How did pre-Lycra suits fit

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

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

[zungaboy]

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!!!!!!” :-)