FOUNDED ON: Camp Cove Swim's Katherine Hampton on creating and evolving in 2022
We’ve never been ones for New Year’s resolutions. What we can get behind though, is kicking off ‘22 with some solid foundations (fresh goals! strong values!). So we’re stoked to have chatted to 5 makers about the ideas their brands are built on and where they’re headed in 2022. First up, ocean obsessed Camp Cove Swim founder Katherine Hampton.
Hello and thanks for chatting to us! Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hi! My name is Katherine and I’m the owner/designer of Aussie swim label Camp Cove Swim. I live in Marrickville, grew up in Newcastle, obsessed with surfing/swimming and my lockdown hobby stained glass.
What led you to start Camp Cove Swim and what are the values/ideas it's founded on?
I’ve been interested in fashion from my mid-teens and as a consequence learnt how to sew so that I could make my ideas come to life. Growing up in Newcastle and spending most holidays at the beach, swimwear became intertwined with my love for design and expression through clothes. As I got older, being a fiercely independent little thing, I knew I one day wanted to start by own brand. It was told by teachers and mentors that to achieve that I would need to gain 10+ years in the industry. I worked for a few years for a costume jewellery retailer in their buying department. The role was very admin based and I would always be pushing product ideas onto the buyers, even though that wasn’t really my role. I think sometimes in life you need to do the thing you don’t want to do first to lead you to the thing you really want. This role is what made me realised that clothing and swimwear and directing/designing was what I really loved.
I then left that role and applied for roles with swimwear/fashion companies and was successful in gaining a position with one of the big Aussie swim brands. After accepting the role I was told that it would be 4 days unpaid internship and one day paid work until I proved myself worthy of more paid days. Living in Sydney I just couldn’t afford to do that, as well as it going against my personal values. I knew I was worth more than that. To pay the bills while I was looking for fashion work I took a job at a greeting card store in the Sydney CBD. Whilst doing this job I decided in my spare time to use my excess income from working at the store to start a small range of swimsuits aiming to sell online and at markets. I think I was very lucky that around that time is when Instagram was starting to pop off (before the sponsored ad era) and platforms like Shopify were readily available. Camp Cove was launched and we sold out of the first small run pretty quickly! That gave us more funds to make more and the story continues today!
I’ve always had a strong belief that all people are equal to one another, including our value in relation to our physical appearance. The combination of my love for swim/designing and my strong belief in body positivity was a natural one. If I go deep on it, I think I wanted to see myself represented in the way swimwear is marketed - and wished that for my friends and women in general.
Sustainability is another value we place great importance on through Camp Cove. It’s another aspect that’s flowed through from my personal values. I grew up at the beach, holidaying in National Parks and was taught to respect the resources the natural environment provides us and to me. It was very important to continue these values in every aspect of my life, including my business.
What's the biggest lesson you've learnt while running your biz?
Listen to your gut! Learnt this one the hard way. There have been a few times when I’ve listened to the advice of others over my own instinct and just about every time I’ve regretted it. The regret you feel when you’ve taken someone’s advice over your own isn’t the nicest feeling either!
My other big one, which I constantly have to remind myself of, is that everything will be ok. Anytime I’ve been super stressed I can look back and say that it worked out fine. I had two surgeries on my spine last year and spent a few weeks in hospital and a month recovering at my parents place. The surgery was something I had been anticipating for several years and I was stressed about how Camp Cove would go without me being available to work for such a long period of time. I didn’t realise how stressed I was about it until I’d had the surgery and I realised that everything would work out just fine and the world wouldn’t end just because I couldn’t spend all day on my laptop!
How would you describe your approach to 2022?
I’m approaching 2022 with a sense of calm and a drive to create and evolve! The last few years have been pretty stressful for Camp Cove, managing the changing global environment through the pandemic. But as I said earlier, everything has worked out just fine! So I’m striving to bring a positive, calm energy to my work and life so that we can tackle any sticky stuff that comes up whilst enjoying what we have built and continuing to grow and evolve!
Who/what inspires you to keep doing what to do?
Our beautiful customers, friends and family. The little fire in my heart that loves to design and create and to swim!