Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Harmon.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My name is Sarah Harmon I am the Owner/Designer of Whiskini Bikinis! My amazing mom taught me how to sew at a young age, I fell in love with the craft & haven’t stopped sewing since. Growing up in St. Augustine & always being beachside making swimwear just came naturally to me.
Finding a form-fitting bikini was impossible especially if you wanted it to be cute, so I took matters into my own hands and created Whiskinis! I moved to South Florida in 2013 and that’s when the bikini-making really took off. Worked as a cocktail waitress at night then bikini creator during the day creating my styles from scratch, perfecting my custom sizing, & on the hunt for fun Print/Color options. I never wanted to offer an “SM, MED, LRG, etc.”
Because that sizing system is so unreliable & can be discouraging. So when designing your custom Whiskini it’s not just your print/color choices that are custom it’s also the sizing. I launched Whiskinis everything is going great & then in 2015 I had a drug addict steal almost everything I own from me, drained my bank account so I had no choice but to pack up my sewing machine, move back to my hometown & start from scratch. Having to pick up a restaurant job to get back on my feet I had 2 choices to get “stuck” in the restaurant hamster wheel while keeping up with my Bikini Orders or quit my waitress job and go full force into what I am passionate about. So that’s what I did & now it’s 2022, the Whiskini Workshop is on the full-time Grind cranking out all the amazing handmade Bikinis, Activewear & Apparel for everyone to feel their most confident in!
We have 2 local storefronts, our location right on A Street 701 A1A Beach Blvd. is stocked full of custom goodness & then our 1770 A1A South unit D Location is connected to our workshop where you can come in and get custom fit/design your dream kini right there. I wouldn’t change a thing about the journey Whiskinis has brought me on. I am beyond grateful for the endless support my brand has gotten over the years & crazy to think of how much I have grown not just in a business sense but also personally.
Being able to wake up being passionate about what I do & bring some fun into the world of bikini shopping is just the best feeling. It’s been a wild ride but I wouldn’t change it, constantly growing & learning new things daily. Excited to see what the next years of Whiskinis will bring!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road ha it still isn’t a smooth road I just know how to navigate it now. Starting a business from scratch is no joke especially when you are hands-on with everything that gets created.
The past years, especially with Covid, was a curveball, like oh crap all the beaches are closing what does that mean for me a Bikini Company, that was a mind warp for sure ha But thankfully custom orders were flowing in but then my suppliers were the new stressor.
Because everything went to either a standstill nothings available or my reliable sources for fabric, thread, elastic, etc. It just all went to crap materials that just aren’t up to par. So that would be the most recent “struggle” but honestly my mind will never shut off when thinking about Whiskinis. It’s a constant ebb and flow of struggles & success.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Whiskinis is a handmade, reversible & custom-designed bikini shop! We specialize in handcrafting Bikinis each and every item we create is from scratch, meaning we turn a piece of fabric into your specific order. The customer picks one of our styles, then chooses the Print/Solid matchup combo, then selects sizing & then we create it!
Supplying a bikini that is 100% you with no limitations! We offer a bunch of fun prints & solids to choose from but I am constantly mixing up our options to make sure our suits stay more one of a kind!
I am proud of our custom sizing & willingness to change my set styles to make the customer feel best. There is no better feeling than seeing someone’s eyes light up when something they were “insecure” about vanishes because we just tweaked our original design a bit. Bikini shopping is hard & a very vulnerable thing for a lot of people so why not add a little bit of spice to make it a fun & enjoyable experience.
All of our bikinis are also reversible meaning when you buy a set that equals 4 different ways you can rock it! I think what sets us apart is how we interact with our clients, giving them creative freedom to create what makes them happy! It’s cool seeing how different people match up certain colors & prints, makes my job fun!
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Happiness & freedom. Being happy with yourself is something I never was until being my own boss & setting my own day today. Being able to have the freedom to create, do, say, post about every day is what I think success is.
Pricing:
- Bikini Separates – 60$
- One Piece- 100$
- Leggings/Shorties – 60$
Contact Info:
- Website: WHISKINIBIKINIS.com
- Instagram: @Whiskinibikinis
- Contact: (904) 806-3730
Image Credits
Ansley Pacetti
