When Brit Michelle L’Huillier and her husband Jelle set foot on Sydney’s white beaches, they were surprised by the loose, knee-length, dull-coloured and permanently soggy ’boardies’ they saw. After all, this was a nation of self-confessed beach junkies, with Mother Nature’s rainbow palette for inspiration. And so, drawing on long-loved family names, the first Tom & Teddy collection of durable, comfortable, eye-catching swim shorts was born in 2011.