Roxy

Roxy swimwear has a strong reputation for holding up to sun, saltwater and chlorine, which is exactly what you want from a brand built for surfing. As the largest action-sport fashion label for young women, it has decades of practice making suits that move and last. For the price, most buyers feel they get durable fabric and colour that stays vibrant.

Many shoppers find Roxy can run on the snug side, so checking the brand's size guide against your own measurements before ordering is wise. Because the line is cut for active wear and surfing, a close fit is partly intentional. If you are between sizes or want a more relaxed feel, sizing up is the safer call.

Yes. Quiksilver launched Roxy in 1990 as its sister brand for young women, and the two share corporate ownership. Roxy was deliberately differentiated from the main Quiksilver line, in the words of one executive, "for fear it would damage the men's brand." About 30% of Quiksilver's sales come from the Roxy line.

Both sit within the same surf-apparel world and ended up under the same parent group, Boardriders, alongside Quiksilver and DC Shoes. Roxy is specifically the dedicated women's surf-and-board line, grown out of Quiksilver, whereas Billabong is a full-range surf brand with its own women's offering. If you want a label built from the ground up for young women in the water, Roxy is the more focused pick.

Roxy is best known as the women's surf and boardsport brand that helped drive the explosion of women's surfing in the 1990s. Beyond apparel and swimwear it now makes accessories, homewares, wetsuits, footwear and snow and surf hard goods. The heart-shaped logo is its instantly recognisable signature.

The Roxy heart was created by taking two of Quiksilver's mountain-and-wave icons and rotating both copies at a 45-degree angle so they form a heart. The original Quiksilver logo itself, designed in 1973, was inspired by Hokusai's woodcut The Great Wave off Kanagawa. So the Roxy heart is literally two Great Waves brought together.

Quiksilver launched Roxy in 1990. It was briefly shuttered after the 1991 surf-industry crash, then revived by Bob McKnight and Danny Kwock in 1992. The brand signed surfer Lisa Andersen in 1993, a partnership that helped define its early identity.

The name was chosen because it sounded like a punk band or club, likely echoing Roxy Music and The Roxy. It is also the name of the daughters of both Quiksilver CEO Bob McKnight and co-founder Alan Green. That double meaning, music-cool and personal, suited the young-women's line.

Yes. Roxy has sub-brands for its children's ranges, Roxy Girl and Teenie Wahine. So a family can find the same surf-inspired aesthetic scaled across ages. It is worth checking those lines if you are shopping for younger surfers.

One standout was the "DVF loves Roxy" collection released in spring 2013, a one-time limited-edition collaboration of swim and beachwear plus accessories with Diane von Furstenberg. It is a good example of Roxy pairing its surf heritage with high-fashion design. Collaboration pieces like this tend to become collector items.