For the past few months we have been working together with GB Olympic swimmer, Hannah Miley, to develop a maternity swimsuit designed with training in mind.
Author: Isabella Stephens
3 Min Read
Hannah Miley is a Scottish former competitive swimmer, representing GB at 3 Olympic Games (China, UK, Brazil) and is a Commonwealth, Euro and World champion, and in 2022 was awarded an MBE for her services to swimming and women in sport.
I first met Hannah at a swim event, British Gas Heroes’ tour, back in 2010. Growing up Hannah was one of my swimming idols and a huge inspiration to me.
13 years later, and now working at Usual Objections, I messaged Hannah through Instagram in the hope of reconnecting and getting some feedback on our swimwear.
A few weeks later we found out Hannah’s news that she was due to be having a baby! So we jumped on a call to discuss the possibilities of a bespoke maternity swimsuit but designed with training in mind. We all agreed there was a gap in the market for maternity swimwear in colourful prints and bright colours, sustainable, and suitable for not only leisurely swimming, but performance training too.
After sending Hannah a couple of prototypes and altering the fit based on her feedback, we made one in a print chosen by Hannah, for her to wear on World Swim Day.
Hannah and mini Elle in 2010!
We were all so happy to hear it made Hannah feel more confident in the water, mums to be need bright colours and patterns on their suits too! We all really enjoyed this project, and a big thank you to Hannah, for her continuous feedback and support throughout.
We hope to launch this swimsuit style to our customers soon, but still have a bit more testing and alterations to make before it's ready for sale. However feel free to get in touch if you're up for some testing. Check out the product development below :)
Who knew that little me meeting Hannah at a swim event 13 years ago would lead to this!
Elle x