We're over the moon excited to have been featured in the August issue of Laguna Beach Magazine with 5 pages and an interview:

The Perfect Fit

A LAGUNA BEACH MOTHER AND DAUGHTER
FOUND THE MISSING PIECE IN THE
SWIMWEAR MARKET—AND CREATED AN
INTERNATIONAL BRAND TOGETHER.

By Steve Zepesauer

Finding the right swimsuit is rarely as effortless as the finished photograph suggests. For tween and teenage girls, the search can be particularly complicated: one rack feels designed for little kids, while the next suddenly looks like it belongs on a college spring break.

Nearly a decade ago, Laguna Beach photographer Anna-Marie Goddard found herself standing in that uncomfortable middle ground with her sixth-grade daughter, Chance. Instead of settling, they built the swimsuit they couldn’t find—and in the process, built a company that has quietly grown into an international brand.

“When we went shopping at the local malls, we had the hardest time finding a great-looking, high-quality swimsuit that wasn’t too childish or too grown-up,” Goddard recalls. “The choices were either too cutesy and silly, or offered too little coverage and felt too mature. Frustration grew into inspiration.”

That frustration became Chance Loves, a Laguna Beach-based swimwear company launched in 2017, when Chance was a sixth grader at Thurston Middle School. What began with eight swimsuits designed for an underserved age group has grown into a globally sold, eco-conscious brand offering reversible swimwear for tweens, teens, juniors and young women, along with jewelry, beach bags and Turkish towels.

The idea was straightforward but surprisingly overlooked: create swimsuits that felt fashionable and cool without forcing young customers to choose between childish designs and adult silhouettes.

At 12, Chance was not merely the inspiration for the company. She was its ideal customer and an active creative partner.

“My involvement mainly consisted of developing the creative side of the business,” Chance says. “My mother has always supported me in leaning into my artistic side, which built a strong foundation for our partnership in designing prints, styles and our social media presence.”

Their first collection generated an immediate response. Orders arrived not only from across the United States, but from customers around the world—without a formal advertising campaign.

“We started out with only eight different suits, and instantly seeing sales come in without doing any marketing was an eye-opener,” Goddard says. “I found out girls and moms had just been waiting for something like this. They made that clear through the reviews, direct messages and emails we received.”

Growing Up Together

Building a company as mother and daughter offered an unusual opportunity: The brand could evolve alongside the girl it was created to serve.

Chance remembers looking toward the older teenagers around her for style inspiration while still wanting a level of coverage that felt appropriate.

“Growing up in Southern California, having a cool swimsuit was more important than having almost any other article of clothing,” she says. “I looked up to what the girls in high school would wear, but at the same time, I wasn’t yet ready to fully let go of my modesty. We created designs that evoked the same coolness the ‘older girls’ had, but catered appropriately to my age group.”

Now 21, Chance can look back with a different perspective on the gap the company filled.

“I can appreciate how important it was that we helped pioneer a brand for a niche age group,” she says. “As I’ve grown up, the brand has followed along, bringing a wider range of styles for more age groups and modesty preferences. However, where we started will always anchor the brand as the ‘perfect tween bikini.’”

That evolution has not come without a few lessons. When Chance entered high school and became interested in cheekier bikini styles, the company experimented with adding more mature options. Customers became confused about the brand’s identity, and the designs did not resonate as expected.

Goddard took the experience to heart.

 

“When you’ve created a niche market, stick to it and build on that,” she says.

Chance is now considering creating an “older sister” brand with its own name and identity, which would allow her to develop more grown-up styles while preserving the original focus of Chance Loves.

Their respective personalities have helped define their roles. Goddard says her daughter has always possessed a remarkably decisive eye.

“She knew instantly if she liked something—or not,” Goddard says. “No wishy-washy, no changing her mind later and no in-between. This is also where the name came from: It’s what Chance loves.”

Goddard, meanwhile, brings persistence and a willingness to master the less glamorous details required to keep a growing company moving.

“My strength is being able to stick to something and grind it out, even when things become hard,” she says. “I’ll spend as long as it takes to figure something out, and that was—and still is—continually required for this business. It takes a whole lot more than designs and photo shoots to make something successful.”

Behind the Image

Long before launching Chance Loves, Goddard had already spent years inside the fashion world, first as an international model and later as a photographer. Those experiences gave her an education in visual storytelling, branding and the collaborative energy required to bring a creative concept to life.

She says photography ultimately taught her the most.

“As a model, you show up and do the ‘job,’” Goddard explains. “As a photographer, you become a creative director. So much more is involved before, during and after the actual shoot.”

That perspective became essential to the identity of Chance Loves. Rather than presenting its swimsuits against sterile white e-commerce backgrounds, the brand relies on expressive lifestyle photography in Laguna Beach settings and utilize local models.

“In many ways, the photographer is what makes the brand and gives it its image,” Goddard says. “A product can be great, but if it isn’t shot well—or the right way, on a model in the correct setting—it just won’t be as appealing.”

Her time working with leading designers and photographers also demonstrated the importance of confidence, enthusiasm and thinking beyond conventional solutions.

“Working with the best in the business gives you a priceless education,” she says. “I saw how great photographers and designers got things done and had the ability to pull other people in with their energy and confidence.”

Neither mother nor daughter had a traditional fashion-design education when they launched the company. But Goddard grew up watching her own mother design clothing and hats, create patterns and win awards for her work. She later taught herself the technical aspects of swimwear design to develop silhouettes, prints and detailed production packages for the company’s manufacturer.

The prints are not simply selected from bolts of existing fabric. Chance creates some artwork by hand or digitally, while Goddard develops others from photography—often floral images that she transforms digitally. Other prints are carefully licensed. Because the swimsuits are reversible, each design requires two complementary patterns.

The result is a collection intended to feel custom, colorful and unmistakably youthful without being juvenile.

Born in Laguna

Although Chance Loves now ships around the world, its visual language remains closely tied to Laguna Beach.

Chance was born here, Goddard has lived in town for 35 years and most of the company’s photo shoots have taken place on local beaches. Many of the young women who have modeled for the brand are local residents and friends.

The city’s combination of surf heritage and artistic independence naturally finds its way into the collections.

“What makes Laguna so special is that it’s such an artistically led community,” Chance says. “Taking inspiration from local artists and the overall vibe of our city definitely goes into our design process. We strive to encapsulate that California aesthetic, which has become a major marketing point for our customers around the world. Nothing appeals more than a bikini from sunny Southern California, right?”

Three Arch Bay is a favorite shooting location, with its pale sand, rock formations, vivid water, wooden staircases and colorful canoes and paddleboards. The company has also photographed collections at Thousand Steps, Table Rock, West Street and Treasure Island beaches.

That coastal identity carries an environmental responsibility. Chance Loves has shifted its swimwear production toward material made from recycled ocean plastics and discarded fishing lines. The process gives waste another purpose while requiring less water and energy than many conventional fabric-production methods.

“As a brand, we do feel responsible—especially a brand from Laguna Beach,” she adds. “Keeping our oceans and beaches clean is so important, and we take it seriously.”

The Next Wave

Chance Loves experienced strong interest from its beginning, but Goddard says the company reached another level roughly four years ago, when sales began accelerating rapidly. Each year since has surpassed the one before it.

Much of that growth has happened organically through customer reviews, word of mouth and online searches. Boutiques and retailers around the country have approached the company, despite the fact that Goddard and Chance have not yet aggressively pursued wholesale expansion.

Customers also began asking where they could purchase the accessories shown in campaign photography, inspiring the company to add jewelry, beach bags and Turkish towels. Cover-ups and summer dresses are expected to follow.

For Chance, growing up inside the company provided a hands-on education few people receive so early. She learned that entrepreneurship—particularly within a family partnership—requires compromise, patience and an openness to perspectives beyond her own.

“We have definitely run into disagreements when it came to trend forecasting or brand image,” she says. “But ultimately, they opened my mind to different perspectives and helped me become a better problem solver.”

For Goddard, the business has not altered their mother-daughter relationship as much as it has added another dimension to it.

“I made sure the business wasn’t going to rule our lives,” she says. “We were always able to find a great balance. I just love seeing the woman she has become. I want to think the business helped her become as independent and wise as she is now.”

Looking ahead, they envision Chance Loves reaching more boutiques, surf shops and customers across the country and around the globe. But the heart of the company remains the same: a mother and daughter creating what they once searched for and could not find.

With thanks to Steve Zepesauer, chief editor of Laguna Beach Magazine, the Laguna Beach Indy, and Times Media Group.