10 Years of Oy

Although Oy was still in its early days around 2012, the goal from the very first year was to meet the highest quality standards and create a consistent look. Ten years have passed since then, and the label has steadily developed and improved. We are committed to the fair and sustainable production of our surf bikinis, because we love our planet and want to make a difference with Oy.

As a producing brand, we have been caught between consumption and sustainability from day one. We want to burden the environment as little as possible while still selling our products. Of course, you could argue it would make sense to stop producing new products altogether. But because we are aware of the high demand for good bikinis, we decided to deliver the most sustainable product possible in order to push less sustainable bikinis out of the market. For this reason, in 2019 we began making our bikinis exclusively from recycled fabrics. The yarn the surf bikinis are made of is produced from waste such as old fishing nets, fabric scraps or plastic bottles. These are produced in Italy and Slovenia, two locations deliberately chosen for their short transport route to Portugal, where Oy's production site is based.

Over the past ten years we have been able to learn an incredible amount about different materials and processes, and we continue to search for new, innovative materials that are ideally based on natural resources or at least don't use petroleum-based raw materials.

As a brand, we also want to be inspiring and act as a role model, especially when it comes to sustainability. On a personal level, our wish is to do something that makes us happy. Oy gives us both: we bring a meaningful product to market and can stand behind our work and actions 100%. But we also quickly realised that we want to be more than just a product: we want to share our experience in bikini-making and our knowledge of more sustainable ways of living with our customers. We're very happy with what we've achieved so far, but we want to prioritise and pursue exactly this even more.

We also believe in the great importance of community. When we fearlessly share our thoughts, feelings and life experiences with one another, we can help each other grow. For this reason, over the years Oy has started (co-)organising events and retreats to bring together like-minded people with similar interests and passions, and to create a space where we shape our lives together and make time for what we truly love to do.

We are undoubtedly very happy that we are now widely known in the surf scene. Over the past 10 years we have built great partnerships with surfers, artists, magazines and other brands. After all these years, we still see so much further potential to join forces with like-minded people to make a change.

To celebrate our tenth Oy anniversary, we designed the Oyphoria T-shirt. With it we look back on all the wonderful experiences and look forward to more oyphoric projects still to come. Get your own Oyphoria T-shirt now and celebrate with us.