Skatie

Two Los Angeles fashion-school friends, Skatie Noyes Hutchinson and Mandi Glynn, started Skatie (styled SKATIE) in Venice, California, in 2016. The label makes bikinis, one-pieces, sports bras, leggings and casual clothing, cut and sewn in Los Angeles from recycled fabric or existing surplus stock bought in the city's textile market. Earlier descriptions of Skatie as a general contemporary fashion brand with an intimates line miss what it actually is: a small, locally made swim label that grew on Instagram.

Two FIDM graduates and a living room

The founders met in 2011 at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles. Hutchinson studied fashion design. Glynn studied visual arts. Five years later they launched the brand from Hutchinson's living room, and it carries her first name.

The division of labor has stayed the same since. Hutchinson handles design and production, Glynn runs creative direction and operations. The company's own account of its start credits Instagram for its early growth, with the brand built organically through pictures of its bikinis rather than through a launch budget. The business now works from an office and showroom in Venice.

Made in Los Angeles from surplus fabric

Skatie's central claim is about material. The company says its fabrics are either recycled or bought from "already-existing stock available in the Los Angeles marketplace," the surplus rolls left over by larger manufacturers, so that it does not add new textile production to the world. Every bikini and activewear piece is "cut, sewn, and packaged right here in Los Angeles."

That matters more in swimwear than it might seem. Swim fabric is mostly nylon or polyester with elastane, synthetic and slow to break down, and leftover rolls from bigger runs are a routine by-product of the trade. A label that buys up what already exists, in a city that still has cut-and-sew factories, can make small runs without commissioning new fabric. The trade-off is that colors and prints depend on what turns up, which suits limited drops more than a permanent collection.

The rest of the process follows the same logic. Prints are applied by heat transfer to limit water use, and the transfer paper is recycled afterward. Mailers are described as compostable, breaking down in about six months. Skatie says its production partners pay at or above minimum wage, keep standard working hours and give paid vacation. The company does not list third-party certifications for any of this.

Skatie swimwear and activewear lines

The catalog runs well beyond the bikini. Swim tops and bikini bottoms, one-pieces, cover-ups and rashguards sit next to sports bras, leggings, bike shorts and booty shorts, and a casual range of tops, skirts, dresses, rompers, bodysuits and outerwear. Prices run from about $60 for a swim trunk to about $200 for a cardigan.

Collections are named for places and moods. The 2026 range includes Bali, Fleetwood and Daytona collections, with running print stories such as Taormina, Pink Gingham, Tiramisu Glossy and Love Notes. Glossy finishes and gingham are signs of a label that follows swim trends closely but makes them in small batches.

This encyclopedia records about 567 Skatie products. Most are swim separates and activewear tops, where the line between a bikini top, a bralette and a sports bra is often a matter of how the piece is worn.

Skatie in the Los Angeles swim scene

Los Angeles has produced a long run of direct-to-consumer swim labels, from Frankies Bikinis in Malibu to the lace-heavy For Love & Lemons. Skatie belongs to the smaller end of that group. It has no famous campaign behind it and no celebrity founder, and its pitch is local production and reused fabric rather than glamour.

The brand also offers wholesale, so its pieces can also be found in independent boutiques as well as on its own site, and it runs a rewards program for repeat buyers. Ten years after the living-room launch, the company still carries its founder's first name and still sews in the city where she studied.