By Anita Mitchell, Broward People, for SouthFloridaReporter.com, Aug 27, 2015 – Quote: The swimsuits have names. They are my babies and babies have names
Picture this: A custom designed bikini swimsuit in delicious 4-way stretch fabric with dazzling colors and it fits you perfectly.
What girl could resist that?
Recently, a 15-year-old high school student came back to the Jypsea Local store with her mom and her new bikini. The fit was perfect, she loved the style and since it was reversible, she was ok with the price.
The problem? The girl’s father preferred that the suit cover more of his 15-year-old daughter.
So Stefanie Holtzheusern is making her a new one. Holtzheuser isn’t that far removed from being a high school girl herself. Back then, she grew weary of the store bought bikini’s with their inevitable sagging bottoms and ill-fitting tops.
Her thinking was that if swimsuits were problematic for her, they had to be that way for others. So she took her suits apart and studied them; used the good parts to create patterns and made great fitting suits for herself and then for friends. And, hey, if you have your own idea of the swimsuit you want she will make it for you. Her idea catapulted to selling them through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, a website and now the retail store at 2711 E. Commercial Blvd. in Ft. Lauderdale.
“It doesn’t make sense. Broward, has 23 miles of beaches, and zillions of swimming pools. Yet, we buy swim suits at chain stores as if we lived in Oklahoma,” Holtzheuser said.
Stefanie saw the window of opportunity to create perfectly fitting swimwear, one woman at a time. The standard colors are black, leopard and camouflage but her best seller by far is the turquoise blue fish scale pattern called, “Seavasana.”
“I am living my dream designing and manufacturing these swimsuits. The Dolphins cheerleaders did a fashion show in my suits when they unveiled their calendar. The W Hotel offered their guests a fashion show featuring my swimsuits. I will have a booth at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. I work all the time but it never feels like work. I am also working to include local artist’s screen printing in my designs. Then there are the matching necklaces and headbands, a total look,” she said.
“The ideas make it an endless amount of work. But it is my work, and that is a whole different deal from working for someone else.”
