If you're on the taller side, you probably know how challenging it can be to shop for clothes that fit just right.
Arizona native Whitney Dosty is taking action to create more inclusive swimwear for tall women like her.
Dosty also happens to be a paralympic athlete who won gold for the Team USA Sitting Volleyball team.
She played regular volleyball in high school, went on to play for the University of Arizona, then played professionally overseas for six seasons.
"In my last season, I had an ankle injury and I sat out for a couple years thinking I could come back as an indoor volleyball player, but just given the nature of the injury, it wasn't going to happen quite the way I thought it was," she said. "Then, I found sitting volleyball and never really looked back."
During her downtime when she was hurt, she said she went back to doing things she knew and loved, like sewing and being creative.
"I started a fashion blog during that time and then I kind of took it one step further," Dosty said. "I started reaching out to girls who are also very tall and seeing what they wanted in the fashion world."
She said that in 2016, the one-piece bathing suit started getting popular again.
She couldn't find one that fit quite right and knew she probably wasn't alone.
So, just like with volleyball, she tried something new.
"I was like, I think I could make one, and that's really how it started," she said. "I went home, and I started finding the resources of pattern making here in Arizona and finding people to help me make samples."
Her company, Wavelength Swimwear, was born.
Dosty's debut piece, the 'Toni' suit, comes in four bold colors in fabric she said is 78% recycled from plastic found in our oceans and landfills.
"It means a lot when I see women in them," she said. "You spend so much time making something and you make it how you think it's supposed to be made."
She hopes her story shows everyone that sometimes a setback or an ending is just the beginning.
"I didn't know how to make swimsuits, I didn't know how to run a business, I didn't know how to play sitting volleyball," she said. "But I think I was at a point where I just felt like trying and I think that's, like, step one, is giving yourself the opportunity to try something new."
Right now, the Toni one-piece suit is her only style, but she said she plans to design more in the future.
The style is named after her mother, Toni.
