Borneo Paris: Inside a Sustainable Swimwear Brand 

A Brand That Almost Didn’t Happen

• Could you share the story behind the creation of Borneo Paris? What inspired you to transform your vision into a swimwear house?

“I grew up in a seaside city, so the sea was always part of life. As I got older, swimwear became a favourite category of mine — it felt surrounded by happy memories: summer, holidays, long weekends. Even then I struggled to find pieces I really liked that fit well, there were fewer options than there are now.

Borneo almost didn’t happen. I first tried to build it in 2019, at 25, and it didn’t work out. It was an idea I put away and kept carrying around in the back of my mind. I moved around, eventually landing in Paris. By my 30s, that original idea had grown with me.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped relating to what most swim brands were putting into the world. It was always the same two women: sexy, but in a way that’s built for someone else’s gaze, not her own; or the opposite, modest to the point of forgettable. I wanted something modern without leaning on either — something sensual in a more internalised sense, designed for how a woman feels in her own body, not how she’s meant to look to some outsider.

After a summer in the south and a conversation with friends, I started over in 2022. It wasn’t clean. Wrong partners, real mistakes, delays — most of what could go wrong, went wrong. Two years later, in 2024, Borneo was finally out in the real world.”

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• The name Borneo has a connection to sailing and movement. Could you tell us more about the meaning behind the name and how it reflects the spirit of the brand?

“It’s a sailing term. In Spanish, borneo is the arc a boat traces when it’s anchored at sea. I grew up around sailing and was always attached to the concept. You’re anchored, but never fully still. There’s movement and stillness at the same time, restraint and freedom, both at once. I think it represents a lot of what the brand is.”

• What personal experiences, travels, or cultural influences have shaped your creative vision?

“Being born and raised in Uruguay shaped more of this than I used to admit. It’s a culture that doesn’t reward showing off — you don’t scream to the world to be heard, and I carried that with me without really noticing. Subtle isn’t the same as boring to me, things can be simple and still be beautiful.

Paris solidified that. It’s where that concept actually became a practice, restraint as something you build on purpose. A lot of what ends up inspiring designs is seaside architecture, old bridal archives, shapes I come across that have nothing to do with swimwear but tell me something about the final feeling. It’s all about a feeling, a mood.”

Design, Craft, and What “Timeless” Actually Means

• Borneo Paris celebrates timeless silhouettes and understated elegance. What does timeless design mean to you in today’s fashion landscape?

“Honestly, I go back and forth on the word timeless. It’s become something everyone reaches for without meaning much by it anymore. Same with elegant — I’ve seen fast fashion brands use both while everything about how the piece was made says the opposite.

For me, timeless means that one cannot pinpoint the exact year a style is from. It can draw inspiration from a decade or fashion period, it can have a defined, statement look, but you can still imagine yourself wearing it five to ten years from now — or it could have existed five to ten years ago. Not here to be gone the next season. But there’s a practical side too, and that one’s non-negotiable: it has to be made with care and built to last, or the whole idea falls apart the first time it’s worn.”

• How do you approach the design process, from the initial inspiration to selecting fabrics and creating the final pieces?

“My design process isn’t linear. I’m not from a fashion background — not at all — so I don’t do the research, moodboard, palette, sourcing, sketching for a collection in that order. I don’t view the pieces as a seasonal collection but as an ongoing, comprehensive story.

A lot of the initial inspiration comes from seaside architecture and bridal archives. I usually find a shape or texture that inspires me and then start iterating on that. Selecting fabrics is more straightforward: I only work with fabrics that have a significant sustainable element and that I can fully trace. That makes options quite limited, so I test them out and see what’s the best fit for the specific design or the moment. Sometimes designs are put on hold, picked back up again months later with a new perspective. The final piece comes together through multiple iterations and tweaks once it’s fit on a real body.”

• Your collections are created in small quantities with a focus on intentional production. Why was this approach important for you when building the brand?

“I think it’s a responsibility and accountability side effect of making physical items. In a world full of things, I’m very aware I’m putting out even more things that are based on desire, not need. It’s important to me to make sure I’m doing as much as possible to cause as little harm as possible.”

Where “Sustainable” Gets Complicated

• Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in fashion. How does Borneo Paris integrate responsible practices into its production and business model?

“I wish I could say Borneo was perfect — it’s not. I think there’s no such thing, at the moment, as truly sustainable fashion. Most swimwear fabrics are blended, which makes circularity an issue, there’s too many pieces, too many of everything. Natural fabrics have a huge moment now, but there are major drawbacks to using them in swimwear. There’s no true guidebook.

I try to focus on what I can control. I only work with fabrics I can fully trace. I produce in Bali, which isn’t ideal for shipping distances, but relocating closer to home isn’t something I can do well yet, not at this stage. Right now, it would just trade one set of harms for another. So I prioritise small batches over uprooting production. Everything ends up being a trade-off, and I try to make decisions based on what’s best at the stage I’m actually at, not what looks best on paper.”

• What does conscious luxury mean to you, and how do you hope customers feel when wearing a Borneo piece?

“To me it’s pieces created with care. I think this is where the practical side of timeless comes into play — it needs to be created with a focus on durability and attention to detail. I want customers to feel beautiful, long term, not because of what they see in a mirror, but because of how they are.”

The Woman Borneo Paris Is Made For

• Borneo Paris celebrates a quiet and confident form of femininity. How do you define the modern woman your designs are created for?

“She’s not dressing for an audience. She wants to feel good herself first, and if that happens to look good to someone else, great, but it’s not the point. She doesn’t need the piece to make a statement for her, but that doesn’t mean she is plain. She just knows what she likes.”

• Fashion is often connected to memories and experiences. What moments or destinations do you imagine when creating your collections?

“I don’t design toward a specific trip or place, more the feeling of being near water with nothing to prove. Mostly the same handful of potentially cliché summer moments: eating olives on a boat, sitting by the beach, resting on a terrace. Nothing dramatic, just the ordinary parts of summer that end up shaping the memory of it.”

• What message would you love women to take away from wearing Borneo Paris?

“That not everything needs to be performative. You can wear pieces that are just for you, not for anyone watching. There’s a version of feeling sexy and feminine that has nothing to do with being looked at. It’s closer to how the French use the word: appealing, interesting. Not provocative. It’s quieter than that. It’s about not having to think about your body at all, just moving through your day in something that sits right and feels like yours. I’m not trying to help a woman perform beauty, I want her to feel like she doesn’t have to.”

Photo credit: Borneo Paris

What’s Next

• What can we expect next from Borneo Paris, and what dreams do you hope to achieve for the brand in the coming years?

“I no longer have some big five-year plan. I’m figuring a lot of this out as I go, what the brand needs. I just want to keep making pieces I’d actually want to wear myself. Beyond that, I want someone to find an earlier Borneo piece years from now, still wearing it, and have it still feel current, never dated.”

Quick Facts: Borneo Paris

• Founded: 2024 (first attempted in 2019, rebuilt from 2022)
• Category: Sustainable swimwear, conscious luxury
• Production: Small batches, made in Bali
• Fabric philosophy: Fully traceable fabrics with a verified sustainable component
• Design language: Understated, timeless silhouettes inspired by seaside architecture and bridal archives
• Brand ethos: Sensuality defined by how a woman feels, not how she’s seen
  

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Why Borneo Paris Stands Out Among Sustainable Swimwear Brands

Most searches for the best sustainable swimwear turn up the same handful of names, often built more around marketing language than traceable production. Borneo Paris takes a slower, more honest approach: fully traceable fabrics, small-batch manufacturing, and a founder willing to admit where the brand’s sustainability claims still fall short. It won’t fit every definition of affordable sustainable swimwear, since traceable, small-batch production carries real cost — but for shoppers prioritising longevity and transparency over speed, it’s a name worth knowing.

FAQ

• Is Borneo Paris a sustainable swimwear brand? Yes. Borneo Paris uses only fabrics with a traceable, verified sustainable component and produces in small batches to limit overproduction, though the founder is transparent that no swimwear brand today is fully sustainable.
• Where is Borneo Paris swimwear made? Borneo Paris is produced in Bali, a choice the founder has weighed against shipping distance in favour of maintaining small, controlled production runs.
• What makes Borneo Paris different from other sustainable swimwear brands? Its design philosophy centres on internalised sensuality — pieces designed around how a woman feels rather than how she’s viewed — paired with a strict fabric-traceability standard and a non-seasonal, story-driven approach to collections.