Profile: Amber Jones
U&I Ambassador, Amber Jones is a freelance photographer who uses her skills to tell stories with the fragility of the environment in mind. She ...
Read more100% Recycled Nylons
SWIMWEAR THAT PROTECT OUR PLAYGROUND
U&I NOW Building your sustainable wardrobe
Noosa Girls Trip Edit feat.‘After the Rain’
our story
behind the seams
dedicated to OCEAN DWELLERS
With each stitch inspired by the power of the ocean, our mission is to create women’s surf culture, promote slow fashion, and protect our planet. By helping reduce the environmental impact of wardrobes, our goal is to unite water women across the globe to protect our coastal playgrounds and start conversations both in and out of the water to create positive change.
Produced in limited runs, all our pieces are sustainably and ethically made, using 100% regenerated nylon for our swim, and deadstock fabrics for our apparel.
FROM BELLS TO NOOSA
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APPAREL
Swimwear Collections
BUILDING YOUR SUSTAINABLE WARDROBE
After years of dreaming, designing, and refining, our very first apparel range is here!
Effortlessly move from land to sea in these styles which speak to the woman who seeks adventure. The surfer, the mama, the marine biologist, the free-diver, the captain, the protectors, the explorers, and the everyday woman who has a connection to the sea.
Dedicated to co-existing with nature, rest easy knowing your garment has been consciously created & ethically handmade using deadstock fabric - rescued and recycled before it ever got the chance to make it to landfill.
Think the ultimate bed to beach styles with a hint of 70s surf vibes that will take you from dawn patrols into the night.
new beginnings
from bells to noosa
In search of warmer waters during the winter of 2020, U&I Founder/Swedish Designer and Photographer Emma Bäcklund went on a road trip north to Noosa and met the surfing creative lady Jen.
When you meet your people, you just know you know!?… and so the next chapter of U&I has begun with a partnership of two passionate ladies on a mission to create communities & positive change!
commitments
Protecting our costal playgrounds & 100% recycled Nylon
U&I co-founder Emma have been involved in numerous hands-on environmental activism. She attended an expedition in Tasmania removing thousands of pieces of plastic.
Whiles pregnant she also travelled up to the front gates of ADANI and joined the FLAC (Front Line Action on Coal) camp to learn and document the great challenges of the Adani Cole Mine. Emma was also part of the teams that organised the two very first paddle outs in the name of #STOPADANI.
It is only natural that U&I has committed to using 100% regenerated nylon from post-consumer waste including ghost fishing nets and discarded ocean plastics.
we reached our goal
streaking bells beach
It took the Aussie 2k to go full monty, but the sweede was waiting for any excuse.. The girls reached their Kickstarter goal and delivered the goods! Watch the clip
the reason we're in business
To create Women's surf culture
U&I was founded from the passion of supporting and empowering women in their pursuit of the perfect wave, and aim to unite and build an inclusive community of water women.
The U&I girls have been running Women's Only Surf & Free-diving catch-ups as well as hosting Art Exhibitions, Women's Surf Film Premiere and most recent hosting the launch of Sea Together, an independent women's surf magazine.
first official studio +
U&I TO THE BIG SMOKE - NYC
In 2016 U&I got invited to attend the Axis Trade Show, a women's young blood trade show in New York City. The girls maxed out their credit card, packed a surfboard, a heap of swimwear and jumped on the plane. Seven intense days; trade shows, parties, falling in love, looking for the greatest Speak Easy bars, looking for Jodie and chasing wholesale accounts..
2016 was also the year U&I opened their first official studio and store called 'The U&I Lab'. The space was located in the heart of the Surf City of Torquay, directly located below the Rip Curl boardroom!
U&I on the road
australian launch tour
In 2015 after launching the label on their home-ground during the Bells Beach Pro, Em & Jodie took to the road with stops at iconic surf destinations Bondi Beach and Byron Bay. They threw some great parties and launched their Australian made swimwear label in style.
how it all started
we moved into a shack
To make U&I a reality founders Jodie and Emma moved into a Torquay shack together. They set up their first studio in the sunroom, but that didn't stop them from also occupying the share-house's kitchen brewing the next batch of swimwear.
Their friends set up a shaping bay out of their garage and was the seed for shapers that today shapes and supports themselves of their trade. Cute boys would come to shape their first boards too Em and Jodie's great distraction..
U&I was, and is still today dreamt up in-between sets while surfing at Bells Beach, with each stitch inspired by the power of the ocean.
Our looks
JOURNAL
Protecting our Coastal Playgrounds with Ilana Kelly
Both in and out of the water, connecting with our local surf communities has meant we have been lucky enough to meet some great humans along the wa...
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