She Created a Swim Brand With Just $300, Sold It for 7 Figures

She created a product that stuffed a spot in an trade — and scaled it to a seven-figure enterprise. 

That’s the trajectory Jessica Liao Mayers took over the course of 11 years. Mayers grew up outdoors Dallas in a household of medical professionals. Trend was not an apparent profession alternative. Nonetheless, a highschool vogue class, one she initially took as a result of she thought it could be straightforward, modified her path. 

“I ended up actually, actually loving it,” Mayers says. She competed in state and nationwide vogue design and building competitions, then moved to Los Angeles to attend the Trend Institute of Design & Merchandising, the place she studied product improvement.

After graduating in 2014, Mayers rapidly discovered work as a designer and product developer at way of life model BCBG. She discovered vogue design on the firm, then switched gears, leaping to attire firm Tobi as a purchaser and studying the wholesale retail aspect of the trade.

At Tobi, Mayers encountered an issue that was good to have: She was rapidly finishing work. 

“I used to be very fast,” she says in a brand new interview with Entrepreneur. “My boss would give me the week’s value of labor on a Monday, and I’d end it in a couple of hours. I’d be so bored. So I used to be like, What do I do? I began my very own enterprise.”

Figuring out a spot out there

Mayers began Slate Swim in her dwelling in November 2015. She spent $300 on cloth, then made merchandise to order utilizing a stitching machine she already owned.

Mayers would work on Slate on the aspect throughout lunches, operating across the Trend District to buy cloth. Then she would sew when she obtained dwelling. She was simply 21 years outdated.

“I wanted to begin the model as a result of I wanted one thing for myself,” Mayers says. “I obtained the thought as a result of once I would go to purchase swimsuits, I by no means actually discovered one thing that was tremendous comfy.”

Mayers recognized a spot within the swimwear market. Mass-produced, thick nylon swimsuits on one finish, and high-end, fashionable manufacturers on the opposite. She discovered nothing minimalist. 

“There wasn’t something extra cool and reserved, and that’s very a lot my type,” Mayers says. “I wish to put on very clear silhouettes, neutrals. I didn’t wish to placed on a swimsuit and never really feel like myself.”

She differentiated her model from the beginning. Slate gives swimsuits with minimal seaming, so every part lays flat and easy on the physique. The corporate makes use of a skinny, smooth cloth that looks like a second pores and skin. The primary materials she experimented with had been really lining materials, which was uncommon on the time.

Mayers says that within the 11 years she has led Slate, she has seen the trade change tremendously. 

“I feel I got here in at a extremely good time when social media actually wasn’t getting used for manufacturers,” she says. “I feel that’s a part of why we grew so rapidly as nicely.”

A serious leap

Earlier than Mayers had stock or a producer, Agenda Commerce Present found Slate’s early Instagram account, which Mayers used to share inspiration and teasers. The surf- and skate-focused present wished to usher in swim manufacturers and invited her to exhibit. 

Mayers accepted. She signed up for the present although she was really speculated to go to that very same present as a purchaser for her firm, Tobi. She needed to inform her employer with every week’s discover that she needed to give up as a result of she was going to be displaying there as a model.

“That they had no thought,” Mayers mentioned. “It was actually insane.”

Nevertheless, the timing of the present created an issue.

Mayers had no manufacturing operation in place. To organize, she made 30 samples herself in her residence, slicing and stitching each one. On the commerce present, Slate landed in 22 retailers, together with Diane’s Beachwear.

The orders had been a serious validation, however in addition they launched a direct operational problem. Mayers didn’t have a producer but. On the present, she met somebody who related her with a small Los Angeles manufacturing store. That association helped Slate fulfill its early wholesale orders.

Ultimately, Mayers moved manufacturing abroad and partnered with a small, family-owned producer run by a contact she already knew via Tobi. The connection grew to become central to Slate’s progress. Not like the primary native manufacturing facility, which might be inconsistent, the abroad associate supplied extra reliable high quality and manufacturing capability.

The enterprise expanded regularly. Mayers reinvested income into higher manufacturing, branding, images and ecommerce fairly than attempting to construct each functionality without delay.

That deliberate tempo was a characteristic. “Every part sort of grew at a slower tempo, however very, very manageable,” she says.

Why she selected focus over enlargement

For 11 years, Slate stayed in its lane. Mayers resisted options to increase into menswear, resortwear or different adjoining classes. She believed the model can be stronger by specializing.

“I’d a lot fairly achieve success at one factor than mediocre at many issues,” she says.

That focus additionally protected the model’s id. Slate was based round a particular aesthetic: minimalist silhouettes, impartial tones and flattering suits. Mayers discovered firsthand that chasing developments may dilute that standpoint. She remembers experimenting with trend-forward colours, together with neon yellow, in a single assortment. The merchandise carried out poorly.

“After that, I used to be like, Okay, by no means once more. I’m simply going to do my factor,” she says.

Her advertising method adopted the identical precept. In Slate’s earliest days, photographers reached out to tug fits for seaside shoots and take a look at shoots. Mayers obtained high-quality imagery in change for credit score and tags, permitting her to ascertain an elevated visible id earlier than she may afford main campaigns.

One influencer posted a photograph carrying Slate, which generated 30 orders in a single day, an infinite second for a tiny, early-stage firm. Mayers additionally started gifting merchandise to individuals who match the model, constructing relationships one after the other fairly than chasing a single viral breakthrough.

“It didn’t actually go so viral in a way of 1 factor that occurred or blew it up,” she says. “I feel it was simply constantly investing in these small relationships.”

The compounding impact of that technique helped lay the groundwork for later progress.

The place she waited too lengthy

Mayers now says she waited too lengthy to embrace paid promoting.

Till 2021, Slate had not invested in advertisements. When Mayers lastly employed an promoting staff, the enterprise accelerated. She says within the first yr utilizing paid advertising, Slate grew about 76%. The advertisements used polished marketing campaign imagery to promote the sensation and world of the model.

Her first outdoors rent was an advert staff with an engineering background, an unconventional alternative that appealed to Mayers due to their skill to know Meta’s programs and knowledge.

On reflection, she says, “doing advertisements manner sooner” is the one factor she would change about her business trip.

The expansion from paid advertising created a series response. Extra orders required a warehouse or third-party logistics supplier. Extra success capability made it simpler to deal with bigger wholesale orders. Delegating allowed Mayers to construct past the boundaries of a one-person operation.

Bootstrapping a sellable enterprise

Slate’s monetary mannequin remained easy: promoting swimwear on to shoppers and thru wholesale companions. Mayers says 92% of the enterprise got here from direct-to-consumer gross sales and eight% from wholesale.

Extra notably, she by no means raised outdoors capital. As a substitute, she reinvested what the corporate earned. This meant shifting rigorously with stock and avoiding untimely enlargement into too many stock-keeping items. It additionally gave Mayers extra possession and suppleness when it got here time to promote.

Over Slate’s last three years beneath her possession, the corporate grew 36% yr over yr, she says. In July 2026, Mayers accomplished a seven-figure acquisition after itemizing the model with a web-based brokerage shortly after Slate’s 10-year anniversary.

The choice to promote was not simply monetary. Mayers had lengthy considered Slate as her “child,” however she additionally felt able to pursue her unique ardour: modern womenswear. She wished a purchaser who would perceive the enterprise, worth its id and keep the relationships she had constructed.

She discovered that in a purchaser with a swim background, vogue data and robust instincts for advertising and media. Mayers says the match introduced a way of calm.

“It was like an internal peace,” she says.

As a result of Slate was organized, worthwhile and supported by contractors fairly than full-time salaried staff, the acquisition moved rapidly. Her lawyer, she says, described it because the quickest acquisition he had seen.

Plans to launch a brand new model

Mayers is staying concerned with Slate to help the transition, however she’s turning her consideration to Knitte, a up to date minimalist womenswear model she plans to launch in spring 2027.

“Womenswear and clothes is the place I feel my creativity shines essentially the most, as a result of I’m capable of create with out bounds,” she says. “With swim, it’s been so unbelievable, however there’s solely a lot fit-wise you are able to do with swimwear as a result of all of it needs to be tight and shaped to your determine.”

Mayers goes to be enjoying with silhouettes and completely different supplies and materials that she wasn’t capable of do for therefore a few years. “I’m extraordinarily enthusiastic about that,” she says. 

Her recommendation for founders displays the best way she constructed Slate: Begin with a real standpoint, be resourceful and keep dedicated for the lengthy haul.

“It’s a must to have that zeal that’s going to wake you up each morning,” Mayers says. “For those who don’t have that, you’re simply not going to get far.”