A Very Brief History of Men’s Swimwear.

[sebbie]

This historic Speedo ad came in one of my e-mailings from them. It is not dated but I am guessing it was early 1950s given the suits shown and no briefs. Once you got into the 1960s the non-brief suits became shorter, about an 8-inch leg, and featured a nylon net brief lining. Plaid patterns in a small print were all the rage. These suits show none of that and look to slow the swimmer down not speed the swimmer up.

Change pockets were a regular feature as you could carry a few coins of change and have enough foe something to eat. Times are different now. The cell phone would not fit in the change pocket and you wouldn't want to be swimming with your cell phone anyway. But the change was fine even in the water.

[Swimmboy]

I actually have a poster of that "Lunk" picture - purchased at the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale in the late 80s. He was a great breaststroker who swam for Southern Methodist University. Yes, the 80s saw a definite trend toward extremely brief suits. At the 88 Olympic Trials, and at the late 80s/early 90s NCAA championships, the infamous 'paper' suits ruled. Since swimmers want suits that are tight (so no water could slip into the suit to add drag), they often wore suits 2 sizes smaller than normal - so a guy with a 32" waist would squeeze into a size 28 Speedo or Finals (a big swimwear co. back then) paper suit. I often found size 26" in the locker rooms after a big meet also. The smaller the suit, the briefer it looked on a normal-sized male. And the 'paper' fabric was very thin - literally, it 'crinkled' like paper if you squeezed it in your hand. Sadly, in the mid-90s, the jammers started to replace the brief suits (competitive swimmers I've spoken to said the jammers were NOT used because swimmers wanted more 'coverage' - they like them because they squeeze and massage their thigh muscles so those muscles don't get tired as quickly. If you attend a regular college swim meet, most of the guys will still wear brief suits - they usually just use the jammers during their championship meets in February and March when they want to achieve their fastest times to hopefully qualify for NCAAs at the end of March.

[Minimalist75]

True, it is not for modesty but it still resulted in a maximum coverage rule and probably was a contributing factor to the decline in the wearing of swim briefs for recreational swimming.
My son swam on his high school team in 2007. Most of the boys on his and opposing teams wore jammers, very few wore briefs.

[Torchwatch]

I have a photo from a netted pool in the River Medway, Rochester, Kent dated 1895. It is a competition swimming event, the swimmers posed about to racing dive. Seven of them are wearing cotton swim briefs, one is possibly wearing a cotton Tarzan style loin cloth but it's hard to see. None of them feel compelled to cover up their thighs. In the audience there is a least one boy, this is competitive sport not something indecent to be kept hidden from the children.

There are 2 types of jammers; those made of "shark skin" water repelling fabrics, worn downsized and really tight and those made of normal swim Lycra but worn down to the knees.
The expensive sharks skin fabrics have less water drag than naked human skin and allow you to go faster, while swimming Lycra has greater water drag than naked human skin and will cause swimmer to go slower than if he were wearing Lycra swim briefs.
As is so often the case the sponsored top swimmers get the good kit while the poor kids joining the sport get stuff that looks right but doesn't do the job. I suspect that many boys who do swimming lessons in shorts are dropping out from joining their clubs racing squads because both they and their parents are confused and prejudiced against all skin tight male swimwear.

[Minimalist75]

My son's team wore Lycra jammers.
Don't know about the others.
They were not very good, lost every meet.
The team joke was they had a successful season because no one on the team had to be rescued by a lifeguard!

[Torchwatch]

The coach to your son's swim team has 2 problems, first the swimmers in his squad aren't very good and 2nd their Lycra jammers aren't very good.
The 2nd problem can be solved by going over to swim briefs both for training and racing, this will cause those members of the team who aren't interested in improving to leave.
He can now put his attention into those left training harder and improving.
As the smaller team starts to improve and actually win races it will attract attention and gain recruits, even if they have to wear swim briefs.
If they still fail to improve they probably need a new coach.

[Minimalist75]

She is no longer at the high school. Girls and boys practice together,
Meets are also co-ed, but individual races are gender specific.
The swim team has been bad through a number of coaches. Most have been women.
The girl's team has a decent. but not outstanding, record.
I don't know if the problem with the boy's team is that it is more difficult for a female coach to work with male swimmers.
There are 2 obvious problems for the swimming program.
We are one of only 3 high schools in the league that don't have their own pool.
The team practices from 5:30 to 7:00 AM at a local college, not a good time for attracting team members.
Many of the schools are in more affluent communities where many of the students have private coaching.