We don’t have Dante’s experience, but we’re almost 100% sure there’s a circle of hell dedicated to swimsuit shopping. The designs are always too tight, too skimpy, or so complicated you can never decide which strap goes where. If you’re anyone other than Kate Moss, it’s mission impossible to find something that’s both flattering and comfortable.

Or it was until Hayley Clark launched Honey Mark in 2021. 

Clark is a mother of four who often takes her children to the splash pad on hot summer days. She found she could never find the right outfit. They weren’t going swimming per say, but there was a chance she might get wet. She ended up with an unsatisfactory combination of athletic clothes.

Photo courtesy of Hayley Clark

“That’s really where it got started was this desire to have something functional, that worked for my kids, but also still stylish,” says Clark. She was tired of choosing between swimsuits designed for teens and practical but stodgy garments designed for much older women. “Honey Mark is an idiom for the term sweet spot. And the goal is to create products that are this sweet spot of everything you would ever want.”

Honey Mark’s first and signature garment is a swim romper. From the exterior, it looks just like a cute romper with ruffled sleeves and mid-length shorts. But it’s also a fully functional quick-dry swimsuit with a built-in bra, pockets, and a nursing-friendly neckline for new moms.

“We wanted to bring a lot of confidence to essentially very vulnerable women at a tough time of their lives,” says Clark. “You already feel like you’re so busy taking care of everybody else, and you just don’t have a lot of brain space for yourself.”

Though the suit was born with moms in mind, Honey Mark products serve all kinds of women, from those looking for more modest swim offerings to cancer survivors hoping for a mastectomy-friendly style.

Since that first swim romper, Honey Mark has expanded to many different styles of swimsuits, including two-piece tops with shorts and/or skirt bottoms, a swim dress that flows away from the body for comfort, and tankini styles with fuller coverage bikini bottoms. The brand also makes functional loungewear.

This is Clark’s first time running a business and she’s learned a lot about marketing and scaling in the past four years. Much of Honey Mark’s business has come from social media marketing, where videos of Clark herself dancing and posing in the swimsuits regularly go viral.

“I love brands that have a personal connection. I love understanding who the owner is how it got started,” says Clark. “I wanted to tell them, hey, I’m like you, and this is made by somebody just like you because I understand.”

It doesn’t hurt that Clark also has a background in dance and uses the marketing videos as an opportunity to have fun with her kids, who often star alongside her in the Instagram reels.

Going forward Clark hopes to open a brick-and-mortar store and to get her suits in other stores across the country. In the meantime the next collection of Honey Mark swimwear and clothing will launch in January 2025.

But a focus on growth won’t stop Clark from innovating. Next she says she’s tackling the constant irritation of removable cups in swimsuit bras. Truly, the hero we need.