How Ashley Capri Blends Her Love For Dance And Design With ‘Capri Swim’
Ashley Capri is a professional dancer, costume designer, and entrepreneur who spent a decade dazzling fans as a Brooklynettes, the official dance team of the NBA Brooklyn Nets. She made history as the team’s first-ever costume designer for the team,a position created just for her.
That same resourcefulness led her to launch Capri Swim, a reversible swimwear brand born from her frustration with seasonal shopping and a dancer’s need to avoid tan lines. What started as custom pieces for friends quickly turned into a thriving business that makes both women and men feel beautiful in her designs.
Her Agenda spoke with Ashley to learn more about her transition from dancer to designer and CEO, how her grandmother’s influence shaped her creative path, and the power of building a brand rooted in empowerment and cultural pride.
Her Agenda: How did you get your start in fashion and making clothes?
Ashley Capri: My grandma taught me how to sew. She immigrated from Guyana and she used to tailor clothes on the side. I didn’t go to fashion school or anything. I just always had my own sense of style and knew what I liked and coupled that with my sewing skills that my grandma taught me. With the [Brooklyn] Nets, it kind of organically happened because I was a dancer, I wanted to feel good in my costumes, and I wanted my teammates to feel good. We always had fit issues or fabric choices that didn’t work with the routine. Something very minuscule ended up turning into a role created for me just because I had the knowledge of being a dancer and knowing fabric. The first project that came to me with The Nets [was when] we had a routine to Kanye West’s Fade and the dancers choreographed the routine. We each did a section and we picked the costume we wanted. The game before that performance, they told us Star Wars was the theme and we had to wear these sponsored Star Wars t-shirts. They were gonna have us in a t-shirt and shorts and it was gonna mess up the whole visual. [So], I was like, I’ll turn the t-shirts into a bodysuit. [In] less than 24 hours, I turned 16 t-shirts into bodysuits for us to wear in a way where we could still feel good in it and make the sponsor happy.
Her Agenda: Was this your first time seeing that you can blend both your love for dance and your love for making clothes together, or have you done it before?
Ashley Capri: No, I had been doing it. I did it for my own pieces that I choreographed when I was training at [Alvin] Ailey, still in like the pre-professional realm, transition to professional. I also have dance friends who are choreographers and they’d be like, ‘Hey, can you make this for me?’ It would always be little side projects. I never really promoted it, but if you knew that I knew how to do it, nine times out of 10, I would do it for you.
Her Agenda: You noticed the lack of swimsuits available to buy throughout the year and you decided to fill that problem with Capri Swim. What or who gave you the confidence to take the leap in starting it?
Ashley Capri: My community. A lot of people were asking me for custom swim[suits]. I didn’t really think I did anything that big of a deal because I literally just made it for myself. I think people organically liking my design, being interested in it, and wanting to buy it for themselves, [showed me] I do want to make this product available to people because they want it. It’s convenient for me. It’s organic to me and how I travel. I want the [outfits] for travel, but I also wanna pack light; that’s where the reversible aspect comes in. I love gold because I’m Guyanese so, everything about the design is very organic and natural to me. Being able to share that with people has been cool. I have customers come back when I need to refresh their hardware, and I get so many compliments. I even had a pregnant customer. I’ve never thought a pregnant woman would wanna wear my thong bikinis, but she was like, ‘I felt so free.’ Her name is Sadie [Kurzban], she’s the owner of 3 0 5 Fitness. She was one of the first women-owned businesses that actually asked me to vend with her, free of charge, at 3 0 5 Fitness. She gave me a different perspective. My family was trying to convince me to make a full bottom version and I really [wanted to] stay true to what my original purpose was. This was not something I started to make a whole bunch of money, it was just [that] people wanted it. So, I’m just gonna make exactly what people asked me for and just focus on that. That gave me the confidence to be like, okay, there’s pregnant women that will wear it there. There’s a demographic that wants the swim that I sell and that’s been my primary focus for the brand. There’s so many other brands that sell swim[wear]. The options are endless. That’s also a testament to just staying true to myself and not trying to take on more than what I really want to.
Her Agenda: You spoke about being a dancer and knowing how you want clothes to fit you in terms of knowing where your lines are and knowing how your form is. How does that inform how you go into making designs for both men and women’s bodies and then making them feel comfortable so that they can prioritize your brand’s mission of joy, relaxation, self celebration?
Ashley Capri: I would have to say, especially for designing on women, I think because people always tell me like, ‘Oh, you look so tall.’ I’m only 5’4 ¾ . I just have long legs. But even that small knowledge of knowing I have longer legs but another 5’4’’ girl might have a longer torso and shorter legs. I think taking into account the person that I’m designing for is always important, as well as understanding what makes them feel comfortable. With my teammates, it’s easy. We might have one generalized costume or fit, but I have to make it fit like the 21 or 24 different body types that we have on the team. [I] try not to overthink it because things can all also be changed. I used to feel like I had to get it super perfect the first time and then I decided to start giving options. That helps my overthinking brain to not have to feel like I have to find so many solutions, if I’m already prepared with different options.
Her Agenda: How do you approach a design? What’s that process for you?
Ashley Capri: Normally I like some type of visual inspo. I think it is also the dancer part of me. I need to see what the client wants. I don’t actually sketch or draw. I work with actual fabrics and materials in real time. I have a bunch of scrap fabric and trims and different things in my studio that I might play around with or I might buy fabric or materials that match the inspo more, because I’m very visual and I have my mannequin. I’ll just play around by hand and then I’ll work backwards. Once I figure out what I want it to look [like], then I’ll worry about the pattern and the fit. Sometimes I’ll even [record a] voice note to myself exactly what I’m thinking. Sometimes an idea might come [when] I’m on the train and I’m like, ‘Oh, maybe I can try it this way.’ So I’ll just [send a] voice note [to] myself in my notes so I can jog my memory of where I was in that creative space right at that time.
Her Agenda: I’m sure there were a lot of different hurdles like making the samples, doing marketing, budgeting. When you made the shift from full-time dancer to now dancer and CEO and running your own brand, were there any new skills that you had to pick up that you didn’t anticipate originally?
Ashley Capri: Definitely the digital marketing space, I have learned that whole world and I’m still learning. I think that’s like a continual learning thing as the space is constantly changing and evolving and shifting. I’ve had experience being the costume manager before I stepped down last season [with the Nets] when I was a costume manager. I had a team of nine employees that I overlooked. I worked in a hospital for 10 years. I have a lot of administrative skills and analyzing skills, analyzing data and organizing data and stuff just from working in the hospital. The digital marketing realm and creating content that’s engaging, but still organic to the brand [is] hard. I think the hardest thing is staying true to who I am in a social media space where they want you to follow trends, which is like the complete opposite of artistry. It is very interesting to me, personally as an artist. I’ve never been somebody that wanted to do something that everybody else was doing. It’s like picking and choosing when it’s something I want to do versus when it’s something I have to do.
Her Agenda: Do you have people that help you with it?
Ashley Capri: I had a digital marketing manager [who] helped me in the beginning stages, like the first six months of set up and I’ve kind of taken it over it myself. I have a content creator that I work with sometimes for videos. I’m also a quick learner, so it was just a space I had to learn. I feel like I’m gonna be able to work with other digital marketers and content creators in the future. I like working with freelancers just to see different creative thought processes and see how they would bring my vision to life.
Her Agenda: How has the feedback been, especially since launching your latest collection, Chocolate Dreams?
Ashley Capri: The feedback’s been great. It’s been genuine. I get a lot of [people saying], ‘I love the colors, I love the design,’ especially some of the more editorial stuff. I got some really good magazines to publish my editorial work for the swim line. I don’t really have any complaints. It kind of soothes my overthinking part of creating the content and creating the assets for the brand.
Her Agenda: What is one piece of advice that you give to anyone that wants to start a swimwear business or a clothing business in general?
Ashley Capri: I would say to be teachable. I never present myself as somebody who knows it all. Even when I’m strong in my vision, I like to think I’m still pretty open to perspectives or feedback. I think in business it’s going to be a balance of being receptive to that feedback and knowing when to apply it. Also, knowing discernment in the business [and] knowing which way to go has been the biggest thing.
I’ll also say having a community that you can trust. I know [people say] sometimes, ‘Keep your moves to yourself, move in silence,’ but I think I have the type of support system that I don’t have to move in silence because I don’t have anybody that’s secretly plotting my demise in my closed circle. You know? Again, that goes back to discernment. So I think those two things are very important when starting a business because you’re always gonna evolve, you’re always gonna change and you have to be able to pivot. You can’t pivot without the knowledge to know like all the different options that you might have.
