The key reason for Triangl’s global success, particularly in the United States, was from a simple marketing tactic.
Speaking at Ragtrader’s Breakfast of Big Ideas in Sydney last month, the Australian swimwear label's co-founder Erin Deering said she had an idea to gift Kendall Jenner a bikini in 2013. By that stage, the brand had been operating for a year.
But Deering didn’t want to send off a pair to the global celebrity and it not be worn, so she decided to target Jenner’s close friends instead, with one of those being Bella Hadid.
“They were already Triangl girls, and they've been for about a year,” Deering said. “I had this feeling that if we didn't gift Kendall – that we gifted everybody around her – that she would get jealous, and that she would want a bikini.”
The difficulty was that direct messaging wasn’t a thing at the time. So Deering personally had to comment on photos that each of Jenner’s friends posted on Instagram, which was open to the public viewing. In some cases, she would put her work email in to get responses.
After sending off a few bikinis to Jenner's friends, Deering woke up to an email from Jenner herself asking for her own pair. Deering obliged.
“That quite literally catapulted us into the US market," Deering said. "We were already in the country a little bit, but that just took us to the next level. From then on, the brand just went on this crazy, vertical, insane, hyper growth period.”
This gifting strategy wasn’t new for Triangl, with the swimwear brand adopting it well-before gifting Jenner’s friends. According to Deering, a lot of people were happy to get something for free, and most of the girls she’d target weren’t big influencers. The key was to find like-minded people.
“It was very novel to send a product to someone and say, here's something with no expectation in return. You just want to see what they think of it.
“I actually selfishly wanted to do that because I needed feedback on the product before anyone was buying it. I wanted to know what people thought about our bikinis.
“And it worked really well in terms of getting us a lot of coverage and a lot of content for our page.”
Triangl has since been sold by Deering and her business partner Craig Ellis, with Deering herself launching a new solo venture called Deering.