Founded in 2002 by Heidi Gosman and Penny Klein, Heidi Klein emerged from a practical gap in the market: women travelling outside the traditional summer season had limited access to luxury swimwear and resortwear. More than two decades later, that original proposition sits within a much broader shift in how customers travel, shop and build their holiday wardrobes.
The founders have seen the category evolve from individual bikinis and cover-ups towards a more complete travel wardrobe, with customers increasingly looking for pieces that can move between the beach, lunch and evening. Fit, longevity and understated design remain central to Heidi Klein, while growing interest in materials, production and versatility continues to influence both product development and customer expectations.
Physical retail also remains an important part of the Heidi Klein experience. Gosman and Klein see the boutique as an environment where privacy, considered lighting, fit expertise and personal styling can offer something that ecommerce cannot replicate. Temporary retail has also formed part of the brand’s approach, including a pop-up at Bicester Village in 2024, while the founders are considering how hotels, travel partnerships and pre-travel services could extend that relationship with customers.
For this edition of Retail Voices, Heidi Gosman and Penny Klein discuss the thinking that has shaped Heidi Klein since its launch, how the luxury resortwear customer has changed, the inspiration behind Resort 2027, the continuing role of physical stores and how retail, fashion and hospitality could become increasingly connected.
1. When Heidi Klein launched in 2002, it was based on the idea that luxury resortwear should be available beyond the traditional summer season. More than two decades on, how central is that original proposition to the brand?
When we first launched back in 2002, we could see that the holiday mindset in the UK was radically shifting. People were moving away from the traditional idea of just taking a two-week holiday over the summer; travel was fast becoming year-round. In particular, we saw a massive surge in people escaping the British winter for destinations like the Maldives.
We knew from our own travel frustrations, and from listening to the women around us, that finding luxury resortwear out of season was nearly impossible. Today, more than 20 years later, that original idea is still the absolute core of Heidi Klein. If anything, the world has completely caught up to us. Travel is now year-round and fluid, which means our mission to provide beautiful, luxury resortwear whenever our clients need it is more relevant today than it’s ever been.
2. How have customer expectations changed since those early years, and what has surprised you most?
In the early days, women came to us looking for a specific bikini or a simple cover-up for a two-week holiday. Now, they want a seamless travel wardrobe. They expect pieces to work harder, pack lighter and look just as good at a beach club as they do for a beautiful dinner.
Our clients are incredibly thoughtful now. They want to know where our fabrics come from, how the garments are made, and they genuinely value sustainability.
Our biggest surprise has been the beautiful, multigenerational loyalty. Women who used to shop with us at our first Notting Hill boutique when they were in their twenties are now walking through our doors with their own teenage daughters. Seeing that passing of trust—mother to daughter—is incredibly moving and something we never could have predicted.
3. As the brand has grown, which elements of Heidi Klein’s identity are most important to protect?
If you asked us what we protect above everything else as we grow, it’s impeccable fit. Swimwear is incredibly intimate. Standing in a changing room trying on swimwear can make any woman feel vulnerable—we learned that first-hand from our years on the shop floor.
True luxury is entirely about how a garment makes you feel. We are obsessive about what goes on inside the suit—the invisible underwires, the side-boning, the subtle ruching. It’s all engineered to make our clients feel completely supported and confident.
We still source the absolute best premium fabrics because we want these pieces to last. They need to withstand chlorine, salt water and years of being packed into suitcases without losing their shape.
For us, understated design is also important. Luxury is a gorgeous texture, a perfect classic stripe or a beautiful piece of hardware. It’s timeless.
4. Resort 2027 draws on Morocco. How do you translate a destination into a collection without making the inspiration feel too literal?
When we design a collection inspired by a place like Morocco, we want to capture how the place feels. For Resort 2027, we wanted to bring the sensory romance of Marrakech to life.
We drew heavily from the warm terracotta of the city walls, the vibrant shock of Majorelle blue and the soft, bleached tones of the desert sand. Instead of putting a picture of a tile on a swimsuit, we translated the geometric beauty of Moroccan Zellij tilework into delicate, custom embroidery and tactile fabric textures.
5. The holiday wardrobe has expanded beyond swimwear and cover-ups. How is that influencing the product categories you see as growth opportunities?
The way women dress on holiday has completely changed since we started. The lines between beachwear, daywear and eveningwear have totally blurred.
When we design a piece now, we always ask ourselves: “Can she wear this to the beach, walk straight to lunch and then style it with different accessories and jewellery for drinks later?” A crisp cotton midi-dress should be able to do all three.
Because of this shift, we see a massive opportunity for us to expand further into tailored resort separates, beautiful luxury knitwear and lightweight layers. We aren’t just dressing women for the beach anymore; we’re dressing them for the entire journey.
6. What role does physical retail play for a brand like Heidi Klein when customers can shop online year-round?
If a customer takes the time to walk into one of our boutiques, we owe her an experience that a screen simply cannot replicate.
Our boutiques are designed to instantly transport you into a holiday mindset—from the scent and music in store to the changing rooms. We’ve designed these spaces with heavy, solid doors for complete privacy, beautifully warm, flattering lighting and robes to wrap yourself in. It changes the entire experience from stressful to being excited about your holiday and how you will look. “Your holiday starts at Heidi Klein.”
Our store stylists understand body shapes, they understand fit and, most importantly, they know how to make a woman feel confident in her swimwear. That genuine human connection is entirely irreplaceable.
7. How do you approach fast-moving fashion and social trends while maintaining longevity in the collection?
Heidi Klein was never built on fashion trends alone, but much more on longevity, elegant design and pieces you keep for years.
We are not all about the latest fashion trends. As Coco Chanel famously said, “fashion fades, only style remains”—and for us, we are strictly about what actually works on the body.
Our focus is entirely on creating the silhouettes, colours and prints that make our clients look and feel incredible when they are on holiday.
8. Beyond traditional stores and ecommerce, which new touchpoints or experiences are you exploring?
We love the idea of creating exclusive pop-ups and custom retail spaces at destinations our customers love to travel to, including Barbados, St Lucia and the Hamptons, within some of the world’s most beautiful five-star hotels.
We are also exploring partnerships with luxury travel partners so we can offer personalised wardrobe curation and home fittings before a client even starts packing her bags.
9. If you could create the ultimate Heidi Klein experiential concept without practical constraints, what would it look like?
Heidi Escapes—a curated collection of exceptionally beautiful villas in the most breathtaking, sun-drenched locations around the world.
You would step into a stunning, thoughtfully designed space where a fully bespoke Heidi Klein holiday wardrobe and beautiful accessories are already waiting for you in your size. Walk out to the pool, and our signature plush towels are already beautifully laid out on the loungers.
We would partner with world-class experts to perfect every single touchpoint—bringing in incredible interior designers to shape the space and private chefs to curate the ultimate, locally inspired food experiences.
It wouldn’t just be a holiday; it would be the ultimate immersion into ease. We’d want our guests to leave with a sense of total relaxation, feeling completely looked after, confident and refreshed.
10. What do you think the next chapter of luxury fashion and retail will demand from brands like Heidi Klein?
I believe our customer wants fewer, better things.
Today’s luxury consumer is incredibly smart. She wants authentic value, she wants clothes that actually perform and flatter, and she wants an emotional connection to the brands she supports. For the next chapter of Heidi Klein, this means concentrating on incredible textile innovation, intentional capsule collections and focusing deeply on the personal, direct styling relationships that started on our shop floor over twenty years ago.
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