Custom dip

Some women prefer not to be seen at all buying a bathing suit, so they'll visit Gene Esposito.

Esposito, who owns Masters Designs in Fort Myers, sells about 30 custom-designed swimsuits a week from his two area stores. Each suit is made-to-order based on a woman's size and the way she wants to look.

Esposito, 59, who learned the trade from Italian seamstresses in New York City's garment district, says he makes custom swimsuits for women who don't feel they can find what they need in stores.

For example, Esposito makes suits for women who compete in bodybuilding contests or those who have had surgery such as mastectomies. “Everything's a la carte,” says Esposito, whose suits range in price from $119 to $179.

For some women, Esposito says it's hard to find the right swimsuit because there's so little material and it has to fit just right. Dresses, for example, are more forgiving because there's more material. “There's not much room for error,” he says. “It's more of an exact science.”

In many cases, Esposito says women prefer to have him make a suit than try several in a store with other customers milling around. “Ladies don't like to be compared to other ladies,” Esposito says.

That's why Esposito schedules a full hour for his all-female staff of fitters to size the customer even though the process might only take 20 minutes. “You never overlap appointments,” Esposito says.

About four times a year, Esposito travels to Miami to touch and feel the latest fabrics and buy the best grade of Lycra. “I never buy on the Internet,” he says. “You have to feel it and hold it up to the light.”

Business is mostly through word of mouth because he doesn't advertise. With the 1,500 suits he sells a year, he doesn't really have to.

—Jean Gruss