It's summer all year around at Moana Bikini's expanding headquarters
Colourful, cheeky and carefree-the Moana Bikini brand is surfing into summer with plans to double its sandy footprint and expand into activewear.
The online swimwear label is a modern success story; no bricks and mortar stores, a brilliant social media strategy and a loud and proud social conscious.
Leading the brand’s focus on body positivity and female empowerment is 32-year-old chief executive Karina Irby, who boasts over 1 million Instagram followers on her personal account.
The Gold Coast’s Burleigh Heads has played the backdrop to Irby and the Moana Bikini brand’s online success. “It has an amazing reputation for everything Moana stands for – that laid-back, carefree lifestyle,” says Irby.
In 2020, the business purchased its company headquarters in Burleigh Heads. Irby paid $575,000 for a 292-square-metre building on Township Drive, with open-plan offices on the first floor and a warehouse and bathrooms on ground level.
“It was a dream. I remember when we finally signed the paperwork, we were absolutely in shock.
“It was in the thick of COVID. A lot of people were saying ‘don’t do it’. They were very cautious. But we stuck to our gut instinct.”
Their gut instinct was right. Industrial property prices shot up exponentially during COVID, due to the surge in online shopping. Soon, many business owners from further south would also be seeking out new spaces on the Gold Coast, putting more upwards pressure on prices.
Now Moana is preparing to expand their footprint, searching for another similar-sized warehouse for the brand’s new activewear range.
“Moana Smile Club is all about not taking active wear so seriously,” says Irby. “We’ve just done a photo shoot in-house and are about the shoot the campaign. We’ll hopefully be buying next door before Christmas.”
When asked what factors played into Moana’s global success, Irby highlights the brands longevity. It turns out a decade is a long time in the cut-throat bikini industry.
“We did establish our brand 10 years ago, putting ourselves in front of everyone else who has a swimwear label.
“We have always focussed on diversity. Now, diversity seems to be a trend to a lot of brands, but to Moana, it’s always been an essential, core value … everyone has a bikini body and should feel seen and represented.”
Their product is also seamless and reversible. “Even though you’re paying $150 for a bikini, it reverses into a completely different look. No one else is really doing that.”
Moana’s celebration of colours, curves and cellulite has been warmly received in Australia and overseas.
With 70 per cent of sales heading to the United States, the brand straddles both the northern and southern hemisphere’s summers. “When the US summer kicked off, we were all guns blazing,” says Kirby.
Bright and bubbly, their company headquarters is a reflection of the brand. “We wanted it to have a lot of personality,” says Irby.
The team at Justin Humphrey Architects worked alongside Burleigh Constructions to design and fit out the space.
“The clients are a huge amount of fun,” says principal and director Justin Humphrey. “The clients were really seeking something a little less serious than some other company HQ’s would be looking for.”
“It was important for staff to be able to play on the half court or break for lunch while more serious work was done nearby. The space also needed the ability to transform into a display space for special sales events or a backdrop for a photo shoot.”
More and more, architects are working in industrial areas, injecting personality and style into the workplace.
“Industrial fitouts are a growing trend as businesses look for space they can own and personalise.”
