Frankie Harrer Goes to Garmentville

Being ahead of your time is a blessing and a curse, and women’s surf brands 1.0 were way ahead of the curve. 

You blaze the trail and develop the formula, but don’t truly capture the market for the long haul. And women’s surf brands in the 2000s walked so the athletic behemoths could run (particularly in the yoga/fitness/swimwear departments – Lululemon, to name but one).

The first iteration of Roxy was much more potent as a brand marketing force than Lulu — healthy women from diverse backgrounds; doing what they (genuinely) loved and were good at.

Frankie Harrer was born in this era, raised in it, and now, when the trailblazers are collectively scratching their heads wondering how they can re-capture the magic, she’s set up her own brand — dubbed Mystos. 

“When I was younger, it was the height of the Roxies and Billabongs and obviously at the time I was obsessed with them,” Frankie tells me from her Malibu home, new baby (2^nd) in here arms, and shortly returned from Europe. “Obviously there’s a big change in the industry right now, and we felt there was room to add something a little free and fun and authentically us.”

Mystos (pronounced “Mist-oo-s” rather than short, sharp like “cosmos”) is Frankie’s fledgling brand, named after sneaky local wave (shh) that Frankie frequents when it’s on. Fashion forward and certainly fun, made in the US of A, and designed to surf in, but not exclusively.

“I guess it’s more of a cross between fashion and surfing where it’s not too hippie surfing-ish but it’s not just a straight brand that has nothing to do with surf either,” Frankie says. “We wanted to bridge the gap between those two, which is kind of how the girls I surf with at home are.”

The gear’s fun, referencing times past (mainly 2000s with a touch of the 90s), but it’s modern and doesn’t shove nostalgia in your face. There’s bikinis, booty shorts and boardshorts (which are a nice update on that vein of noughties ‘Bong that was a bit utilitarian and way ahead of it’s time – cc: Carhart WIP – contrast stitching and all.)

One thing Frankie’s keen to emphasise, and let’s be honest, something that you can tell even by looking at the photos — is that this isn’t a sweat shop cash grab. Rather, they’re doing it the hard (see: expensive) way, and currently making the gear in downtown LA. Which is another part of the story that leans into the authenticity: surfers from Malibu and the surrounds have long been making the hour drive inland for all their sartorial needs. 

“It’s a super cool process because we’ve been really hands-on with the whole thing, visiting the factory and learning everything about stitching: what stitching works for a bikini and boardshorts and everything,” Frankie explains. “We’ve been figuring it out as we go, meeting people through mutual friends or just when we buy fabric, say, asking: ‘Do you know anyone that can do this or that?’ And our initial collections are all made around downtown LA.”

Despite growing up in LA, Frankie is a savant of big left, tropical tubes, and says that her current go-to surf garms interchange between trunks and booty shorts, equal parts style and function. This also represents the brave new world of women’s surfwear — a revolution compared to the days of choosing between men’s trunks or bikinis.

“I like surfing in bikinis and I also like to wear long boardshorts; I go from minimal coverage to having everything covered,” Frankie says. “Sometimes I wake up and I want to dress like a boy and then other days I want to wake up and be super feminine. It’s fun to mix it up.”

As for the grand vision for Mystos, Frankie explains that it’s very much an organic “see what happens type deal”, something she owns to run alongside her other sponsors (HS, Db, Sunbum, SkullCandy, Crap Eyewear) who, whilst not making head-to-toe apparel, are strong in their own divisions, and nice vehicles to piggy-back your passion project.

“We just had a pop-up which was super fun and encouraging, so we’d definitely like to do more of that kind of thing,’ Frankie says. “Then beyond that I’m just getting back into surfing after having my second baby, which is really exciting. I can’t wait to start going on trips and surfing some real waves again—I think I’m going to go to Indo in a couple of weeks and then back over to Europe to go to France and surf. And yeah, hopefully more trips come up.”

A surf mum influencer, based in the ‘Bu travelling the world with the family, promoting her own brand (and others) whilst pulling into big tubes?

Hey it’s 2025, why the hell not. 

Quality garb made with love in the good ole USA.