Livin' Life in a Bikini

Welcome To Spring/Summer 15

Mikai is all about "Livin' Life in a Bikini" and I ask you to do exactly that as soon as the sunshine turns the heat up enough to enjoy a day at the beach, pool, backyard, boat or wherever the sunshine takes you.

I wanted to take the time to introduce some of the prints coming to our Spring collection. I hope to launch this collection beginning of September as the temperature begins to rise in beautiful Australia! In the mean time I will be designing more prints & styles to add to our Spring & then Summer collection!

These beautiful prints will be featured in the Spring Collection, designed exclusively in America with a designer we are working closely with and we will be using new techniques to our designs such as creating reversibles, mesh inclusions, print-mismatch and the all important unique styles/strapping systems! All of our manufacturing is done RIGHT HERE in Australia! Alot of people didn't know that, so we wanted to let you know that everything is AUSTRALIAN MADE which we highly support! I cannot wait to show you all that I have been working on because a lot of time, effort, time, effort, timee... haha I could go on but a lot goes into making one simple design and it wouldn't be possible without the continual support of Mikai lovers purchasing from www.mikai.com.au and the team working closely to make this all possible, so thank you!

I wanted to also let you know we will be introducing a premium range! This range will feature prints designed from complete scratch by myself! This is a very exciting thing! Whilst all the prints featured in my collections are exclusive, prints designed from scratch mean that no one ever or anywhere in the world can physically replicate them without breaching copyright laws! The premium range will hopefully feature in the upcoming Spring Collection as well!

I would love to know any names you think are suitable for my upcoming collection and I hope this gives more in sight to the behind the scenes of my world... after all your reading all things mikai! So don't forget to follow my journey on the below links!

xx Mik

www.mikai.com.au
info@mikai.com.au
allthingsmikai.blogspot.com.au
(Instagram) @mikaiswimwear
www.facebook.com/mikaiswimwear

Who is Mikai?

You actually have already probably seen me. I don't stray too far from my bikini brands instagram page @mikaiswimwear. I try to appear here and there, but my amazing models do a good job on their own!

I am Mikhailla, Mikai was formed as a bit of a nickname. Everyone used to call me Miki but lets face it I wasn't going to start a brand name as "Miki" so I just gave it it's own little edge...well actually just an extra letter. I am just 20 years old right now! Actually as of today!

When I was 16 I launched my first business venture starting an online clothing store selling other Australian clothing brands. This was a really hard market to break into, especially as an inexperienced 16 year old but you have to start somewhere! I took that as my learning curve - understanding what to do and how to manage a business. As expected it failed because I wasn't passionate about selling OTHER peoples designs. I wanted my own designs, I wanted recognition, not to help "other" brands gain recognition (Selfish hey? Maybe a Gemini thing - haha!) I then sold that business for the price I paid for me to start it so that was a bonus!

At the same time of my failed business venture I got a job in a marketing business, inexperienced again but I believe that people will hire you for what you can show them, not what is written on that resume because I didn't even show them a resume prior or during my interview! I still work here today because I absoutley love it. I can thank my placement in this job for inspiring me with all of my other endeavours. 

On the side of this I was employed (as a second job) to nationally manage a promotional agency in Australia - big step for me and I wasn't experienced AGAIN but this person had faith in me, more than I had in myself and I guess perhaps I was just determined, more than the person that would have been experienced. This was a great opportunity and learning curve which helped me to gain more knowledge in the field I was already interested in. 

At this point I decided I was doing too much, a university student studying marketing, a fashion agent and then national manager for a promotional agency. It was crazy! I gave up the national manager job to continue pursuing my own dream of having my own swimwear line, which was inspired by my job working in marketing alongside other Australian brands - one to which has a strong swimwear line!

After 3 months of painful researching and failures it eventually all came together releasing my first tester collection in April 2013, then my first official collection in August 2013 which sold wonderfully throughout the spring/summer period of it's release. I consider myself lucky because I not only have the benefits of working with other brands, but due to the people who surround me in the fashion industry they constantly inspire me, they keep me in trends and this in turn allows me to create price-point affordable swimwear consistent with the surrounding market and my own niche. 

xx Mikhailla xx