Pro Surfer Victoria Vergara Launches Her Own Swimwear Brand, vivi by victoria.

There's a common thread that weaves through the most influential surfers and it could be explained in two words: island time. You don't have to be born on one to make your mark. But eventually, you'll have to spend some time in the middle of the ocean where powerful swells roam to truly learn the dance.

Take Victoria Vergara. Born on the French mainland to surfer parents and moved to New Caledonia at age 4. It was there, in the middle of the South Pacific, that she caught her first waves. It wasn't long before she would ride the bus 6 hours alone to reach the nearest beach break. Victoria says, "It's crazy to think about that today but that's what I did to surf, ride the bus by myself."

It was there that a conversation with Jeremy Flores's dad told her parents that they should consider moving to Reunion Island. That's what they did.

Reunion, the French overseas department in the Indian Ocean, is where Vergara's surfing started to really come together. It's also where she still says she's from even though she's lived in mainland France for some years now.

"Reunion is home," she says. She describes it as a melting pot — Asian, Arab, African, French — all rolled together on one volcanic island. The wave and tropical beach culture shaped her from a frothy tomboy, to frothy feminine powerhouse. Although mainly known for her graceful longboarding skills, she can rip on a wide-array of boards in all types of setups.

Aside from being a tropical surf paradise and melting pot, Reunion has a more ominous reputation as one of the sharkiest places in the world. Like many French youth who are raised overseas, Victoria left for the mainland at 18. That was around the time the shark crisis at Reunion got really bad. She and many others were left traumatized by what those years brought.

These days she returns as much as she can. Thankfully, there has been a turnaround in safety and surfing continues after being banned for years. Regardless, for surfers like her, the past is heavy. With a heavy heart she says, "So many crazy stories. So many lost friends."

Starting her own brand

She recently launched her own brand, vivi by victoria. The name comes from a nickname the Gudauskas brothers' family gave her — Vivi. They were the first to say it but the name has stuck ever since. The first product line of swimwear just launched last month. Much more is in the pipeline, but this was the most natural place to start.

"Swimwear was just the first chapter," she says. "I started with it because it's the product I was wearing most of the time surfing. It's the product I was most confident designing."

Before taking the entrepreneurial leap, Victoria spent years designing collections for brands like Rip Curl, working on collaborations that involved her in every part of the process. Eventually her mindset began to change and feel the urge to explore new horizons.

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"It felt like I was doing all this work to create someone else's brand," she says. "I started to feel like, I'm ready to do this." She laughs. "In truth, I wasn't."

The truth she means is that starting your own brand is harder than it looks, even with experience. When you're in charge, there are no more defined hours and no days off. There's just a seemingly endless list of things to do. What has really helped, aside from the support of her friends and community, is that the desire had been there for years.

As she came closer to starting her brand, she became more and more obsessed with fits and fabrics. "I kept asking all my friends and other women I would meet about their suits and bikinis, taking notes about what worked and what could be better."

If you were to look at Victoria today, you would never know that she grew up, as she tells it, as a tomboy. She explains, "I used to wear boardshorts and have this tomboy style until maybe 15 or so. You know, the industry is so male dominated, I simply didn't have much of another style to explore as a surfer. Eventually I started to lean more into femininity and bring sexiness into surfing."

She shared a funny story from early days of moving to France that's worth sharing, "Reunion was much more tropical and easygoing," she says. "Our bikinis were much smaller. When I moved to the mainland, I was like, oh my god. They probably thought the same of me and my friends. It was funny back then — to be topless was fine, but everyone was wearing granny-panty-style bottoms."

We laughed and she added, "It's changed a lot since then and I feel like the swim and fashion space is so open to explore. It's so exciting to get vivi out into the world."

In addition to her signature designs she's also launched a collab with Decathlon, the massive family-owned French sporting goods retailer. The vivi × Decathlon line features bikinis, a swimsuit top and skirt with technical pockets, an umbrella, a towel, and even a soft-top surfboard. It all hits Decathlon flagships in Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, and Rome. She says she took the meeting because they gave her full creative control.

Not an Influencer

One story that I had to ask Victoria about (and I'm glad I did) goes back to a longboard event a few years ago at the pool in Abu Dhabi. During her ride, an announcer described her as an 'influencer'. Later, on her Instagram story, she re-posted the wave with an exclamation, "I'm not an influencer!"

"I was pissed," she says. "He knew me better than that. I'm a surfer, always have been. He would never have called Steph or Italo an influencer. I don't get paid by my posts. They're just one part of my career as a surfer."

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I found it refreshing to hear someone who has formidable following to push against that label, as they say, don't judge a book by its cover. Yes, she knows how to work the 'gram and people love what they see, but that's more of a side-effect than a focus.

She explains, "I remember I first read about Instagram in Vogue, when I was like 16 or 17. I downloaded it and used it for awhile and then sort of forgot about it. A few years later, when it was growing, I went to download it and saw I already had it." She laughs, "Kind of a good thing that I did get on it early because there are a lot of people with my name out there."

What happened when she got back on the app? Did she methodically create and post to gain followers? Nope. "I just started posting shots of what I was up to, you know, surfing, traveling, competing, hanging with friends. It was all very organic, not forced. I gained followers and, over time, it helped me with other jobs and opportunities and it's been great to keep up with friends from all over."

But, one thing is for sure, "If Instagram disappeared, I would still be doing what I'm doing."

You can check out her at https://vivibyvictoria.com/en

Related: Watch: Victoria Vergara in “Petit Écrin”, by Harrison Roach