How Apple executive Clare Barrins founded swimwear label Sheila for women

She’s a chief of staff during the day and business owner by night, but this woman added another string to her bow after a fruitless search for swim shorts.

Clare Barrins didn’t think she was asking too much when she set out to look for a pair of swim shorts. The Melbourne-born, San Francisco-based business executive searched “high and low” but the shorts she wanted failed to materialise.

“I was surprised,” she says via Zoom. It’s evening in Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Barrins is about to put her children to bed. She will work tonight – as she does most nights – on Sheila, her range of swimwear (there are shorts, tops and a one-piece style). Tomorrow, she’ll head to her day job at Apple, where she is chief of staff in the business development division.

Clare Barrins (centre) with models wearing Sheila swimwear.

“The only options seemed to be daggy board shorts from surf brands in a narrow range of sizes,” says Barrins. “I wanted to create something that women could wear to be part of the action, whether that’s the woman who doesn’t go on the girls’ trip because she doesn’t feel comfortable, or the mum who won’t play with her kids at the beach.”

Sheila, crafted alongside Barrins’ high-pressure day job, is two years in the making. She keeps the two roles separate (the time zones help, she says) and is nonchalant about the idea that perhaps it’s quite stressful to launch a business and work at one of the world’s biggest tech companies simultaneously.

“It’s common for people to have interests outside their day jobs, whether that’s a hobby or a side hustle,” she says. “I don’t think what I do is that unusual.”

The Sia triangle bikini top (left) with the Alyssa mid swim short; and the Mina one piece (right).

Barrins has led a storied career, beginning at ABN AMRO and JP Morgan in London, a stint at Westpac in Melbourne and now, Apple, where she has been since March 2021. She also plays the violin in whatever spare time remains, and is a co-founder and director of Music and the City, a group that meets regularly to bring professional and amateur musicians together to play chamber music.

Sheila will be produced from Australia and, for now, sold here exclusively. Next up? American direct-to-consumer retail.

The range bears more than a passing resemblance to athleisurewear and the idea, says Barrins, is to be able to wear it in a similar way.

“Our tagline is ‘for land, sea and life’,” she says. “I just wore mine paddleboarding on Lake Tahoe, and then put a shirt over the top for brunch afterwards.”

Beach to brunch? “Or lake to lunch,” Barrins quips.

Sheila is all about swimwear that’s comfortable and practical.

She’s not catering to one section of the market with Sheila. “It’s not just for mums, or older women, or plus-size women,” she says. “I did imagine at first that it might resonate best with an older demographic but, actually, the strongest response so far has come from 18- to 29-year-olds.”

She ascribes this to the shorts’ functional appeal. “It’s more about what you’re doing than who you are.”

Barrins herself felt self-conscious of her thighs and wanted more coverage, but she also knew shorts would help on days at the beach when she was playing with her kids.

The name, a nod to Australian slang, sets the tone for the fun she hopes the brand will inspire.

“This is my first foray into fashion, and it was really rewarding,” she says, “even if some elements were a bit of a stretch.”

Pun intended.

Sheila swimwear can be bought online from sheilathelabel.com

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