Jacksonville's Venus Fashion Has Two Suits Featured in The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Venus Fashion, a Jacksonville based company, has designed two swimsuits that appeared in the iconic Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.

PHOTO GALLERY: Take a look at some of the swimwear Venus offers.

One suit is modeled in the actual print magazine, while another blue sequin number is worn on the online edition by model Kate Upton.

The company, based off of Beach Boulevard, manufactures and hand stitches most of their pieces right there in house employing hundreds. 

Which, Senior Designer and VP Jodi Frederick says is a very long way from where they started.

"In a college dorm room at Stetson in DeLand," she said.

She says four other friends, five Stetson students total, would meet in the dorm room. 

"And I can remember we would all sit on the floor and toss out ideas that we could do for a mail order business," she said.

They landed on bathing suits. 

"We were just trying to make a little extra money, some play money," she said.

Now, 30 years after their dorm room meetings, they've become much more than she says she ever imagined, and have international fame with the two suits featured in Sports Illustrated.

"Being in Sports Illustrated is a very special honor," she said.

PHOTO GALLERY: Kate Upton Is Cover Model for Swimsuit Issue

And the venus.com suits are on the affordable end of those featured in the magazine.

First Coast News