our story
About Salty Affair
Holidays. A magic word that encapsulates the excitement of embarking on a new journey, tasting different culinary delights, and gaining meaningful insights into a different culture. Pure joy!
However, it inevitably also requires careful planning and mindful packing. While I happily managed my share of travel responsibilities, my one gripe was always packing my swimsuit.
I could never find one that suited my sensibilities and taste. There wasn’t enough variety on the market to begin with, the styles and cuts were all similar and repetitive. And on top of that, they were either black, maroon, or navy blue. Not exactly my colour palette.
In 2020, when the world went into lockdown, I prayed for normalcy and dreamed of being able to go on holidays again. That was my lightbulb moment.
With extra time on hand, I put pencil to paper and began sketching my first set of designs. The idea was to create a collection that offered full-coverage swimwear for the pool or beach, designed for modestly dressed women that felt beautiful, feminine, and unique at the same time.
Having never worked in the fashion industry before, I thought,how hard can it be?! Unknowingly, I had seriously underestimated the journey I was about to embark on.
Not only was it hard to find good, ethical manufacturing partners willing to support a startup, but it was also a task explaining what modest swimwear even meant. For almost all manufacturers, swimwear simply meant a two-piece!
After attending numerous trade shows and exhibitions for a year, I finally found a manufacturer in Bali who was willing to work with my sketches. But even after that, it took over a year and a half of back-and-forth communication and multiple sampling rounds before we felt ready. There were just a few final tweaks left before we could begin bulk production or so I thought.
Suddenly, there were no responses to our emails, texts, or calls. (Apparently, East Asian manufacturers are notorious for ghosting if they decide not to work with you, as I discovered the hard way!)
Not willing to give up, I renewed my vow to bring my collection to life and doubled down on my efforts to find a suitable ethical manufacturer, but this time, locally.
Nine months of searching finally led me to a production house that was not only locally based and ethical in its practices but also had skilled artisans experienced enough to support the intricacies and complexities of modest swimwear design.
From sketching in my 2020 diary to seeing my collection come to life in 2025, it’s been quite the journey.
It has taken five years of hard work, perseverance, and overcoming countless challenges to bring you Salty Affair, a brand that represents confidence, beauty, femininity, and individuality in the way we dress.
For your next holiday, we want you to worry only about choosing the destination. Your holiday look? That’s on us.
SALTY AFFAIR.
A love affair with your holidays.