The Moms Behind HiViz Neon Swimwear

Mary is a mom of two amazing kids and a fierce advocate for supporting other parents and unapologetically promoting drowning prevention and water safety education. She grew up as a competitive swimmer, was a lifeguard, and was a swim instructor. Mary is passionate about water safety and drowning prevention. Deeply driven to leave a positive impact on this world and to help others, Mary is passionate about HiViz because of the ability neon gives her to supervise her kids around water and in public places easily! She also just really loves neon.

I looked from my daughter, to my sister, and right back again. Only a split second, but my daughter had disappeared. I frantically scanned the water, scanned the beach, and I grabbed my sister, who was standing in front of me, by the shoulders and screamed, "WHERE IS SHE!?" as I physically moved her to the side to then find my 2yr old standing right behind her legs. But when I scanned the water, i so vividly remember thinking, "If she's in there I won't even be able to see her."

I started HiViz Swimwear because I know the pain of thinking your have lost your child. My son was attacked by a dog in a split-second ambush. I got to him within a second but he already had seven or more bites to his head and face before I could reach him. From my angle, I was sure the dog had his throat; I thought my son was dead. That moment will never leave me. So when my daughter disappeared from sight at the beach, in a fraction of a second, my body went straight back to that place. That same searing panic, that same terror, my heartbreak. I looked everywhere and couldn’t see her. I remember thinking, if she’s underwater, I won’t beable to see her." I never wanted to feel that helpless again. That’s why I created HiViz Swimwear. Because when visibility means getting to them seconds faster, those seconds could be the ones that save their life. After three seasons of avidly looking for neon swimewar and being unable to find it, I decided I was just going to make it myself.

After that terror-filled moment on the beach when my daughter disappeared on me in her little blue swimsuit, I went home, I ordered fabric, I bought a pattern, I borrowed a sewing machine, I taught myself how to sew, and I made the very first neon swimsuit for my daughter. We returned to the beach later that week, both kids in neon, and I experienced something I'd never felt before. I felt peace. I unknowingly had given myself peace-of-mind because I could see the kids, in low light, in the evening, with their backs away from the sun, so clearly, for such a distance. There was no way I was losing sight of them no matter how fast they move.

It was this, this loss of anxiety, this peace, this additional layer of safety, that I wanted every parent to be able to feel. We brought neon into the swim apparrel market when no other company had a neon line. We did this for all the moms and dads, because we wanted YOU to have this peace of mind. Through HiViz Swimwear's all neon swimwear line, we are doing just that.