How did pre-Lycra suits fit
 

Before Lycra suits became popular, how did the suits fit, especially the ones that had some stretch. (And let's got to the era after the wool suits).

It seems that some makers had suits with some stretch -- perhaps like some polyester knit, or maybe they had some rubber in them (just like how some items like ankle or knee supporters have rubber woven into the cloth).

So people were looking for a tight fit, but without a modern fabric made with Lycra, they were probably bulky?

Nylon suits - such as the 1970s/80s Speedos - were available before Lycra, and they could be fairly snug.

At the age of 12 I was bought a pair of bri-nylon square cuts for use in the schools outdoor pool. I really hated this swimsuit, it exposed my shy skinny body while at the same time feeling excessive and imprisoning. It was pretentious having a fake fly up the front.
If you don't remember bri-nylon look at this:
http://flashbak.com/sweat-the-nighti...d-1960s-16884/
My suit would have looked similar to the light blue bottoms in the Trend advert, though mine was a navy colour.
Please read the text in the Zing advert for a changing linguistics laugh.
Apologies for showing female advert, it was all I could find.

After leaving school I bought myself a 3" side black nylon Speedo. It felt so thin and shiny and liberating. I got hard first time I wore it between the changing rooms and the pool. I soon bought a 2" black nylon Speedo with red and white side trim, even more exciting for me. This was not long before the first Lycra suits started appearing locally.

JamesSwim,

My pre lycra swimsuits were made of nylon and poly. They had some stretch to them, but not nearly as much as lycra. Other than less stretch, they pretty much fit just like swimsuits fit today. If you go back to some of the pictures of swimmers like Mark Spitz, I am pretty sure the suits they have on are not lycra. The older Ocean suits were all nylon and while they were technically briefs, I recall they were a pretty loose fit, in fact after we got our first Speedo briefs, we wore the old Ocean 5 inch briefs over them sometimes as drag suits. The old Nylon suits material was a bit shiny, but I had a some suits back then that were really cool looking. They also lasted much longer than lycra blends in the chlorinated water. I had a black and gold Speedo that lasted years, and I wore that suit all the time. I had an Arena suit that looked really cool, and it lasted until I accidentally left it at the pool... it was a favorite and I was heartbroken when I lost it.

The only difference is they were not as clingy. They were also tighter in some ways, and less forgiving to changes inside... so, if your parts grew a bit, the stretch only went so far and then thing like the leg openings might start to pull away, whereas lycra just expands around you.

Even today some of those nylon blend suits are still around. Some of the truly chlorine resistant suits sold today are actually the same Nylon/Poly blends of old.

STS

I'm from South America and I tell you that South America has changed a lot since I was a child and my parents were young until today.
When I was a child the clothes were very very durable. not only were the fabrics durable, also the seams were more resistant, and also finishing 70’s and early 80’s the people had less money than today here, them no all the people bought swimwear all the years. For the children who was growing year to year the common was inherit the swimwear from the older brothers, uncles, fathers, etc... And an adult guy kept his briefs for years, years and years.... of Corse for a lot of years. The clothes was very expensives here in early 80’s, but if you bought some clothes you was sure it will be with you a lot of year.
I remember my first “speedos”, it was not made with Nylon, it was made with polyester. The fabric was stiff and hard (no elastic) also the polyester square brief was the common swimsuit for guys. Them finishing the 70’s the lycra briefs for men was not common to see at the beaches here. When my country begin to grow back (and the economy was better) at middle of 80’s arrived the lycra for guys (for women the swimwear with lycra was common) them with the “new speedos” very shortly, reduced, skinny and elastic telling to all the people at the beach “LOOK ME THE BULGE” ( we did not had the “nylon swim brief” between “polyester-brief” and the “lycra-brief”) a lot of guy felt shy about “show the bulge” them only few guys begging to wear “bikini-lycras” and the big majority of the guys (maybe the 99%) begging to wear the swim-shorts (like the 80’s adidas running shorts) them, I never knew about the nylon brief, but I remember very good my fist lycra- square-pant. I remember very good, I was 5 years old...was royal blue with a white line at a side with a red anchor drawn.. Really I remember this brief. I remember when I saw the lycra I thought: “IT IS LIKE A SUPERHERO LOINCLOTH!!!!!!” :-)

Ban-Lon and Lastex
 

I saw references to fabrics like Ban-Lon or Lastex too. They seem to be the miracle fabrics of their day.

http://cdm16038.contentdm.oclc.org/c...athing%20suits

and

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lastex

My new Dolfin Ceres Chloroban reminds me of the Speedos from the seventies.

patterns
 

It looks like patterns go in and out of favor. All over prints give way to solids with some side panel, and then back to all over prints. I think all over prints are popular today.

My pre-Lycra suits were all nylon. I had a green Ocean brief, about 4 or 5" sides. It was loose but had some stretchability when it was wet. This was in 1967 - I remember it specifically because I wore it when I started graduate school when I went to a lake with a buddy from my dorm that I had just met. The other was a smaller Speedo brand - 2-3" which fit tight and was relatively low cut, and had very little stretchability. Sad thing is that I don't know what happened to them - probably lost them through so many moves at that time.

D67

Better than being too floppy
 

Even if you don't have stretch, I prefer those to some new Lycra suits that may fit tight, but are thin, so you don't feel much support. Plus being so thin means it reveals more curves than I prefer.