot Tropic, Beachside Cocktails, Dusty Dreams and Nautical Garden. Colorways get names too, such as My Private Jet Black, paired with silver or rose-gold hardware, and Tortoise Shell. The company says many individual suits are named after real people in Jon's life. It has also issued designer collaborations, including Danette x Salty Mermaid and a line with Holly Stocks.

How the suits are made

Salty Mermaid says all of its swimsuits are designed in the United States by an in-house team, and produced with manufacturing partners in more than one country, not in a single factory. It describes its fabric as a high-quality stretch fabric and claims small-batch production to limit waste, with orders shipped in recyclable bags and sealed with reusable pouches cut from leftover fabric. The brand also mentions recycled fabrics in its marketing, though it does not publish fiber content by style or name its mills.

The size range stops at XL, so the brand does not cover plus sizes. The company says its suits are cut true to size.

Runways, calendars and cheerleaders

The brand lists its exposure points itself: suits featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, an appearance in the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Swimsuit Calendar, Miami Swim Week runway shows, and partnerships with a Maxim cover model and a Miss USA titleholder. Those are typical credentials for an American swim label of this size, and they say something about the intended look. This is glamour swim for the beach club and the boat, closer in spirit to Miami than to Scandinavian minimalism.

The business around the bikinis

Salty Mermaid has grown into a resort-wear shop. Alongside swim it sells kaftans, sarongs, skirts, sweatshirts, sun-protective SPF shirts, jewelry, bags, hats, tumblers and drink koozies, and a small men's line of swim trunks and beach shirts. Its published team gives a sense of scale: a chief operating officer in St. Petersburg, a procurement lead managing production since 2020, a director of operations trained in apparel design, a social media manager, and a marketing chief who joined in 2025 after founding Hollywood Hamilton Clothing. The roster also lists two dogs, Daisy and Bronco, with vibe-related job titles.

For a lingerie encyclopedia, Salty Mermaid is a useful example of how much swim now borrows from bra construction. Its underwire and bralette tops follow intimates patterns, and its bikini bottoms use the same coverage vocabulary as panties. The banded bikini, nine years after the company began, is still the piece it sells hardest.

Last updated October 7, 2026