Melbourne label Doxxia is creating made-to-order swimwear for people with big boobs
WORDS BY ELLY SHINKFIELD
“I named Doxxia after my grandmother Eúdoxia so the whole concept feels like a love letter to her.”
As a woman with a larger bust, finding swimwear that’s comfortable and flattering has always been a real struggle. After endless hours spent trying on a growing pile of rejects, I would admit defeat and assume that my chest just wouldn’t allow me to wear the swimwear I wanted.
But my prayers were answered when I discovered Doxxia, a Melbourne-based swimwear label committed to creating pieces for women of all shapes and sizes. Growing up, the label’s Founder Evie Ganikis experienced similar struggles to me. Frustrated at the lack of options, she turned to her seamstress grandmother who helped her create a custom-made bikini.
For more fashion news, shoots, articles and features, head to our Fashion section.
Evie fell in love with the design process and was determined to help others who felt overlooked by traditional swimwear labels. Six months later she launched Doxxia (named after her grandmother Eùdoxia) from her grandmother’s basement. Together they worked on creating swimwear pieces that mould to the body and accentuate a woman’s curves.
Working on a made-to-order basis, each piece is hand-sewn by Evie and her grandmother in their Melbourne-based studio. Below, Evie shares how she built the label into what it is today and her aspirations for its future.
Tell us about you. What’s your fashion background?
My name is Evie Ganikis. I’m 23 years old and the owner of Doxxia, a Melbourne-based handmade swimwear and resort wear label. From a young age, I’ve always been passionate about creating no matter whether it was creating art or cutting up and tying up my clothes to fit me better. Anything I could make with my hands I gravitated towards because of the high that I would feel while doing it.
View this post on Instagram
I grew up by the beach, spending my summers by the ocean swimming and tanning. Swimwear was prevalent in my life before I even started the business. I hit puberty quite abruptly and struggled through my teen years with having a larger bust. So fashion was an area I struggled in for many years as I found that a lot of what I wanted to wear would never fit me right. Buying swimwear was such a burden, and for someone who spent so much time at the beach, it was a huge struggle…
At university, I first studied business marketing, but after I started Doxxia in 2020 halfway through my degree I established that it was too corporate-based. I then decided to change courses to specialise in fashion and study a Bachelor of Applied Business (Fashion Marketing) at Collarts.
How did the label get started? Talk us through the process and the challenges.
The journey of starting Doxxia began manifesting many years before I even considered the thought of starting the business. Growing up as a teenager I hit puberty quite abruptly, growing a pair of D cups by the age of 13. This came with a large spectrum of issues that followed me through my teenage years as my bust grew…
My grandmother was a seamstress so one day in 2020 I asked her if she thought we could sew a bikini and we sat on the kitchen table cutting up one of her old dresses to make a pattern for one. It was the first time I had ever touched a sewing machine. When I first made the top I felt so involved with the look and cut that I knew I would be gatekeeping by not starting up a business and making more for others who have the same issues as me.
View this post on Instagram
I started the business six months later from my grandmother’s basement. I spent months sourcing Australian fabrics and creating designs and size ranges. I would create size patterns and get friends of different sizes to try them on to create the perfect range. I made a swimwear collection that ranged from size six to 20. I just wanted to create a brand that made cute bikinis that would fit everyone, no matter your shape. Busty girls deserve cute and affordable bikinis too.
I named the brand Doxxia after my grandmother Eúdoxia as she’s the inspiration for the brand and the reason it exists. She has taught me so much about loving and embracing my curves since I was young, so the whole concept of Doxxia feels like a love letter to her. She continues to help sew orders with me today in our studio. Over the years, I’ve now expanded into resort wear, making pieces that look good on every body shape.
View this post on Instagram
A major challenge for us was being hacked and logged out of our brand Instagram and having to start our page again. While I was travelling overseas in 2023 taking photos of some of our new stock, my email was hacked and my profiles were sold off to ‘crypto investors’. So I was forced to start over our Instagram page. Losing the community that we had accumulated over the last three years was devastating but we started up again rebranding from Doxxia Swim to just Doxxia. Since then, we have tried to grow our community back up and push forward.
What were you trying to achieve from the project at the time? How has this evolved and what are you trying to communicate through the brand now?
When I first started the brand I really just wanted to create cute bikinis that were affordable and fit a larger bust. As I’ve grown with the brand I have extended and developed a deeper insight into what my mission is. I want to create timeless pieces that cater to women’s curves. I really believe that feeling supported in what you wear makes you feel confident and sexy and that swimwear/clothing should be made to fit us and not the other way around.
View this post on Instagram
Doxxia aims to empower women through the fit of each garment. We also aim to communicate the importance of slow fashion and how essential it is to get the perfect fit. In contrast, fast fashion develops pieces that aren’t true to size and are of minimal size range. Whenever we design anything we have three main non-negotiable concepts: that the design MUST fit girls that have a bigger bust, that it is timeless and doesn’t merge with micro trends and that it should be comfortable and supportive.
We communicate this now through our product range as well as our content. With our newest Kirby Top in our resort wear range, it is a top that is catered to your measurements, so you pick what size bust and waist to ensure that we customise the piece to your body.
What are you most proud of in your work on your label?
Our newest venture into clothing is something that I’m really proud of. Our newest Kirby Top is designed so that the customer can pick what size bust and waist measurements they are so that the piece can be customised perfectly to their curves. As a person who grew up with a large bust and a smaller waist, I struggled to find clothing that catered to my proportions. I would leave the shops in tears as a teen because all the cute tops that I wanted would never fit properly.
View this post on Instagram
Coming up with this design which aids the problem that I struggled with for so many years is something I’m beyond proud of. Creating a timeless piece that fits everybody properly and can hold up your bust without a bra is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever made. I also feel proud when I receive messages from customers who have a bigger bust, praising us on our product and telling us how much they love it. Whenever I get one of these messages it truly makes all the hard work worth it.
What do you wish you knew when you started?
This may be controversial but there’s honestly nothing I look back at and think ‘I wish I knew that before starting my brand’. There are obviously things like maybe I didn’t realise the workload and stress that comes with having your own business. But I’m also glad I didn’t know that because if I had known that information maybe it would have prevented me from chasing this dream.
I believe there are many lessons and things I’ve learnt along the way, but I think that each of those lessons comes at the perfect time to teach me different things. I think I’ve grown along with the business and continue to learn things every day but learning them when I have has led me to this moment.
What about the Australian fashion industry needs to change?
View this post on Instagram
I think there’s still a large portion of Australian brands who still have un-inclusive size ranges and lack representation in their brand’s modelling. Although there has been a shift over the last few years towards a more inclusive industry, I still feel that as a collective there is still more work to be done to ensure that it’s not just for show but is also represented in the brand’s actual product.
Anything else to add?
The women in my life are the main inspiration for my brand. I constantly look back at old film photos of my mum, aunties and grandmothers in the ’90s on the European coast in their swimwear and clothes. I name all my products after these women as well as my friends. I believe the ’90s minimalistic era is the most prominent inspiration for me as I believe that a lot of these looks are timeless and age so well. This idea of timelessness is something I circle back to every time I come up with a design or colour.
Browse Doxxia’s range here.
Liked this? You’ll love these...
