Bikini babes! Cheer star Gabi Butler is one of the most well-known cheerleaders of our time — but did you know she’s also a fashion entrepreneur?
The athlete, 24, founded The Bikini Block with her two sisters, Amanda Butler and Ashley Gaffoglio-Ricardo. Since its 2019 launch, the swimwear brand has become a favorite for big-name influencers and athletes alike, including the one and only Simone Biles!
Just in time for summer, the trio has unveiled the Bandana Print Collection. The collection features string bikinis in a classic paisley-print pattern in a wide range of hues to suit every personality.
The sisters have a very Y2K way to wear the styles. To complete each look, they like to wear headbands and scrunchies with their bikinis — particularly ones from their collection, to match the print and pattern of their suit, which Amanda says is the perfect way to embrace the matchy-matchy trend. “And we also love little wraparound skirts and kimonos — even body chains and bucket hats.”
So what separates the sisters’ bikinis from others on the market? For starters they’re made for movement (yes, even cheerleading, if the opportunity presents itself) .“Our suits would often move around or loosen while we were active, whether we were flipping by the pool or jumping off the boat or working out and running on the beach,” Ashley exclusively tells Us in regard to the brand’s inspiration.
As for the brand name — the story behind it is quite literal. “We would buy bikinis for ourselves and then all of our friends wanted them,” says Ashley. “And then the next thing you know, everybody on the block was wearing our suits. So it went from bikinis for the block to The Bikini Block.”
Their bikinis are handmade in Brazil. They work exclusively with a mother-daughter team, who they discovered by happenstance. “We were looking for bikinis for ourselves and we knew they came from Brazil. So we ended up finding an amazing brand that we liked the quality of their suits. And then we ended up buying so much that the mother and daughter actually reached out to us and were like, “Hey, did you just buy all of our bikinis?” The rest is history.
But the brand isn’t just pretty! The brand donates a portion of each sale to the nonprofit Bikini Beach Cleanup and is the official sponsor of the event. “Our goal is to create a cleaner world, cleaner oceans and cleaner beaches” and “promote mindfulness, kindness and planetary awareness.”
Keep scrolling to shop the new collection.
