93 Play Street Is the Inclusive Swimwear Brand Made for Playing Mermaids at the Pool (2024)

Jessica Anderson loves a good high-rise bathing suit. In fact, it was her love of the leg-exposing style that prompted the TikTok influencer to launch her own swimwear line, 93 Play Street, in late 2021. “I couldn’t find anything high rise and comfortable on the market,” Anderson says. “I also felt like there was a gray area in between more revealing swimwear, which the younger generation tends to lean towards, and older looking swimwear. There was nothing really in between with color and confidence, and so I decided I wanted to fill the void in the market.”

And she has, creating a size-inclusive swimwear brand that’s bright, bold, and great to actually swim in, thanks in part to Anderson’s commitment to designing swimwear that feels as supportive as shapewear. There’s a full line of suits on the 93 Play Street website, including one- and two-pieces, and the brand’s occasional drops of new colors or styles sell out almost instantly.

Byrdie talked to Anderson about 93 Play Street’s genesis, what she’s learned about the intricacies of a great swimsuit, and how she defines “chicken nugget coverage.”

First off, what do you love about high-rise swimsuits?

Jessica Anderson: I just love the way it feels. It gives me confidence.

I'm the type of girl that, when I go to the beach, I want to be in the water. I want to be playing, and I want to be eating and drinking. Whenever I'm wearing something that’s made with just a little fabric or maybe it’s not a dense fabric, I feel very self-conscious.

I grew up on the coast in Corpus Christi, Texas as well, so I'm constantly in a bikini. As I've gotten older and aged a little bit, I definitely want something that makes me feel my best, especially because I don't just sit on the beach. I want to run around and have fun.

There’s a big difference between thinking “I should make a bathing suit” and knowing how to do that. What was that process like for you?

JA: In 2018. I told my husband, “I want to make a bathing suit company.” He said, “Okay, let's do a private label, like, there's these great designs, and…” I said, “No, no, I don't just want to make a swimsuit. You just have a business to make money, but I want to design and make people feel good.” And he said, “Well, we can't afford that.” You know, he and I are both self-made, and we were just building our careers at that time. And so I decided to come back to it when we could afford it.

A couple of years went by and we took some of our investments out to pour them into this project. I ended up finding a designer through Instagram Live, of all things. I was following some fashion informational session and I commented like, “Does this apply for swimwear?” or something of that nature and there was a swimwear tech designer in the comments section. She messaged me after and I ended up working with her.

How it worked was that I would draw out my ideas and sketches. I told her I wanted a very, very dense fabric. We have some of the densest fabric in the swimwear category altogether, and it’s also double lined so that it feels like shapewear when you’re wearing it… and so that's how we initially started.

What has the customer response been like?

JA: We hit seven figures in sales within our first year so we just exploded onto the scene. We were something that a lot of girls hadn’t seen or felt before in swimwear. We’re size inclusive, as well, meaning we carry up to 4XL right now.

I'm launching another size-inclusive brand in May that’s luxury swim. It’ll be comparable to the brands that you would see in Neiman Marcus, but it's definitely a cousin of 93 Play Street in the look and feel of the fabric. Actually, the fabric is slightly different, but it still has the same hold that the girls love.

What have been your most popular pieces?

JA: People love our Chloe bottom. It's our number-one bestseller. No matter what size you are, everyone loves the Chloe, which is our signature high rise. It fits you the way that leggings sit, like it hits on the smallest part of your waist and then the high cut makes you look so elongated. The back is more moderate, too, so if you have a bigger booty, it's going to be a little bit more cheeky and if you’re smaller back there, it's going to fit kind of in the middle. It's different than any other bottom I've ever seen in swimwear in particular.

Oh, and the triangle tops, of course. The girls want triangle tops.

Why was it important to you to be relatively size-inclusive?

JA: I get asked this question a lot, and it's really not rocket science. I don't understand in fashion why people make it out to be like this huge thing like, “Oh my god, we're size-inclusive!” The reason I don't talk about it so much is because it's kind of like, “Why wouldn't you be?”

And if you have those sizes in your line, you should be representing them in your models as well. So we have models that go up to 4x.

My family members, my in-laws, they're all plus-sized. I'm not going to make a line that my friends and family can't wear.

Where do you think swimwear is going, trend-wise? Do you think what people are buying from you is indicative of where the market could be down the road?

JA: When it comes to our consumer, typically a person will try a pink or blue from our core collection, and then we find that they collect every color we carry in that cut, and every single limited-edition drop. It's actually very common for us. Some customers have purchased from us up to 12 or 14 times within the last year and a half, which I did not see coming.

As far as swim trends, I think people are looking for something new and fresh. I think high-rise is definitely still going to be a trend. I know plenty of people in the fashion industry will disagree with that comment because everyone always looks at fashion shows to see what’s coming, which is totally great. I totally see the validity of looking at New York Fashion Week for what's coming up, but then everyone looks the same because everyone's all going off that. I look at it and I take it in but I don't go and follow those same trends because then everyone's collections start to look the same. I go in my own direction, and that seems to have worked out well for me.

Some people will say “Oh my god, I can't wear a high-cut suit. It’s too revealing.” How would you persuade someone who might think that?

JA: I fit so many different women of all shapes and sizes, and I always tell them “just try the Chloe.” If you're afraid or if you want more coverage, try the Molly, because that’s just the Chloe with more booty coverage. We also have a lower-cut option that kind of fits more like a V-cut bottom, and that is a little bit trickier but we have options for everyone. If you love high rise and you want something a little bit more sexy Ryan is a great option too.

Either way, I say just try the Chloe. You don’t even have to get a top. Just try on the bottom.

Are you testing the suits for durability? I know I hate when a bathing suit’s butt gets all stretched out, or the colors fade.

JA: Absolutely. The swimsuits look identical to the moment you buy them, no matter what. I've worn them constantly on the lake all day long in the sun and I've had other customers comment recently on TikTok saying that they've had a suit on pretty much for an entire year in Costa Rica going out and about and the color looks perfect.

You clearly love bright colors, but what is it about them that attracts you?

JA: I was actually very strategic with the colors I picked when I launched because I've always felt like monochromatic is such a clean look. In some ways, it’s timeless, too, because if you like pink, this suit is pink. It’s not some trendy color that’ll go out of style in a few years.

My background is in social media management and the number one performing color on social media for the last decade has been blue so I said, “Okay, I'm definitely doing blue.” When you're bootstrapping a company, you need to make it as tight and strategic as you can everywhere so I literally selected the blue because it performs well on social. It's also one of my favorite colors.

What I didn't realize, though, is that purple would be a huge hit, I launched purple after I launched pink and blue. Purple sells out the fastest right now.

What’s next for you, design-wise?

JA: I definitely want to create an empire of functional pieces, whether it be swimwear or clothing or other categories we're looking into right now. I want everything to be functional, and more so made for women.

You know, I see brands always marketed as “made for women by women,” and I’m like, “Then why is the crotch coverage an inch?” If you wear swimsuits made for women, you know. In fact, we're known for what we call “our chicken nugget coverage” on Tik Tok.

“Chicken Nugget coverage” is such a funny phrase.

JA: I've never told anyone but I got it from a cheer coach when I was younger, and now it's viral on TikTok. We say it all the time and now people are associating us with it. But, really, my cheer coach just told me that when I was a flyer, like, “I don't want to see any chicken nuggets!”