As a swimmer one thing that I have always been conscious of is the lifespan of my training and competition suits as they only have so much ‘life’ to them. I personally do my best to wash the chlorine out of them to preserve the lifespan of the elastic in them but one thing that more companies are doing is making suits with more sustainably sourced materials in them. Many swimwear brands are taking sustainability initiatives when it comes to the packaging and materials that they are creating their suits out of.
Many bathing suit brands are using recycled materials such as Jolyn that has one- and two- piece training suits that are currently working wit the Surfrider Foundation to create fabric made from up-cycled single-use plastic water bottles. According to the Jolyn website “The recycled polyester is both soft and durable, sucks your sweat, fights stink and reduces virgin plastic production”. Jolyn currently uses fabrics that do not contain PFAS, BPA or any other dangerous chemicals and is shifting to their Recycled Forever fabric in their training sits to provide durable swimwear and is committed to have 51% of the fiber in their polyester fabric to come from recycled water bottles by the end of 2024.
Per- and Poly-fluoroalkyl (PFAS) is a group of man-made chemicals that are have been used in many products for their ability to resist grease, oil, water and heat and is currently in the US water supply nation wide. BPA is a compound used in the manufacturing of various plastics and has poor solubility in water. These are known as “forever chemicals” as it is incredibly difficult to break them down and many companies are currently working towards minimizing and eliminating them in the production of goods.
Other steps Jolyn is taking is ensuring that their fabrics are made to meet the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) with their two main facilities ensuring: compliance with laws against forced, trafficked or child boar, fair payment of wages, 8 hour days with lunch and rest breaks and commitment to environmentally responsible production. Having partnerships with external sustainability initiatives is important as the fashion industry is one of the most heavily polluting and takes advantage of lower income countries with slave labour.
Many training one pieces and bikinis last anywhere from about a year or two depending on a multitude of factors such as how much you wear the suit, how well it is taken care of and the type of material it is made out of. Swimmers are very particular about suit brands that they like the best and many training suits can run from about $30 to $70 depending on a number of factors. While companies like Jolyn run on the higher end there is a return on investment for the sustainability initiatives and longevity of the suit itself.
If you have ever watched Olympic swimming at any point you’ve seen the girls wearing the knee-length suits often referred to as knee-skins or tech suits in the swimming community. They can run anywhere from around $150 on the low end to around $650 on the high end which is the majority of the suits that you see at the Olympics. The draw of these suits is that they have more compression for the swimmer and absorb less water than a traditional training suit and are made out of more precious fabrics that take more time for companies to develop.
Arena is a brand that is making these tech suits more sustainable with their new Powerskin ST Next being one of the first ever sustainable racing suits. The Powerskin is made with 60% of fabric coming from materials design for landfills and is 20% lighter than the comparable tech suit that Arena makes. The draw if this suit is that it is significantly more sustainable when it comes to tech suit design without compromising what a tech suit needs to do for the swimmer.
Swimsuit brands are making strides when it comes to sustainable materials and ensuring that there is a decrease in the amount of wasted materials. It will be interesting to see the future of the sustainable swimwear space and how positive pressure will ensure that bathing suits will be more sustainable long term.
Interested in learning more?
Jolyn Sustainability Initiatives: https://jolyn.com/pages/sustainability