When Melissa Papock was 26 and living in the glamorous world of New York City fashion-
magazine publishing, she went to a dermatologist for a routine skin check. There, she received some devastating news: she had malignant melanoma.
“At that moment my eyes and ears were open to a ton of new information,” she says.
The doctor told her she needed to start wearing sun-protective clothing.
She wondered how, working in the fashion industry, she had never heard of sun-protective clothing before. Then her doctor showed her a catalog from the waiting room with such clothing in it, and she immediately knew why.
“It was florescent and synthetic and looked like a zoot suit. I thought, ‘I am not putting it on with stilettos and marching into Conde Nast in that.’”
She wondered if she could create clothing that was both protective and stylish.
“When I started Cabana Life I had two nonnegotiables: one, that everything has to provide 50+ SPF UV protection, which is the highest rating available; and second, it had to be cute enough and stylish enough to hang alongside other well-known brands and compete head-to-head on fashion.”
Thankfully, Papock recovered fully from her bout with skin cancer, and in 2005, she launched her first line of clothing for kids. Together she and co-founder Alyssa Adams have been combining fashion with function ever since with their brand of “beach club chic” styles. Since they launched of one of the first rash guards geared toward women in 2012, women’s fashions have the central focus of Cabana Life.
