WILMINGTON — Fun patterns paired with amazing comfort and flexibility are the signature of a men’s swimwear company making waves across North Carolina.
According to the company website, Nomad Trunks is a “feel good / look good” brand offering men’s swim trunks that are “fun but also comfort-driven solutions” that fit one’s lifestyle needs.
Thirty-five-year-old Marine veteran Kevin Ullman is the owner and founder of Nomad Trunks, which is headquartered in the Wilmington area.
“I made the swim trunks with just a really comfortable design and, being that I live in a beach town, it just seemed even more appropriate to kind of focus on that as well,” said Ullman.
As a “Navy brat,” Ullman was born in Florida and his family moved around a lot while his father was serving in the Navy. During their moves, the family had lived in North Carolina starting around 1999 and Ullman spent his high school years in the Tarheel state.
After serving eight years in the Marines at Camp LeJeune himself, Ullman decided to stay in the area and worked private security for a while until 2016, when he incorporated the name Nomad Trunks. The Wilmington-based brand officially launched in March 2018.
Ullman said it took him more than a year to find a good factory to work with and the right fit and materials for his products. The company started out selling underwear, gym shorts and trunks, but shifted focus after the swimwear line took off.
During the first year when the company’s focal point became swimwear, he kept asking himself how he could make the trunks better.
“I’ve noticed with swim trunks myself that I’ve got bigger thighs than other men and some of them are tight on my leg when I squat down or do something,” said Ullman. “But I noticed a lot of gym shorts have that four-way stretch stuff and I said, ‘Aha, I think I’m going to apply this to swim trunks.’”
Since the redesign of the trunks, the company has seen more than 420% growth, and Ullman says that things have only slowed down recently because they have “sold out of a lot of stuff.”
“Obviously being veteran-owned, I’m getting a lot of veterans and first responders who support the brand and they love the tiger stripe trunks — and those, by far of the new ones, have been the best sellers,” said Ullman.
The company is working on restocking some of the sold out items and customers can sign up for restock alerts through the Nomad Trunks website.
The swimwear currently comes in two styles of “Classic” and “Stretch” using polyester and spandex fabrics. Size range from small to double-XL and prices run between $35 and $45 a pair. There are also baseball caps available that bear the initials of Nomad Trunks for $18.
“If the growth continues like it is, I would love to expand and hire more,” Ullman said. “I’d like to hire more veterans and first responders. I’d love to keep the experience in-house and keep it better and owned and operated.”
Ullman, who is currently single, has a son who can be seen in a photo on the company’s social media pages trying out a new line of Nomad Trunks for boys which will launch next spring.
“We’re going to add an all-white pair and one called ‘palm tree island,’ which is kind of a navy-blue background with a pink palm tree and a little bit of shark fin in the water. It’s a really fun design,” said Ullman. “It will be available in a couple months going into holidays and the summer.”
The company will be also adding three more camo designs, a black Baltic camo, an old-school chocolate chip desert, an old school Woodland camo.
