iaera surf: Laura Day

Years Surfing: 8ish

Fave Board: 9-0’ Torq

Instagram: @iaerasurf  & @confessionsofasurflady

What inspired you to start iaera surf? When I started surfing I immediately noticed the disconnect between the images that were advertised to us by surf companies and the women that I met in the water. The women I met were accomplished women; they were doctors lawyers, teachers, entrepreneurs, mothers…you name it! They had so much more depth to them than the “life’s a beach” images that surf ads conveyed.

These women and this community inspired me! I knew that I wanted to create a new kind of surf brand. One that would highlight the uniqueness and beauty of every woman, not just an industry standard. So I combined my passions of design, sewing, surfing & entrepreneurship and created @iaerasurf.

My first garment was a women’s rash guard. I redesigned the traditional rash guard to add a darted bust and a curved hip to fit the shape of a woman’s body and prevent the bunching and riding up. I wanted to solve the problem with so many rash guards of bad fit and therefore no function! Since then i’ve added reversible bikini bottoms & brand tees and have been slowly expanding the line with garments that fit and function for the everyday woman.

While building a business is very challenging, the support and positive feedback from the community has shown me that the hard work is worth it! It’s fulfilling to bring products and brand imagery to the market that women who surf feel like they can actually relate to!

What is iaera surf’s mission statement? Designed to compliment the uniqueness & beauty of every woman, not just one industry standard.

In what ways are you striving to be a more ocean-friendly company? Materials & sourcing is where we make our biggest impact as an ocean-friendly company. Our lines feature fabric made from recycled plastic bottles, prints created with less energy, dye and water as well as “deadstock” fabric, which is fabric that was diverted from landfill. Our garments are cut & sewn locally in our hometown: San Diego which minimizes the carbon footprint of transporting inventory and allows us to quality control our inventory often, preventing bad or unusable items. We also feature a zero plastic shipping experience. It takes more effort to source these materials and more creativity on how we use our resources but I believe that by supporting eco-conscious industries we support the movement toward a more perfect solution.

What inspired you to start Confessions of a Surf Lady? I really wanted to extend the conversation beyond the products I was creating at iaera surf. There has always been so much commentary i’ve had about my experience as a female surfer, so I thought a podcast would be the perfect medium.

What was most important to me, was that the format of the podcast encouraged the community to be apart of the conversation. So for each episode, we post questions specific to women’s surfing and take confessions from surf ladies all over the world! We then discuss these topics on our episodes and share some of the anonymous confessions we’ve received.

Being able to share without reservations and listen without judgement allows us to connect on a different level. I’ve had so many women reach out to tell me that they can relate to so many of the things that have been expressed on the podcast and that they are happy to learn that they are not alone in how they feel as a woman in surf culture.

In just the 5 months we’ve been live, producing this podcast has been so rewarding! It’s connected me with so many women and it’s taught me that it’s okay to be vulnerable, it’s okay to be raw, it’s okay to make mistakes and not be perfect!

With each episode, the podcast pushes me to be more and more of my authentic self and I can’t help but be so grateful to all our surf lady listeners. Hosting an episode each month holds me accountable to being true to who I am because know that my listeners are also being vulnerable, raw and authentic with me when they submit their confessions, send me messages or comment on our posts. I think this has been the unexpected blessing with this project!

By being our true selves, being brave and empowering each others voices, we are telling the story of the true female surfer and that’s what I’ve always wanted iaera surf to mirror, so for me, Confessions of a Surf Lady is so far, a success!

What is your philosophy on surfing? My philosophy on surfing is that there are no rules… (yes, there are etiquette rules for politeness and safety) but there are no rules on how you surf a wave, what board you ride, if you wear the coolest clothes, listen to the coolest music or have the best instagram pictures.

Surfing is simply a place to play, to redefine yourself as whomever you want to be in any given moment. Remember when we were kids? We were allowed to pretend to be whoever we wanted to be at play time. This is how I see surfing, a moment for us to have freedom from expectations, a moment for us to explore our imaginations and curiosities a moment for us to just be and to leave adulthood at the shoreline.