How Francesca Aiello Rewrote The Swim Playbook With Frankies Bikinis

Like any true California love story, the tale of Frankies Bikinis started on a beach in Malibu. As a teenager growing up in the exclusive seaside enclave, Francesca Aiello spotted a confident woman wearing a lower-than-low-rise bikini bottom — a look she immediately wanted to achieve. The only problem? She couldn’t find it. So, she made one herself.

After making samples of her own and starting an account on the earliest edition of Instagram, the word quickly got out, and Aiello was suddenly thrust into starting a full-fledged business — at the ripe old age of 17. “I never, ever, ever intended on starting a brand, but I was so excited about these little bathing suits that I was making,” Aiello says, some 14 years later. Those “little bathing suits” became the global phenomenon known as Frankies Bikinis — and Aiello charted a fresh path in the swimwear market and redefined what collaborations and “It Girl” dressing could look like.

Aiello was born and raised in Malibu with an insatiable curiosity about clothes. Her mom always let her fly her freak flag, whether it was by wearing Vans checkered shorts with a matching backpack and slip-on sneakers or dyeing her hair primary colors. “She would get called into the kindergarten class and they were like, ‘Are you letting your daughter come to school with pink hair?’” Aiello recalls. “And she would be like, ‘So? She’s happy. She’s healthy.’” Aiello’s Malibu was all about surf culture. She grew up looking at pictures of Pamela Anderson leaving Planet Blue in sweatpants, going to the Rose Bowl to find vintage T-shirts to wear with itty-bitty cutoff shorts, and leaning into tomboy aesthetics that were directly at odds with what people thought of Los Angeles style. “A lot of Frankie’s brand DNA is based on Malibu style, and it’s so different from what anybody would imagine Malibu is. It was so low-key,” she says. “My whole life revolved around being in a swimsuit.”

It was also her mom who helped produce her first samples and turn it into a business. After Candice Swanepoel DMed Aiello asking for some swimsuits, it was clear to both that this could be something.

They say that writers should write about what they know; in Aiello’s case, she designed what she knew: a split between being ultra-girly and tomboy, with bikini and one-piece options not found elsewhere in the market. She carved out a niche that encouraged mixing different bikini bottoms and tops, and by posting directly on Instagram. Aiello recalls individually replying to every DM request for a swimsuit — “My thumbs would hurt from replying to people because we didn’t spend as much time on our phones back then” — and posting for years without thinking of proper advertising. It’s almost unthinkable now, but in hindsight, Aiello considers herself and her mom — a high schooler and a hairdresser, respectively — lucky that they had time to figure out how to not only produce swimwear, but effectively market a brand at the dawn of social media. “The second I started doing it, I got competitive with it. If I can’t beat my competitors in infrastructure and production, I can certainly try to beat them in growing on our Instagram page. Let’s see how much we can make this happen.”

Collaborations came just as instinctually. Her first co-designed collection was with Sofia Richie in 2019, and it sold out almost instantly. Soon, others wanted in. “In 2020, I was with Hailee Steinfeld, and she was like, ‘Wait, I want to be your next collaborator.’ I was like, ‘Say less. Let’s make it happen.’” Since then, Frankies Bikinis collaborators include both Hadid sisters, Kylie Jenner, Jennie, and VS Pink (since 2022, Victoria’s Secret owns a minority stake in the brand). “It’s a fun outlet for them because it’s so different from what they are normally working on. They get to express themselves and make a collection that is unique to them, their personality, and their taste, and find a way to tie it to our brand and tell the right story.”

In 2023 came a full circle moment when Aiello collaborated with the mother of all swimsuit icons: Pamela Anderson. Aiello, who grew up with Anderson’s sons, calls her “the embodiment of a powerful female. Being able to do something with her and recreate the red one piece with her later in her life was such a special moment.” Another hometown-hero moment came in the form of a childhood friend: Gigi Hadid. “I’ll never, ever forget finishing glam for the Gigi shoot and walking down and seeing her in a Frankies Bikinis bikini,” Aiello reminisces. “We were emotional all day because we were reconnecting after growing up together. I remember something about seeing her — because some of these girls are not traditional swim girls; they’re fashion girls — and it was her first time having a swim moment. The fact that they trust me of all people to lead it is so special to me on such a deep level.”

Her most recent collaboration is also close to home: Devon Lee Carlson, whom she calls her best friend. “Both of us have crazy vintage archives, so we just started pulling our favorite pieces, looking at trims and fabrics, and trying to figure out what story we wanted to tell,” Aiello tells me of her close friend. “At the end of the day, Devon’s brand identity is so identifiable that it made it so easy to design in her world. That’s my dream collaborator because there’s a different level of passion behind what they’re doing when they fully understand the creative elements of the collaboration and also the business elements of it. She knew what the Frankies girl was looking for, and she knew how to sell it in a way that made it one of our top-selling collaborations.”

Carlson’s and Aiello’s love for vintage results in a gift exchange they call “titty for tatty,” where they both bring each other vintage treasures from their recent travels. This past summer, Carlson returned from Italy with a vintage Roberto Cavalli yellow two-piece set that, as Aiello says, “is the coolest little set I’ll have forever. My closet is filled with little things from her I’ll always have and remember she gave me, which makes this [collection] special.” As if on cue, Aiello pauses as she has to divert an incoming FaceTime from Carlson. She simply giggles. It’s this girl-next-door, best-friend energy that lends Aiello’s brand, now much larger than perhaps she ever imagined, the intimate, shopping-with-your-BFF feel that extends to its in-person locations.

I point out the irony of Aiello going from digital-first sales to its now 10 brick-and-mortar stores at the same time most historic brands were hustling to build websites and social-media accounts in the 2010s. It’s the perfect anecdote to capture the modern-day business Aiello has built: unconventional, nimble, and responsive to the customers’ needs. “There’s something serious to be said about retail and where it is going,” Aiello says. “People want in-person experiences so bad that we see people doing popups and having crazy lines. It’s funny: Five years ago, people thought that was all going away, and now it’s booming. People want to have experiences they can share online, and feel like they have community around what they love.”

It’s also paramount for her to have direct feedback on the product while bringing a slice of SoCal to the people. Aiello spends time in her Malibu store the most, watching people shop and seeing what customers gravitate toward (and what they don’t). She wants every in-person experience, whether in Boston or Sherman Oaks, to feel like you’re getting a slice of the beachfront Frankies Bikinis experience. That experience also recently includes ready-to-wear and knitwear, which have seen impressive growth and slot seamlessly into the Frankies girl’s wardrobe. “I’m always making it into an outfit in my head. Yes, I’m in a really sexy, 100%-silk, baby-pink slip dress, but I’m also tossing my hair up in a messy bun to have my matcha with huge glasses and Uggs on,” she says. “There’s this beachy casual element you can do with any of our pieces. There’s no formality to it.”

This mix-and-match approach, from her first-ever designs to now the burgeoning full-service fashion brand she’s building, have made not only her collaborators trust her, but also her customers. The future is bright: More stores are surely on the way, plus yes, a lot more collaborations. She says her dream collaborator is Hailey Bieber — “I am so inspired by what Hailey’s doing at Rhode, and she’s a dream girl to do a collection with. I would love to see her point of view through swimsuits” — and that sunglasses might be the next product category she breaks into, due to her unhealthy obsession with collecting vintage pairs. But most of all, staying true to what she set out to do at just 16 years old always remains top of mind throughout the highs and lows of figuring out how to run a business. “I want to keep building the Frankies world and giving that girl everything she needs to build out her wardrobe and be that true Malibu beach girl. I love people being able to see a swimsuit with no obvious branding and look at it and go, ‘Well, obviously that’s Frankies.’ I’m living every girl’s dream, making bikinis and getting to work with amazing women. I pinch myself every day. I wish everyone could love their job in the same way I do.”