LONDON, United Kingdom — Against a discouraging backdrop of grey skies, snow and — in the case of large parts of America — a polar vortex, many in the fashionable capitals of the northern hemisphere are setting off on their traditional winter jetaways in search of sun and surf. But in recent years, for increasingly mobile luxury consumers, the ritual of escaping the city for warmer climes, once linked to a specific season, has become a year-round activity.

“I think that we’ve come to a point where people travel all year round. And a lot of stores are realising that and providing product all year round,” Anna Laub, founder and creative director of resortwear label Prism, told BoF.

A former model and European head of content for trend forecasting company WGSN, Laub initially launched Prism, in 2009, as a eyewear brand. “At the time, I was looking for optical glasses and I couldn’t find any. And I realised that if I was supposed to be at the centre of this industry, with all of this information around me, and if I still couldn’t find what I wanted, it didn’t exist basically,” she said.

But guided by an instinct for opportunity and careful product category expansion, Laub has grown Prism, now five years old, into a high-end resortwear brand, offering the kind of sophisticated eyewear, swimwear, handbags and espadrilles that avoid the overwrought construction, unnecessary embellishment and flimsy materials often associated with the category. Indeed, in lieu of clear plastic beach bags and saccharine ruffled bikinis, Prism proposes vintage-inspired shapes in fetching shades of claret and leopard print, and elegant woven totes that wouldn’t look out of place at a tasteful dinner party.

“We are catering to a time when people are much more mobile and travelling a lot more, but [on holiday] you can wear something that you feel is as stylish as something you would wear in London or New York or Paris. We provide that wardrobe. To a certain extent, we are a holiday brand for people who live in the city. It’s that idea of, you don’t have to all of a sudden start wearing orange tie-dye because you’re on holiday,” explained Laub.

“[At WGSN], the information we were providing was to designers who were developing collections, so in a sense, I was going through the whole process that I am now, but just not coming up with a product in the end,” she added.

Laub declined to share concrete sales figures, saying only that turnover for 2013 represented a 75 percent year-on-year gain over 2012 and that, in 2014, growth was projected to continue along the same trajectory, buoyed by growing demand from Australia and Asia. But the brand has been stocked at some of the world's most influential retailers, including Dover Street Market, Opening Ceremony and Colette, since its very first season. And, indeed, it's collaborations with some of these stockists that led Laub to broaden her product offering.

"A lot of what we have done has been really organic," she explained. "For example, when we made espadrilles a couple of years ago, [it started with a special] pair for Opening Ceremony's [Argentina-themed sale for Vogue's Fashion's Night Out]." Then, a friend who worked at London-based retailer Browns spotted Laub wearing Prism's luxe leather take on the classic Argentinian shoe and, soon, she was producing a whole range of them in leopard print and colourblocked metallics for the store.

Similarly, Prism first launched its handbags line when TheCorner.com asked Laub to curate a beach store for them to coincide with the luxury e-tailer’s first season stocking resortwear. Recently, the company launched its first-ever cover-up range for Barneys New York and Matches.com. Much like a pilot programme, these limited-edition collections have allowed Laub to experiment, gauge demand and iterate before investing in a new category, she said.

“Everything I do is an evolution. It’s not like, right, this season it’s about the sea and next season I’m into the desert,” said Laub. “It’s much more about an evolution of product and ideas and perfecting shapes and styles all the time and then moving the ideas on.”

Next week, the brand is set to open its first ever retail store on Chiltern Street in London’s Marylebone neighborhood, an upscale area soon to be anchored by a new hotel by André Balazs. “I really liked the idea of doing something in a new area and helping to build that area. Prism for me, it’s not very East London and it’s not very West London. I was thinking about this new area; I really liked the small community there.”