Chromat Unveils Spring 2025 Collection Ahead of 'Indefinite' Hiatus

After 15 years, Miami-based swimwear brand Chromat announced Thursday that it’s going on an “indefinite” hiatus, but not before releasing a final Spring 2025 collection. Known for its gender- and size-inclusive swim- and body-wear, Chromat is hitting pause following Founder Bex McCharen’s own gender transition from cis woman to trans masc non-binary.

“After months of agonizing, worrying about who I would disappoint and what comes next, I’ve decided to take a pause on Chromat until it can catch up with who I am,” McCharen tells Fashionista. “I’m no longer the girlboss I was when I started Chromat 15 years ago in NYC. So, I’m taking a sabbatical to live my life and will return to design when I’m ready to create from a place of authenticity again.”

Created in partnership with author, filmmaker and activist Tourmaline, Chromat’s Spring 2025 collection is specifically designed for transgender people “to experience pleasure, aliveness and collective opulence,” McCharen says. The garments include strappy thongs, one-pieces featuring cut-out designs, mini skirts and terry towel shorts designed with extra room for a bulge or a packer. Inspired by Miami’s sandy beaches, Chromat’s collection spotlights vibrant blue, sand and black colorways in addition to a wave-inspired pattern.

The accompanying Spring 2025 campaign stars LGBTQ+ models including Carmen Carrera and Rose Montoya. McCharen and Tourmaline — who previously collaborated in 2021 on a legacy collection for trans women who don’t tuck called Collective Opulence Celebrating Kindred — reflected on this next phase of their collaboration in a video, where Tourmaline models pieces from the new collection on a rooftop pool.

Photo&colon; Anastasia Garcia/Courtesy of Chromat

With 15 years now under its belt, Chromat has made waves in the fashion industry for championing gender and size inclusivity through its designs, campaigns and shows. In 2015, the swimwear line was named a finalist for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, and in 2017, it was a runner-up (Telfar Clemens won that year). The brand has also garnered major celebrity placements, with the likes of Kylie Jenner, Ariana Grande, Zendaya, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé wearing its pieces.

To debut its 2021 collection with Tourmaline at New York Fashion Week, Chromat took showgoers to Riis Beach in Queens, which is a historic gathering place for the LGBTQ+ community. Looking back, McCharen singles out this moment as one of their favorites in recent memory: “It was such a thrill to be able to walk the finale parade from the catwalk and directly into the ocean!”

In the larger political climate, Donald Trump’s administration has targeted the transgender community with multiple executive orders aimed at banning transgender women and girls from competing in sports, banning transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, reducing access to gender-affirming care for transgender people under 19 years old and more. Chromat is currently headquartered in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed laws restricting gender-affirming care and expanding the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. (The former law has since been ruled unconstitutional.)

“We are seeing the most vulnerable members of the trans community, the next generation of LGBTQ+ leaders, being dehumanized, stripped of their autonomy to receive gender affirming care, to participate in the camaraderie of scholastic sports and to learn about queer and trans histories in education,” McCharen says. “As brands and consumers, but more than that, as a community who cares about protecting our trans youth, we can speak up for them at school board meetings and to our officials when they try to ban access to life-saving care and histories.”

During Chromat’s hiatus, McCharen will be focused on “self-exploration” while also developing their quilting practice, which they note is “a powerful tool for community, resistance and healing.” McCharen further expanded on their decision to pause Chromat, as well as their personal experience with transitioning, in a personal essay available to read on The Cut.

“It has been an incredible honor to help women, femmes and non-binary people feel confident and embodied through gender- and size-inclusive swimwear,” McCharen reflects. “In collaboration with so many brilliant minds, we created empowering garments that celebrated the beauty and diversity of our community. I hope the communities we’ve created in the past 15 years feel seen and celebrated through our final collection, and that they continue to cheer us on during our sabbatical.”

See all of Chromat’s Spring 2025 campaign images photographed by Anastasia Garcia, below.