el, as well as specialty swimwear stores like Bikini Village. They can also be bought online from stores that sell the same labels. Manufacturing Producing swimwear to be sold at the final retail store requires three main elements; design, manufacturing, and branding. These can be fully done in-house or outsourced depending on the companys size and capabilities. Large and popular brands may have the resources to perform all three steps themselves, but the plethora of small, local brands do not have the expertise, financing or assets to design and manufacture their own swimwear lines. These smaller brands, which dot the entire country and are most common in California, buy their designs from other companies, whether the manufacturers or other larger brands. The purchased design is then altered in terms of fabrics and patterns to give the brand its differentiation. The final design is then manufactured domestically or overseas depending on quality considerations. There, the swimwear is branded and shipped to the retail stores. Manufacturers vary greatly in their production types and output quality. They may specialize in strictly producing swimwear or a variety of apparel lines, from nightgowns, to socks, to swimwear. This breadth of production, the level of automation and skilled labor all have a large impact on the manufacturers output quality and dependability. Compared to overseas manufacturers, domestic manufacturers produce higher quality swimwear because they use less manual labor and invest heavily in streamlining operations through automation. The qualities of stitching, and general durability are much higher than that of overseas swimwear, but also cost more.Because the manufacturing process is so asset-intensive and requires expertise much different from that of retailing, most brands, whether large or small, tend to outsource production. In this way they benefit from the manufacturers economies of scale, expertise...
