Has the battle been lost?

[Lap Counter]

I’m very glad I grew up in a time when wearing a Speedo* to the pool or beach may have been slightly bold, but was certainly acceptable. For swim team kids like me, it just signified that you were a real swimmer.

* [for purposes of this discussion, I’m going to go with common usage rather than corporate copyright: a “Speedo” is a traditional nylon or Lycra brief swimsuit originally designed for competition.]

When I moved to Hawaii, normal beach attire for me and most of my friends was a pair of Surfline Hawaii cotton jams (the original board shorts) with a Speedo under. Nobody wore trunks with built-in liner. When it was time to get wet, you’d shed the jams which would stay damp the rest of the day and attract sand if you got them wet, and just wear your Speedo into the water. If you cared about your Speedo tanline, you’d then keep the jams off until it was time to hit a restaurant or drive home. At every beach, you’d always see others similarly attired.

The Pride movement marginalized Speedos, being adopted as a Gay uniform. Although their utility and practicality remained, fewer men who weren’t “friends of Dorothy” selected them as their casual swimsuit of choice. Still, virtually all lap pool and serious ocean swimmers wore one.

Fast forward a few decades …

The last time I visited Hawaii, I saw ZERO Speedos! I expected that in Waikiki where tourists don’t need special gear to splash in the waves. At Kaimana Beach, where ocean swimmers launch their distance workouts, none were in sight. Even Queens Surf Beach, long THE spot to see and be seen in Speedos, was Speedo-free.

When you swim/dive/surf in the ocean, one of the first things you learn is that given any opportunity, the salt in salt water dries into razor sharp crystals that combine with friction from whatever you’re wearing to cause chafing, crotch raspberries, infections, and pain. Wearing a Speedo minimizes that - wearing trunks maximizes it. Yet, the standard men’s beach garb has now become loose trunks, commonly worn with underwear peaking out the waistband. Ugh, just ugh! Meanwhile, women’s swimwear has gotten smaller and smaller, with T-back bare butt swimsuits normalized.

Where did we go wrong?

[Schoolspeedo]

Hi. I'm lucky that I live in the UK. Here speedos are coming back into fashion at the pool or beach. I always wear one of my 30 or so speedos when I have my weekly pool swim. When I go to a secluded pond or loch I generally wear very brief speedos; infact most recas last week, I wore a micro swim brief by the French company HOM when I went to the secluded pond with my wife. We go sea swimming both where I live and on the beaches of Scotland's western Isles and I wear a similar brief by "myoddballs" or " budgy smuggler " both of which are no more than 5cm wide at the sides. Brief enough to be respectable and always in a bright, loud pattern so people have to notice.no issues.

[BikenSwim]

I'm a hairy guy who always wore the smallest suits on the beach, no problem. Bikini, thong, women's bikini bottom, all OK.
A few times I wore a women's one-piece tank suit, a guy said it covered too much, he wanted to see more skin. I got rid of that suit.

[minitim20]

I think that Speedo type suits will come back in style, since I see so many "infuencers" on Instagram and other social media platforms wearing less and less just to get the clicks. When more dudes see that guys like them feel comfortable in form fitting swimwear, they will adopt the look for themselves.

[Torchwatch]

Speedos and cycle shorts were always referred to as skin tight or fitting like a second skin, I've heard it before but the term "form fitting" is new to me. It seems to leave out the person, the individual becomes a form, perhaps a uniform.
Part of my liking for speedos is the ability to express individuality through colours patterns and almost infinite variation in design.
During the years that speedos became unpopular the high street stores sold black speedos in a standard design and a range of sizes. Once you owned your black speedos there was nowhere to go until computers came online and colours, patterns and designs could be bought from dodgy seeming internet dealers.
Many schoolboys and students wishing to explore their speedo interest had trouble paying online and explaining to parents why they are receiving parcels in the post.
So remember when you are searching for new brief swimwear online they shuld not be form fitting but fit your body.

[Swimmboy]

I think that maybe Speedos will come back. Many of us remember the 1970s-80s, when really short shorts were fashionable for guys. Over the past year I have noticed guys at the local university wearing shorts that end way above the knees. And a few days ago, I was thrilled to see a handsome, muscular student in the library wearing some REALLY short 'runners or joggers' shorts. The shorts were black, and left his thighs exposed almost all the way up. I couldn't believe it - and then I noticed they were so short that I could see the bottom edges of his boxer briefs (not those long 'briefs' that nearly reach your knees - the short briefs that hug your hips). I was on Cloud 9 the rest of the day....

[Fairfax]

To be honest I personally felt the battle was lost around the turn of the century when the olympic swimmers adopted fast skin suits.
While elite swimmers were still wearing them they still had the status of "proper swimwear" for anyone involved in water sports.
Speedos were a lot more marginalised after the fast skin suits came in. Most schools relaxed there speedo only rule to include jammers which then quickly became the default choice.
To me jammers are just a silly compromise which give the form fit of "proper swimwear" while maintaining the modesty of boardies.
But I have noticed a bit of a jammer culture exists amongst the next generation.
For example I was at a waterpark a month ago where I saw two brothers about 14 and 16 wearing jammers. I felt a bit disappointed they couldn't take the next step into a speedo but it does show the interest in form fitting swimwear still exists.
I have wondered if there may be a come back in the future of jammers or trunks but not so much speedos.

[Lap Counter]

“ To be honest I personally felt the battle was lost around the turn of the century when the olympic swimmers adopted fast skin suits.
While elite swimmers were still wearing them they still had the status of "proper swimwear" for anyone involved in water sports.”

Agree! I remember a Speedo bus stop poster in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympics featuring Gary Hall Jr. in the smallest tightest Speedo brief I’d ever seen. Four years later, no Olympians competed in briefs because the new suits trapped air, giving anyone wearing one an advantage. Skin is honest - those tech suits weren’t. Only after they allowed every record in the book to be broken were they banned.

Tech suits are designed for competition only and briefs have always had their place for daily back-&-forth practices. Speedo usage as practice suits goes up and down over the years. Maybe I’m just an optimist, but it seems more high school swimmers are wearing them for practice recently.

[Fairfax]

When those tech suits first appeared before the 2000 olympics it seemed like I was the only person asking the question, why are they allowing this?
The only role a swimsuit has in competitive swimming should be providing modesty and the rules should have always reflected that.
When they did finally restrict them they didn't go back to speedos and one pieces they went to jammers for men and what we would call a tri suit for women.
I've always thought that the enthusiasm to adopt tech suits was partially motivated by a desire for greater modesty in competitive swimming.
In western countries it was the men and in other cultures it was the women.