Bohodot, sewing summers from Barcelona

Summer has just begun, and with it come back beach mornings, pool afternoons, beach bar nights, and days in swimsuits. A small piece of clothing that can have very diverse fashion and industry conceptions behind it, with more or less sustainable, or more or less local, perspectives. This is where we stop in the first installment of the new section Made in Barcelona: at a family brand that has built its trajectory by betting on local production and sustainability, even bringing waste recovered from the sea into its swimsuits.

Bohodot was born in 2012 in Barcelona, as a result of an unforeseen event: designer Peque de Fortuny lost her job and, together with her daughter Cristina Torras, then studying Business Administration and with an entrepreneurial spirit, they decided to venture into designing swimwear with this sustainable and Mediterranean vision, characterized by soft, bohemian-inspired prints and textures. This mother-daughter adventure eventually took shape under the name Bohodot —a combination of boho and dot, in reference to the swimsuits that marked the first collections.

The brand, which has just celebrated its 14th birthday, started by selling bikinis to friends and acquaintances, and gradually expanded its range of customers until it first launched online sales and, from 2018, also through its own physical stores. Production was entrusted to a local workshop that became the brand's supplier. Now with a boutique on Laforja street in Barcelona and one in Begur, it continues to manufacture in the Barcelona area, and has expanded its catalog, which now also includes clothing, pajamas, and men's and children's swimwear. All lines maintain the same bohemian and Mediterranean air, and have allowed the brand to desensitize and go beyond swimwear and summer.

Through online sales and other stores, Bohodot has also gained an international presence (with clients even in the Royal House, with a model worn by Princess Leonor that sold out in a few hours when it was revealed to be from the brand). Thus, the firm has consolidated itself by adhering to its principles of designing and producing locally, growing at a sustained and calm pace, and maintaining a close relationship with the environment, also to draw inspiration for its collections to evoke the light and colors of the coast.

With a staff of fifteen workers, the company maintains its commitment to local production as one of its hallmarks; it remains in the Barcelona area despite the trend of the European textile industry to move its production to third countries. This decision responds both to a matter of business philosophy and quality control, since producing nearby allows for supervising processes, reducing transportation, and, at the same time, revitalizing an industrial ecosystem that for decades was one of Catalonia's economic engines.

In recent years, this commitment to proximity has been complemented by a growing commitment to sustainability. The brand has progressively incorporated recycled fabrics into its collections, many of which come from waste recovered from the Mediterranean, such as abandoned fishing nets and other plastics collected from the sea. These materials are transformed into new textile fibers that allow for manufacturing swimwear with less environmental impact and contribute to circularity. All this in a context where the fashion industry is one of the most polluting on the planet.

Thus, Bohodot champions the values of production rooted in the territory, of Mediterranean essence, of sustainability, and of a family history that has built a small Barcelona brand that has been gaining a place in the market, including internationally, without abandoning its original principles. More than a decade after the first bikini, the firm continues to grow by combining environmental awareness, proximity, and Mediterranean design, from Barcelona.