Brittney Lynch is still a student at Iowa State, but she has already broken her way into the fashion world.

Lynch, senior in apparel, merchandising and design and production with an emphasis in creative design, has been running her own apparel business under her trademarked name “Edirot” since summer 2009.

After one year of fashion design classes and being an ISU Waterski Club member, Lynch decided to start her own brand that would appeal to other water sport enthusiasts like herself.

Using a childhood habit of writing everything backwards, Lynch experimented with some wakeboarding phrases and came up with “Edirot <3,” which is “love to ride” backwards.

“I went through a lot of phrases associated with wakeboarding and Edirot was the one that looked and sounded the coolest,” Lynch said.

Lynch said she has been a water sport enthusiast, or what she refers to as a “water bum,” since early childhood.

“My favorite time in the summer would be when my family spent one week out in Long Lake, Minn.,” Lynch said. “I looked forward to it so much, that when I was 10 years old, my family gave me the option to spend a week at Disney World instead. I turned it down immediately.”

That spirit and enthusiasm expanded as she got older, Lynch said. She also became interested in fashion and the art of designing clothing.

“I own more board shorts than any guy I know,” Lynch said. “But I have this obsession where everything has to match and I have to have shorts that match my swimsuits.”

Lynch said she knew right away that she wanted to major in apparel design and to one day have her own brand. Iowa State was the one and only school to which she applied.

“My friend’s sister went to ISU. That was one reason why I chose to go here; plus the great apparel design program,” she said.

Lynch said she originally wanted to pursue majors in both fashion and design at Iowa State. However, she found that she did not have time to do both.

“Luckily, I was able to pursue a minor in design studies,” she said. “This last semester, I mainly have design classes, so I’m hoping to take advantage of this time to expand on my creativity as a designer and to have more time for Edirot.

The beginning of Edirot

Edirot was designed for men and women who “love to shred.”

“To shred just means to go out on the water, get on a board and do sick flips,” Lynch said.

The prices of the items are anywhere from $10 to $50 for a hooded sweatshirt from the spring 2012 line. The swimsuits are around $40 or about $20 for each piece.

“The line is edgy, casual, comfortable, bright and has a very surfer/West-Coast feel,” said Madeline Olivia, 2011 graduate [corrected from: senior] in apparel, merchandising, design and production.

When Lynch started Edirot, she had already been bleaching T-shirts for a while. After deciding on a brand name, Lynch progressively branched out into other forms of designing such as screen-printing and dying T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts.

“Edirot is a line I have seen Brittney work on over the last three years at Iowa State,” Olivia said. “She has a very strong aesthetic, and many of the things she designs for class projects have Edirot’s vibe.”

At first, only her friends and family were buying Edirot merchandise. But after selling items at college waterski club tournaments and having a website, a newly launched Facebook page and an Etsy account, sales are not only coming from Iowa but across the United States. Lynch has even been talking to pro water skier Regina Jaquess about promoting the Edirot brand.

Lynch said the hardest part of having a business and going to school is time management.

“There never seems to be enough in the week. I want to do well in school, but Edirot also means so much to me and I love it,” Lynch said. “So I tend to spend more time doing things for Edirot, but I still know that I am here for school, which needs to be my first priority.”

Lynch has recently been “shredding” into new creative ways of expanding her brand. With the ISU fashion show in the spring, Lynch said she is hoping her Edirot swimwear line makes it in.

Just this past week, Lynch launched her first swimsuit line and hooded sweatshirt line.

“The swimsuits are hand-made by me and the hoodies are thickened, dyed and sewn by me as well,” she said.

Lynch said she was excited to bring the new items up to campus to sell. However, what she had made during break was all sold to family and friends back home — not that Lynch is complaining.

To look at Edirot apparel items, check out Edirot.com. You can also go on Edirot’s Facebook page and “like” the page and click through pictures of the company’s new women’s swimsuit line.