California Apparel News

Red Carter has an irreverent approach to fashion that has established him as an innovator in the swim world. His designs range from sassy nautical classics to sexy, daring creations that leave little to the imagination. Carter’s swimwear can be found in specialty stores and high-end department stores including Fred Segal, Diane’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus, Everything But Water and the Victoria’s Secret catalog.

Carter launched his eponymous collection in 2003 and has held fashion shows at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim since its inception. This year, the designer was selected as the “Mercedes-Benz Presents” designer at the annual event in Miami.

With three labels and a menswear collection under his belt, the designer is set to expand into sportswear and resortwear. Carter’s labels include his contemporary collection, Red Carter Red Label; a young contemporary surf-oriented label called Sandy Bottoms by Red Carter; and Glam by Red Carter, a high-end collection that launched this season. In addition, Carter owns the resort-oriented Salon9 showroom in New York and recently added a West Coast branch in Los Angeles. Waterwear’s N. Jayne Seward caught up with Carter to find out how he stays on top of fashion trends and continues to be an innovator on the swim scene.

Who would you describe as your customer?

She’s sassy, and she’ll take a risk and try something a little bit maybe more fashion-forward. The goal for us is to try to bring sportswear trends directly to the swimwear market as they’re happening. That’s a challenge because we want to keep it as contemporary as possible but in a swimwear arena.

How do you make your prodshy;shy;uct stand out in the mix?

We have been using Xtra Life Lycra for about three seasons now, and we’re one of the main spokespeople [for the fiber] because we just believe that our customer will pay maybe a little bit extra for better quality. We started to do new treatments to it such as printing our linings [with logos] so that you realize when you purchase something that it’s a Red Carter–branded product. [We added] the little RC red-button hangtags, and our RC button is always on the back. So we’re just trying to get our identification out there.

How are you responding to the eco movement in design?

We are working with an organization called Charity Water right now, and we’re donating a percentage of the sales to building wells in Africa. So whenever a customer purchases [a suit], $16 goes to building these wells. It’s our charitable contribution. We felt it was really difficult to be green in swimsuits because the materials don’t really lend themselves to organic fibers; they have to have [stretch] in them—otherwise you have a saggy ass. And who wants that in a swimsuit regardless of if it’s organic or not? So we took the approach of making a statement with charitable swimsuits.

What made you decide to launch Glam by Red Carter?

The theme for the Glam collection [this season] was to take the Roaring ’20s and sort of give it a new edge. I was very inspired by, of course, being in Miami, but I wanted to do it in a very authentic sort of nostalgic way. I’m trying to do special treatments and use the Glam collection as a place to discover new shapes and silhouettes. I find if I’m going to develop something in the high end, it may translate down lower into my different collections.

How does living in Miami influence your design aesthetic?

Being in Miami Beach ... I’m really able to, as a creative person, find my own voice. I do lots of research, and I’ll spend some time in the library. I’ve spent a lot of time looking through the archives of Miami and discovering art deco friezes and the inspiration of the color palettes, and that’s really the most inspiring thing with the Glam collection. The Red Carter regular collection really is more fashion-specific, oriented toward what’s happening. [Glam] is where I get to have fun and be artistic. [It reflects] what it used to be like to stay at The Raleigh and have a mint julep and wear white slacks with white shoes and a great panama hat. Those days have gone, but the reverence of them hasn’t. I just like to have that energy.

Where do you see the women wearing this collection?

The first customer was Neiman Marcus, and they are really going to do a launch with it, but we’ve been seeing the customer really more resort-oriented—the Four Seasons resorts, the leading hotels of the world. I was very honored actually that a lot of the people purchasing it are going to put it next to La Perla swimwear.

Why did you decide to open a swimwear showroom?

There are so many other big showrooms [in New York and Los Angeles, but] there was no place for the young artist to be exposed. And it was really good for us to control our environment. We made it a special place with a resortwear atmosphere. We opened Salon9 east [in New York] and Salon9 west [in Los Angeles]. We have our lines, but there are also some other lines in the showroom such as Mara Hoffman, Zimmermann and Brette Sandler. It’s a mix of resort and swimwear, so people can have one-stop shopping.

You added sportswear to the collection this season. What is your vision for the line?

It was a big addition to the line, and people have been really responding. They want to wear the “Red Carter look.” You know all Miami does is party, so we can help them get dressed while they go out.The sportswear in the swimwear collection, right now, will continue to be coverup-oriented. I’m going to try to keep that as special as possible right now because I don’t think it’s a bad idea to do a limited release of special product that people care about.

What’s next for Red Carter?

My goal actually is to continue with the sportswear arena, but I’m going to start doing a small resortwear capsule collection. I’m going to try very slowly to be creative and work out of my studio and create the similar energy that I’ve been able to with the swimsuits.