She had an itsy-bitsy, teeny weeny, fully compostable bikini?

They designed a line that crafts sustainable swimwear out of a variety of fabrics that are made from wood pulp to hemp and bamboo to recycled plastic bottles, and upcycled factory scraps of cotton and nylon to repurposed material like military parachutes. Upcycling is a method of recycling, but there is no altering the product back to its original form to start from scratch—it is just remade as a new product.

Linda Loudermilk, an eco-couture fashion designer, designed the bikini with plant starch that will dissolve if buried under dirt, but not in the water. It’s ideal for landfills—if it is thrown away, the bikini would end up buried and would eventually dissolve.

Linda Loudermilk debuted this new swimwear at Swim Week on South Beach in mid-July. In a show called “Haute Natured,” many different types of eco-friendly designs were featured, including Loudermilk’s “Luxury Eco,” “Eco Swim” by Aqua Green, Meadow and MAE Couture. 

“Our mission is to use the runway as a platform to raise awareness about environmental issues and sustainable design, where products are created and produced with consideration to the environmental and social impact it may have throughout its life span,” said Haute Natured creator Ryan Hattaway in a statement.   

Eco-couture is not a new concept but it is new to women’s swimwear, which has always been constructed from man-made materials such as chemicals and polyester that are designed to hold shape and dry quickly.

Another eco-friendly swimsuit that did not make it to the show in Miami is a solar-powered bikini that can charge a cell-phone or iPod. It’s covered with flexible photo-voltaic strips and can charge small electronics and still can be fully submerged in water—once the device is unplugged, of course.       

One of the biggest features of Eco Swim is the “eco-cell” foam bra cups, which are made from biodegradable plant oil. While the suits are made from recycled nylon, polyester and cotton, the fabric isn’t picked up from old clothes bins but is fully processed and cleaned from manufacturers.

Jennie Saylor, the designer behind Eco Swim by Aqua Green acknowledges that biodegradable bikinis won’t impact the waste stream significantly, but all the designers agree that a wider adoption of innovations could have a real impact—which is why Saylor is considering sharing their secrets behind the biodegradable bikini.