Etam and Nensi Dojaka Debut Sleek Black Swim Capsule for City-to-Beach Wear

A beach uniform with a midnight attitude

Nensi Dojaka has a gift for making skin look architectural, and Etam gives that instinct a surprisingly democratic stage. The result is a limited-edition, 9-piece swim capsule in black, built around structured bandeau tops, one-piece swimsuits, and a cut-out dress that moves easily from sand to city. It is the opposite of soft-focus resort dressing: sharper, leaner, and unmistakably more urban after dark.

That is what makes the collaboration interesting. Instead of leaning into the pale, nostalgic ease often associated with coastal-grandmother dressing, the collection takes the seaside uniform and tightens the silhouette. The mood is still effortless, but it is also controlled, with visible underwires, tie-up straps, delicate draping, and graphic cut-outs giving the pieces a clean, almost couture-like edge.

Why black changes the conversation

Black swimwear is hardly new, but Dojaka’s version makes it feel newly deliberate. Her language is always about precision, and here that precision lands in the way a bandeau is held, the way a one-piece carves the body, and the way a cut-out dress can slip from cover-up to evening layer without losing its line. Etam says the collection is inspired by 1990s swimwear silhouettes, and that reference gives the capsule its tension: familiar enough to read instantly, refined enough to feel current.

The effect is especially strong because the collection is designed to be worn two ways. Etam says the pieces are made for the beach, but also to be styled with ready-to-wear, which is exactly where this capsule earns its place in the summer wardrobe. A black one-piece with trousers and jewelry stops reading as swimwear and starts behaving like a body-conscious top. A cut-out dress over a bikini becomes the kind of piece that can move from a shoreline lunch to a late dinner without changing the whole look.

For readers who have watched seaside style drift from breezy linens into a more polished, city-minded register, this is the sharpest version yet. It keeps the ease, but strips away the nostalgia.

The designer behind the precision

Dojaka brings serious fashion credentials to the collaboration. The Albanian womenswear designer, based in London, graduated from Central Saint Martins MA Womenswear in 2019, launched her label the same year, and won the 2021 LVMH Prize. She was also selected by Fashion East, which helped cement her reputation for disciplined, body-aware design that looks minimal at first glance and far more intricate up close.

That background matters here because Etam is not simply borrowing her name. The collaboration makes sense as a meeting point between Dojaka’s architectural approach and Etam’s lingerie savoir-faire. The house knows how to engineer fit, support, and softness, and Dojaka knows how to turn those qualities into silhouette. Put together, the result feels less like a licensing exercise and more like a genuine dialogue about what swimwear can do when it is treated with the seriousness of eveningwear.

Why Etam is the right home for it

Etam’s own history gives the capsule more weight than a typical designer swim drop. The company was founded in 1916, launched its swimwear collection in 1969, and has spent decades moving between lingerie, ready-to-wear, and international expansion. That legacy matters because this capsule does not arrive as a novelty. It lands as a continuation of a long relationship with swimwear, one that now gets a cleaner, more fashion-forward accent.

There is also a practical appeal in Etam’s positioning. Prices in the capsule start at 30 euros, which places it far below the usual luxury designer-swim bracket while still carrying the visual language of a runway-minded collaboration. That combination is part of the point: the collection looks sleek and exacting, but it is not locked away from the everyday customer who wants a sharper beach wardrobe without stepping into couture pricing.

Availability is equally broad for a limited capsule. The collection is set to be sold online and in stores in France, the United States, and Mexico, which gives it the kind of reach that helps a niche aesthetic travel quickly. In fashion terms, that matters. A black swim set with Dojaka’s cut can move from insider reference to recognizable summer uniform if enough people actually see it in the wild.

The responsible-fashion backdrop

The collaboration also arrives at a moment when Etam is actively framing its business around responsibility. The Etam Group says 61 percent of its products are more sustainable, 100 percent of Etam and Undiz collections are transparent about how they are made, and the group achieved B Corp certification in 2026 through its WeCare program. For a swim capsule, that context is not decorative. Swimwear is intimate, close to the body, and often bought with longevity in mind, so the promise of transparency and more sustainable production adds another layer to the purchase decision.

That broader positioning helps explain why this collaboration feels considered rather than opportunistic. The black palette may be seductive, but the deeper appeal is structural: a heritage swim brand aligning itself with one of the sharpest young designers working today, then using that partnership to modernize the seaside uniform for a customer who wants the beach, but does not want to look like she left the city behind.