New competitive swimsuit?

[StitchesGr8Fan]

I'm watching the winter swimming championships and noticed at least one of the lady swimmers has a swimsuit that looks like mostly sheer material with thicker material to cover just the key areas. Is the design for performance or for fashion?

 

[Marchand63]

I'm watching the winter swimming championships and noticed at least one of the lady swimmers has a swimsuit that looks like mostly sheer material with thicker material to cover just the key areas. Is the design for performance or for fashion?

Competitive swimmers rarely care about fashion. I would imagine it would be to streamline their cutting through the water.

 

[frostedpink]

I’m watching as well and saw the same suit. I don’t like it....it looks odd. But I’m sure it provides some sort of advantage

 

[sonnyjane]

Do you know what brand it is? I'm at work so can't watch. I'm just curious b/c suits were that way several years ago with more neoprene patches of fabric and those were banned. I'm curious what this new suit is?

 

[paisleys]

I'm watching the winter swimming championships and noticed at least one of the lady swimmers has a swimsuit that looks like mostly sheer material with thicker material to cover just the key areas. Is the design for performance or for fashion?

What channel is this on?

 

[bcla]

Do you know what brand it is? I'm at work so can't watch. I'm just curious b/c suits were that way several years ago with more neoprene patches of fabric and those were banned. I'm curious what this new suit is?

The high tech materials are no longer allowed. It was turning into an arms race with polyurethane suits with special aerodynamic advantages. The other deal was that buoyancy is supposed to be limited. Swimming in a wetsuit would provide an unfair advantage. It has to be some sort of fabric now.

All the companies have advanced materials though.

 

[sonnyjane]

The high tech materials are no longer allowed. It was turning into an arms race with polyurethane suits with special aerodynamic advantages. The other deal was that buoyancy is supposed to be limited. Swimming in a wetsuit would provide an unfair advantage. It has to be some sort of fabric now.

All the companies have advanced materials though.

The main issue was the buoyancy of the neoprene patches. There's still plenty of suits aimed at being hydrodynamic.

I think I found some of the models the OP was referring to. Both TYR and Arena have them. They aren't like the banned suits.
https://www.swimoutlet.com/p/arena-...-back-tech-suit-swimsuit-8127911/?color=55457

https://www.swimoutlet.com/p/tyr-womens-venom-closed-back-tech-suit-swimsuit-8160667/?color=11046

 

[bcla]

The main issue was the buoyancy of the neoprene patches. There's still plenty of suits aimed at being hydrodynamic.

I think I found some of the models the OP was referring to. Both TYR and Arena have them. They aren't like the banned suits.
https://www.swimoutlet.com/p/arena-...-back-tech-suit-swimsuit-8127911/?color=55457

https://www.swimoutlet.com/p/tyr-womens-venom-closed-back-tech-suit-swimsuit-8160667/?color=11046

Speedo still has the LZR X. There are plenty of close up photos that show it’s an actual fabric material. The ones that were banned in 2009 seemed to be some sort of molded material. Some of them supposedly tore in competition.

The new ones seem to have all sorts of features designed to compress in certain areas.

 

[sonnyjane]

Speedo still has the LZR X. There are plenty of close up photos that show it’s an actual fabric material. The ones that were banned in 2009 seemed to be some sort of molded material. Some of them supposedly tore in competition.

The new ones seem to have all sorts of features designed to compress in certain areas.

Yeah the LZR X's are approved. It's the old LZR's that are banned (you can see the material on the outside).

.

They also are no longer allowed to wear full-length suits - they must be sleeveless and can't extend past the knee but I don't think that's a big deal. Most people like the "jammers" (knee length) better anyway. When I first got to college (so 2001) we were sponsored by Nike so got lots of suit samples. I raced in one that had full legs and full sleeves but didn't like it because the sleeves created drag in my opinion. The sleeveless ones with full legs were fine, but you can really only wear them for one day - after that they stretch out and create drag. So basically you end up wearing a $300 suit that takes you 30 minutes to put on and then tossing it at the end of the meet.

 

[bcla]

Yeah the LZR X's are approved. It's the old LZR's that are banned (you can see the material on the outside).

. View attachment 288008

They also are no longer allowed to wear full-length suits - they must be sleeveless and can't extend past the knee but I don't think that's a big deal. Most people like the "jammers" (knee length) better anyway. When I first got to college (so 2001) we were sponsored by Nike so got lots of suit samples. I raced in one that had full legs and full sleeves but didn't like it because the sleeves created drag in my opinion. The sleeveless ones with full legs were fine, but you can really only wear them for one day - after that they stretch out and create drag. So basically you end up wearing a $300 suit that takes you 30 minutes to put on and then tossing it at the end of the meet.

I thought that one thing that was done was wearing two, which would trap air to provide buoyancy. And with the original LZR Racer each suit was of course inherently buoyant.

Wasn’t the original LZR Racer using some sort of aerodynamic surface pattern on polyurethane laminated to the fabric. I heard maybe patterned after shark skin? The newer ones aren’t allowed to have that additional skin bonded to the fabric.

 

[robinb]

 

[robinb]

Are you watching the Jr Nats? I'm watching football now but I might cut over to swimming when the game is done.

The suits are for performance. They compress the body and it really does make the swimmer faster. My DD had Speedo, Arena and A3 tech suits when she swam.

 

[sonnyjane]

I thought that one thing that was done was wearing two, which would trap air to provide buoyancy. And with the original LZR Racer each suit was of course inherently buoyant.

Wasn’t the original LZR Racer using some sort of aerodynamic surface pattern on polyurethane laminated to the fabric. I heard maybe patterned after shark skin? The newer ones aren’t allowed to have that additional skin bonded to the fabric.

The "sharkskin" type fabric alternation is perfectly fine and has been around since the 90's. It was just the external polyurethane that was a problem. I've never heard of wearing two suits to IMPROVE performance. We used to wear 2-3 suits during practice to INCREASE drag so that when we raced in one, you'd be faster. We would also swim in tights in the weeks leading up to a big meet and, as I'm sure you probably know, we wouldn't shave our legs for at least a month before a championship - we actually had to sign a contract.

 

[bcla]

The "sharkskin" type fabric alternation is perfectly fine and has been around since the 90's. It was just the external polyurethane that was a problem. I've never heard of wearing two suits to IMPROVE performance. We used to wear 2-3 suits during practice to INCREASE drag so that when we raced in one, you'd be faster. We would also swim in tights in the weeks leading up to a big meet and, as I'm sure you probably know, we wouldn't shave our legs for at least a month before a championship - we actually had to sign a contract.

I thought the panels that were laminated to the actual fabric had some sort of micro pattern to the surface.

Well - I remember the days riding my bike where we'd shave our legs. Didn't really do much, but it felt different. As far as swimmers go, Cal had Staciana Stitts, who had alopecia. Other swimmers were shaving everything, but she didn't even have eyebrows. I don't even think she wore a swim cap unless it was required.

 

[sonnyjane]

I thought the panels that were laminated to the actual fabric had some sort of micro pattern to the surface.

Well - I remember the days riding my bike where we'd shave our legs. Didn't really do much, but it felt different. As far as swimmers go, Cal had Staciana Stitts, who had alopecia. Other swimmers were shaving everything, but she didn't even have eyebrows. I don't even think she wore a swim cap unless it was required.

No, smooth panels (I posted the pic above, but here's a closer look)

 

[robinb]

Speedo still has the LZR X. There are plenty of close up photos that show it’s an actual fabric material. The ones that were banned in 2009 seemed to be some sort of molded material. Some of them supposedly tore in competition.

The new ones seem to have all sorts of features designed to compress in certain areas.

Suits need to be made out of permeable fabric. My DD had an Arena Carbon Pro that became "illegal" right before her summer state meet because there was an error in manufacturing and the suit was not permeable enough. I had to buy another suit for her at the last minute because Arena was not able to replace it until the later on in the year.

ETA: Here are the full FINA rules: https://www.fina.org/sites/default/files/frsa.pdf

 

[bcla]

Suits need to be made out of permeable fabric. My DD had an Arena Carbon Pro that became "illegal" right before her summer state meet because there was an error in manufacturing and the suit was not permeable enough. I had to buy another suit for her at the last minute because Arena was not able to replace it until the later on in the year.

ETA: Here are the full FINA rules: https://www.fina.org/sites/default/files/frsa.pdf

Any sport with "equipment" has included participants trying to one-up the competition based on technology. I guess the prime example has been golf, but swimming had always seemed immune to this. I mean - Mark Spitz won several Olympic medals wearing traditional swimwear and with a mustache.

I've certainly got articles of clothing that aren't exclusively fabric. My rain jacket has a non-fabric membrane on the inside that's heat sealed, but of course this is done on the outside with swimwear. They're obviously trying to use as much of that as they can get away with on the outside, because it does cut down on drag.

 

[robinb]

Any sport with "equipment" has included participants trying to one-up the competition based on technology. I guess the prime example has been golf, but swimming had always seemed immune to this. I mean - Mark Spitz won several Olympic medals wearing traditional swimwear and with a mustache.

And all of his times have been beaten in the last 45 years. His gold medal winning 200 fly in 1972 was 2:00.70. Phelps swam a 1:53.36 in 2016 in Rio.

I've certainly got articles of clothing that aren't exclusively fabric. My rain jacket has a non-fabric membrane on the inside that's heat sealed, but of course this is done on the outside with swimwear. They're obviously trying to use as much of that as they can get away with on the outside, because it does cut down on drag.

You cannot have a non-fabric membrane in a swimsuit. It's against the rules.

 

[bcla]

You cannot have a non-fabric membrane in a swimsuit. It's against the rules.

I was thinking of the rules before 2009, where Speedo obviously dominated because of the advantage of having that skin over the fabric. And the rules today seem to allow for some non-fabric material if it's used to form seams. I'd make the seams as wide as I could, and it looks like there are several fairly wide welded seams on many of these expensive suits.

If you really wanted to reduce drag, you'd cover the whole thing in the polymer material used to print the logo, but of course that would violate the rules.

 

[sonnyjane]

And the rules today seem to allow for some non-fabric material if it's used to form seams. I'd make the seams as wide as I could, and it looks like there are several fairly wide welded seams on many of these expensive suits.

If you really wanted to reduce drag, you'd cover the whole thing in the polymer material used to print the logo, but of course that would violate the rules.

Where are you seeing suits that have non-fabric seams? And the logo is typically just a painted on sticker that comes off after multiple uses.