Sunsets

In 1984, when American bikinis were still sold as fixed sets, the swimwear company Sunsets began selling tops and bottoms separately, so a woman could buy one size on top and another below. Sunsets Inc. is a family-owned American swimwear and resort wear maker, run today from Southern California, that built its business on mix-and-match separates and now sells bra-sized swim tops up to an H cup. It describes itself as the longest-running family-owned swimwear and resort wear company in the United States.

The separates idea of 1984

The problem Sunsets set out to solve is easy to state. A bikini sold as a set assumes that the top and bottom sizes match, and for a large share of women they do not. A customer with a fuller bust and narrow hips, or the reverse, had to choose which half would fit badly.

Sunsets' answer was to treat the two halves as separate products. That sounds obvious now, when almost every swim retailer sells separates, but the company presents it as its founding move, and the date it gives, 1984, puts it early in American mass-market swimwear. The idea also changed how swimwear was merchandised. Separates need more stock-keeping units, more fixtures and more patience from buyers, which is part of why sets dominated for so long.

Who founded Sunsets

Here the record runs out. Sunsets' own pages describe the business as family owned and give the 1984 start, but they do not name the founders, the founding city or the factory. We found no Wikipedia article and no trade-press profile that fills those gaps. Its customer service line uses a 310 area code, which places its office in the western Los Angeles area, but that is as specific as the public evidence gets.

Sized like a bra, built for the water

Separates led naturally to the second thing Sunsets is known for: tops sized like lingerie. The brand's site sorts swim tops into D to DD and E to H cup groups, and its fit guides explain sister sizing, the bra-fitting rule that a smaller band with a larger cup fits like a larger band with a smaller cup. That is language borrowed directly from the fitting room.

The styles follow the support brief. The range includes underwire bikini tops, tankinis, one-pieces and swim dresses, with bottoms in high-waist, low-rise and side-tie cuts. A fuller-bust customer used to buying lingerie by band and cup can shop Sunsets the same way, which is the point. In Britain the same gap was filled by lingerie companies extending into swim, with brands such as Freya offering cup-sized bikinis. Sunsets came at it from the opposite side, as a swim company that adopted bra sizing.

Four labels under one roof

Sunsets Inc. now runs more than one line. Its homepage lists four brands: Sunsets, the core range; Swim Systems; Sunsets Escape, a more contemporary collection; and Pacifica by Sunsets, which the site presents with brighter colors. Its about page names B Swim among its lines as well, so the portfolio appears to have shifted over time. Each line targets a slightly different customer, but all of them share the separates logic and the extended cup sizing.

The company sells direct through its own site, with free domestic standard shipping and phone support during Pacific-time business hours. Its long survival as a family business in a market dominated by large licensing groups and fast-fashion swim is the most unusual thing about it. Sunsets says it is still family owned four decades after it started.

Where Sunsets fits

For a lingerie encyclopedia, Sunsets belongs to the story of how bra-fitting ideas moved into swimwear. The cup-sized swim top and the separately sized bikini bottom are now standard in full-bust swim, and Sunsets was making the case for the second of these in 1984. The difference between swim briefs and their underwear cousins is covered in our comparison of the bikini brief and the bikini bottom.

Forty years on, Sunsets still sorts its tops by cup letter, still sells its halves apart, and still names no founder in public.

Last updated October 28, 2026