our story
Swim Cosy founders Fiona and Ric started their parenting life back in 2013 with the birth of their first son, Archie. Since then they had a further 3 childen Thomas, Harry and Olive who all love outdoor fun especially when water is involved - however, as you can imagine, living in the North West of England children get very cold... and quickly !
We needed to find suitable clothing to meet their needs....so choosing Neoprene was the easy part, after all, it's what surfers wear so it must be good ! but the hardest part was finding something lightweight and cosy when Archie grew taller and potty training was complete.
We needed a swim vest which did not incorporate the "under the nappy flap", something that was more like a waistcoat and more importantly something he could feel grown up wearing.
We couldn't find anything suitable so we set about designing our own and soon thought "if we need this, then surely other families would love it too".... and so that's how the original Swim Cosy vest was created.
You'll also spot our children as models on the site too... sorry we can't find any photos of Archie in his 'product testing' vest :(
Thomas
Here's Thomas back in 2017 wearing the first version of our vests.
This was the subtle "Teal Ducks" design and was a fantastic product except for one thing - it smelt so bad !
The neoprene we used was just too smelly. So we went back to the drawing board for the new range and managed to source a much softer and almost smell-free neoprene. Perfect !
Olive
Here's Olive in 2022 testing the second version of our vests in sunny Cornwall.
There are some amazing beaches there but even though it was sunny there was certainly a cool breeze and the sea was a tad cold too, meaning the vest was certainly needed.
This is the "Life under the Sea" design and features the much nicer smelling neoprene.
Harry
Here's Harry, again in 2022 testing the second version of our XL vests (the one without the 'under the nappy flap' in sunny Cornwall
He played happily all day wearing the vests - it's tight enough to offer warmth but not restrictive.
This is the "Sea Birds" design.
....he's also having a splash at Centre Parcs modelling the old orange dino vest.