Beach-going with the fam is a summer staple, but these fun-filled outings can easily turn stressful when your kid isn’t able to comfortably wear what they want. This was a problem Toronto dad Jamie Alexander and his daughter Ruby, who is transgender, knew all too well.
?In the early days, when she socially transitioned, we put her in boys? clothing for gym and swimming,? Alexander told CBC. But eventually Ruby expressed interest in wearing bikinis like the rest of her girlfriends. Alexander and his wife fully supported their daughter, but worried about any unwelcome attention or potential danger that could come from Ruby wearing an ill-fitting girls swimsuit in public.
The family searched for other alternatives (Alexander admits to buying “everything that was out there”), but they continued coming up empty-handed. On a 2019 trip to Panama, Ruby was back in boring board shorts. “There really just wasn’t something I felt comfortable with her in,” Alexander said in an interview with Breakfast Television earlier this year. Unsatisfied with this solution and frustrated with the general lack of stylish and functional bathing suit options available for Ruby and the more than 400,000 trans girls across North America, Alexander decided to develop his own. And that’s when Rubies was born.
The brand’s signature product, the Ruby Shaping Bikini Bottom, is made of high-quality compression mesh and spandex and promises to provide support...