Austin, Texas, April 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kitty and Vibe, the inclusive swimwear brand with a first-to-market sizing metric, announced the brand’s first-ever celebrity investors and first class of creative designers: Actress, comedian, producer, writer, and director Nicole Byer; Critically acclaimed actress Zoe Colletti; and Professional Tennis Player, Grand Slam Champion, and Olympian Sloane Stephens. The newly named class of creative designers will each design their own exclusive swimsuit prints inspired by their respective personalities and styles. These prints (referred to by Kitty and Vibe as “vibes”) will be available in the brand’s best-selling swimwear styles, as well as new silhouettes consulted by the designers themselves. Byer, Colletti, and Stephens’ collections will all launch in Summer 2023.
Kitty and Vibe, founded in 2018 by Cameron Armstrong, has mastered the fundamentals of community-centric design, engaging consumers at every stage of development through social media polling & surveys, resulting in collaborative styles and a loyal customer base.
“All of our campaigns are 100 percent photoshop and airbrush free featuring real women, including Kitty and Vibe customers, supporting our brand’s core belief that all bodies are beautiful and anyone is worthy of being a swimsuit model,” says Armstrong. “When considering partners, it was imperative that we stayed true to our values as a company, intentionally selecting inspiring women who truly embody and represent our ‘Kind Is My Vibe™’ mission, our daily reminder to be kind to ourselves, our bodies, and others. Each designer brings their own energy and vibe to the brand which will be reflected in their individual collections. We’re excited to grow our Kitty and Vibe community, introduce our swimsuit shopping solutions to each designer’s audience, and roll out these new vibes!”
The first class of creative designers represents the brand’s diverse community of consumers across varying ages, body types, races, and lifestyles.
"As a survivor of Hirschsprung’s disease, my stomach has scars that can be seen in most swimsuits,” says Colletti. “Instead of feeling self-conscious about the marks on my body when wearing a swimsuit, I own them proudly because they reflect my strength and story. I love the Kitty and Vibe mission and their celebration of all body types, scars and all. As a partner, I want to encourage body positivity and I hope my story can inspire others to feel confident in their own skin.”
"Okay so, I love my body in a bathing suit. It's yummy as hell and I want others to love their bodies and feel good in the bodies they have,” says Byer. “For that to happen, bathing suit brands need to have size inclusivity, which is why I’m so happy to be working with Kitty & Vibe. They understand that small divas all the way to the big divas need to look and feel good. I’ve always wanted to create a bathing suit line and now my lil dream is a reality and that’s a real treat for me.’”
“As a female athlete, I’ve struggled to find cute swimsuits that flatter and fit my muscular build,” says Stephens. “When I heard about Kitty and Vibe’s transformative bikini bottom sizing metric, a huge differentiator in the swimwear industry, I became a true fan of the brand and was so excited to finally find a swimsuit that perfectly fit my booty. Kitty and Vibe celebrates all body types and I can’t wait to share my personalized designs with the world!”
In their study of over 500 women, Kitty and Vibe found that 96 percent of participants said they hated shopping for swimwear. Since launching in 2018, the brand is actively solving this problem with their first-to-market sizing metric, crowd-sourced products, and customer-featured products. Kitty and Vibe takes both hip and booty sizing into account, making them the first swimwear brand to use inseam measurements as a way to address the wide variation in sizing that was previously ignored by the industry, and giving customers their best fit yet. In addition to normal hip sizes, all Kitty bikini bottoms are available in two inseam sizes to ensure a proper fit. All Kitty bikini tops are sold by cup size. The brand has expansive offerings of varying support and adjustability catering to cup sizes A to H.
From buying swimsuits online to trying them on at home, Kitty and Vibe has worked to change the long-standing negativity surrounding swimwear by offering solutions that better the product, the shopping experience, and the industry. To further cultivate a community, Kitty and Vibe crowdsources its product launches and invites followers to assist in the design and development process of the suits and vibes. The vibes are paired with a matching persona and mood-boosting playlist, designed to make swimsuit shopping a more positive and confidence-boosting experience. Kitty and Vibe superfans are encouraged to apply to be models for the brand, in fact, they currently have a modeling waitlist of over 3,000 people ready for their closeup.
Kitty and Vibe is ultimately driven by a mission of spreading kindness – the brand’s slogan is #kindismyvibe. To be kind to yourself, your body, the planet, and others. By removing the unnecessary judgments of your environment and your own mind, Kitty helps you to discover the beauty that is you.
For more information about Kitty and Vibe and to be the first to shop the new vibes by Byers, Colletti, and Stephens, visit kittyandvibe.com and follow on socials @kitty_and_vibe. Shop Kitty and Vibe's 2023 Spring Collection now!
This program was managed and executed by FV Incubator, a branch of entertainment marketing agency FlyteVu.
About Kitty and Vibe
Kitty and Vibe is an inclusive swimwear brand reinventing the way women feel about shopping for swimwear by creating a swimsuit that is customized to fit your body, style, and vibe. For too long, swimsuit shopping has been stressful and burdensome for women; in a survey conducted by Kitty and Vibe, 96% of respondents said they “hated” shopping for swimsuits. Kitty and Vibe is completely redesigning the way women shop for swimsuits by tackling the common frustrations they have with bathing suit shopping: inconsistent sizing and uncomfortable fitting rooms. Kitty and Vibe solves those problems with their revolutionary, in-house-designed metric system, enjoyable at-home try on experience, and by featuring real customers in their ad campaigns so that shoppers can relate to the models they see when looking for their swimsuits.
About Nicole Byer
Nicole Byer is one of the most versatile voices in the comedy landscape today. An actress, comedian, writer, author and podcaster, she is perhaps most well-known as the host of Netflix’s Emmy nominated competition baking series Nailed It!, which has gained a cult following of viewers since its premiere on the streaming platform in 2018. In 2020, Nicole made history by becoming the first black woman ever to be nominated in the category of “Outstanding Host for A Reality or Competition Program” and was nominated again in 2021 and 2022. The series premiered its seventh season in October 2022. Nicole can currently be seen in her debut solo stand-up special for Netflix Nicole Byer: Big Beautiful Weirdo and the NBC comedy Grand Crew. The show follows a group of Black friends who unpack the ups and downs of life and love at a wine bar. Season 2 of Grand Crew debuted in March 2023. She also returned as co-host alongside John Cena for TBS’ Wipeout and hosted the 2022 Critics Choice Awards with Taye Diggs. She continues to lend her voice to several characters on Adult Swim’s Tuca & Bertie, as Suzie Carmichael’s mom Lucy on Paramount+’s Rugrats, Netflix animated film Vivo, Amazon’s Invincibles and TZGZ’s The Pole. Nicole is also known for her standout appearances on MTV’s hit show Girl Code, a female-driven comedy series that opens the dialogue for the wonders and woes of womanhood. Listeners can hear Nicole on four different podcasts, the fan-favorite being her popular weekly, award winning, podcast Why Won’t You Date Me?, which sees her inviting friends and guests to discuss their dating lives all while trying to figure out her own. In 2021 the podcast moved under the TeamCoco banner and Nicole won the 2021 iHeart Radio Podcast award for best Female Host for the show. She also co-hosts Best Friends with Sasheer Zamata, Newcomers with Lauren Lapkus and 90 Day Bae with Marcy Jarreau. Her book, #VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE: The Fat Girl’s Guide to Being #Brave and Not a Dejected, Melancholy, Down-in-the-Dumps Weeping Fat Girl in a Bikini, was published by Andrews McMeel in June 2020. In it, she shares her impressive bikini collection, tips on learning how to embrace your body and her overall journey to becoming a #brave badass. Nicole can most recently be seen in Comedy Central’s Cursed Friends alongside Harvey Guillén, Jessica Lowe, and Andrew Lewis Caldwell. Cursed Friends is a supernatural comedy, set around Halloween, executively produced by Will Arnett. You can also find Nicole in the immersive comedy special, Surrounded presented by Just for Laughs. The special also features sets from Nikki Glaser, Pete Holmes, Fortune Feimster, Moshe Kasher, Natasha Leggero, and Moses Storm. Nicole is an Upright Citizens Brigade alum who continues to cement her status as a force in standup by regularly performing in cities across the country. Previously, she received national attention for her web series Pursuit of Sexiness, which she co-created and starred in alongside friend and fellow comic Sasheer Zamata. The series followed the adventures of two broke, single, and adorably self-absorbed young women trying to find a good guy in New York City. Her additional film and television work includes Loosely Exactly Nicole, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, Lady Dynamite, Party Over Here, BoJack Horseman, and 30 Rock. Nicole currently resides in Los Angeles.
About Zoe Colletti
Zoe Colletti just wrapped the feature THE FAMILY plan with Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monoghan for Apple+. In TV she can be seen in ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING season 2 in the role of “Lucy”, opposite Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. Simultaneously, she can be seen as the co-lead with Lana Condor in the Netflix limited series BOO BITCH. Zoe was previously seen in the whimsical holiday film A BOY CALLED CHRISTMAS for Netflix, starring opposite Sally Hawkins, Michiel Huisman, and Maggie Smith. GIGI & NATE, where she stars opposite Marcia Gay Harden, is streaming on Hulu. Zoe is coming off a critically acclaimed performance as the lead role of CBS Films’ SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK, produced by Guillermo del Toro. She can also be seen in indie darlings SKIN (based on the Academy Award-winning short) and Paul Dano’s directorial debut WILDLIFE, distributed by A24 and IFC Films respectively. Zoe showed off her vocal chops when she starred as ‘Tessie’ in Sony’s ANNIE. Zoe’s other television credits include a year-long arc on FEAR THE WALKING DEAD for AMC that Scott Gimple wrote for her. Previously she recurred as Kevin Bacon’s daughter on Showtimes’ CITY ON A HILL. When she’s not acting, Zoe loves fashion, reading, thrifting and spending time with her Italian Greyhound, Louis. Follow Zoe on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @zoecolletti.
About Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens is an American professional tennis player, Grand Slam Champion, and Olympian. In her historic 2017 comeback following a devastating foot injury and grueling rehab, she rose from No. 957 entering Wimbledon to become the US Open Champion in only two months. Sloane has been ranked as high as world number 3 on the WTA Tour and has won seven tournaments to-date, most recently in Guadalajara in February 2022. She is also a French Open Finalist, WTA Year-End Finalist, and Australian Open Semi-Finalist. Off the court, Sloane is a leader and advocate, serving as a Top-20 representative on the WTA Player Council. She is proudly an investor, entrepreneur, social activist, and philanthropist. Through her eponymous foundation, Sloane has served over 15,000 youth through programs in Compton, CA, and South Florida and was named a finalist for the ESPN Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award in 2019. Sloane and her husband, soccer player Jozy Altidore, were honored by Hope for Haiti in November 2022 for the school they constructed in the southern Haitian community of Boisrond.
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