About Bathing Suit Material
Bathing suit materials, like bathing suit styles, have changed significantly over the last 150 years. The development of synthetic bathing suit materials has made bathing suits more practical, comfortable and more fashionable than ever before. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
-
Function
-
Bathing suit materials serve a practical purpose, as well as providing a sense of style. They must be lightweight and not absorb very much water, to avoid becoming heavy when wet. In order to be comfortable, they must soft and stretchy enough to allow movement. However, they must also retain their original shape after stretching. They must also be easily dyed in order to allow for a variety of colors and patterns, and not lose their colors when washed.
History
-
During the Victorian era, women's bathing suits looked more like dresses than today's beach wear, and were made from woolen materials. These protected women's modesty, but grew heavy when wet and made swimming impractical. By the early 1900s, bathing suit designers began using jersey knit and cotton materials for bathing suits, making them lighter, slimmer and more practical. In 1959, DuPont invented spandex, which quickly became the ideal material for bathing suits because of its lightweight, stretchy and water resistant qualities.
-
Significance
-
The invention of synthetic fabrics for bathing suits revolutionized the way swim wear was made and worn. Although many of the changes in bathing suit styles, from body-covering dresses to skin-bearing bikinis, were due to changes in culture and fashion, modern bathing suit fabrics and elastic allowed people, especially women, to swim more easily and to improve speeds in competitive swimming. Modern bathing suit materials also allow for a wider variety of colors and prints than the old woolen fabrics.
Types
-
Most bathing suits use several materials, including the outer fabric and a lining, as well as elastic. Bathing suits with adjustable straps also often have plastic or metal sliders and trunk style suits often have a nylon drawstring. The outer fabric of a bathing suit is generally spandex, chosen for its color or pattern, while the lining may be a similar fabric chosen for its opacity. Some bathing suits, such as trunks, use a mesh lining rather than a spandex one.
Considerations
-
Since most bathing suits are made from spandex or similar synthetic materials, most people choose a bathing suit based on style, rather than the type of materials. Many bathing suits are available in floral prints, animal prints, stripes and geometric shapes as well as solid colors. Fabric stores that sell bathing suit materials often have a more limited selection of prints than commercially made bathing suits. Most women look for a color and print that they like, as well as one that flatters their figure.
-
