What people buy

[JamesSwim]

I just noticed that on the web site swimoutlet.com, there are 220 different varieties of swim briefs offered, and 211 jammers. I realize that the variety or range of suits do not indicate the total volume of suits sold, but assuming that swimoutlet.com's customers are a broad representation of the buying public, it seems that briefs are just as popular as jammers.

They do sell 371 types of board shorts though. Given the existing perception that few people wear briefs, the numbers indicate that briefs are more popular than I thought.

My theories:

Perhaps swimoutlet.com is skewed towards those who like the swim seriously or train often, so more people buy briefs than in a typical department store. Or maybe briefs are bought by serious swimmers and they wear out quickly, so they are repeat customers who demand more types of suits Or maybe their customers tend to be people who are comfortable buying on the web and like the variety offered compared to a regular store? Who knows?

Note: the stats for girls/women's suits are quite different, since they have thousands of fashion swimwear, and women buy many more than men.

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

Hi Jamesswim,

Great post and I am impressed by the numbers you cite. I shop and SwimOutlet and MetroSwim frequently for my serious swimming needs. I also like Funky Trunks, Jaked, Aussiebum and CaRioCA (maybe some others). I am an older guy, so when I started swimming we used to go to the local sports store and buy our suits or got them through the team. Then along came the catalogs, like the old Worldwide Aquatics and Keifer that offered more selection and variety, I love the web because I can go on and get six or seven awesome suits at a time. I swim between 3000 and 5000 yards a day or two miles or so open water in the summer. In the winter I find the chlorine eats up my suits (and my skin). so I have been known to buy two or three of the same suit if I really like it.

I am exclusively a briefs or racer cut swimmer. I tried jammers once in the 90's and hated them. I guess it is just what I grew up wearing. I am very comfortable in a race cut swimsuit. I find that local swim shops mostly sell jammers. By the way, I also like board shorts, but wear them as shorts only and I have never bought them on the web.

STS

[Dooley67]

Hi JamesSwim,

I agree with STS that your post is really thought provoking. When I first started swimming seriously last June, the only place I could find any swim briefs locally was Dick's Sporting Goods and only blue or black with 3 or 4" sides, not what I wanted. That's when I started to look online for the suits that some of the guys on this board recommended. I looked at swimoutlet.com and dickssporting goods.com and was able to get the suits I wanted. I didn't consider Jammers because I don't like the feeling of having my skin compressed so I guess I fall into the category of the person who swims often and only shops for briefs. In a short period of time I bought 8 suits so I could wear a different one each day to get the most wear out of them. I wouldn't have been able to find any of these in local sporting goods shops.

While I like the look of boardshorts (not for swimming laps or for the beach) but as shorts to wear in the summer, I'm too short to wear them without their going below my knee, a look that I don't like. So I guess you could also add to your analysis that the type of suit a guy buys is perhaps somewhat dependent on his body build and what would look attractive.

D67

[California Dolphin]

Someone that likes speedo briefs (and also has a lot of $$$ to spend) should buy 2 or 3 briefs at a time.

With today's computerized inventory tracking, that would definitely skew the statistics in favor of speedos and you should see more of them on the shelf. ;)

[Torchwatch]

In my 20's when Speedo make Lycra swim briefs in a wide variety of colours and patterns going to a sports shop had the excitement of a kid a sweet shop. You never knew quite what they had new in stock and were tempted to buy things just because they looked different and new. There is also the suit that you see and are not sure of, until you sleep on it and realise you must have it as soon as possible, though you can't get back to the shop until the next weekend.

A swim brief is a very tight area in which to make a statement or a work of art. Those designers that can do it seem to have a touch of genius. The designs on jammers work differently, while the board shorts designers tended to head towards gross ugly floral works.
You can say something with a swim brief then wear a different pair next time and say something else, whilst you are stuck with a tattoo for life.

Since swim briefs are fairly cheap and store compactly you can always buy more than you need in designs you like and make a different statement that fits your mood.

[JamesSwim]

Hi Jamesswim,

Great post and I am impressed by the numbers you cite. I shop and SwimOutlet and MetroSwim frequently for my serious swimming needs. I also like Funky Trunks, Jaked, Aussiebum and CaRioCA (maybe some others). I am an older guy, so when I started swimming we used to go to the local sports store and buy our suits or got them through the team. Then along came the catalogs, like the old Worldwide Aquatics and Keifer that offered more selection and variety, I love the web because I can go on and get six or seven awesome suits at a time. I swim between 3000 and 5000 yards a day or two miles or so open water in the summer. In the winter I find the chlorine eats up my suits (and my skin). so I have been known to buy two or three of the same suit if I really like it.

I am exclusively a briefs or racer cut swimmer. I tried jammers once in the 90's and hated them. I guess it is just what I grew up wearing. I am very comfortable in a race cut swimsuit. I find that local swim shops mostly sell jammers. By the way, I also like board shorts, but wear them as shorts only and I have never bought them on the web.

STS

I agree that the variety of the suits encourages one to try one new ones.

Also, if briefs or racer cut swimwear start to wear out, you want to replace them since loose ones don't look or feel good if they don't fit well. So maybe that's another reason why the web sites do brisk business.

Board shorts are made of hard wearing fabrics (they were originally made for surfing). So people may buy only a few over time.

If board shorts start to wear out, it won't bother you much. Depending on the style, some people may like having them wear out, just like blue jeans.

But: their fabric area is larger so it's easier to get a larger variation in the style (cut or pattern), so people who are fashion conscious may like the ability to have a different look that's more obvious. The board shorts can vary the width of the legs -- narrow and tight, or wide, or change the draw string style, or put on pockets.

Practically, a solid color navy blue 3" brief and a solid color black 3" brief look very similar. So one needs to try to get more interesting variations in the fabric design, or even the cut (side length)

[JamesSwim]

In my 20's when Speedo make Lycra swim briefs in a wide variety of colours and patterns going to a sports shop had the excitement of a kid a sweet shop. You never knew quite what they had new in stock and were tempted to buy things just because they looked different and new. There is also the suit that you see and are not sure of, until you sleep on it and realise you must have it as soon as possible, though you can't get back to the shop until the next weekend.

A swim brief is a very tight area in which to make a statement or a work of art. Those designers that can do it seem to have a touch of genius. The designs on jammers work differently, while the board shorts designers tended to head towards gross ugly floral works.
You can say something with a swim brief then wear a different pair next time and say something else, whilst you are stuck with a tattoo for life.

Since swim briefs are fairly cheap and store compactly you can always buy more than you need in designs you like and make a different statement that fits your mood.

Yes, I've noticed that jammers are for the most part designed similarly, either solid or with a stripe or design down the side. Very rarely do you see an over-all pattern. Plus there's little variation in the cut that I can see. Not like "low cut" vs. "standard cut", 1, 2 or 3" sides, sunga cut, etc. in a brief.

[50 Free]

Never in my life have I seen a retail store with a decent selection of competitive swimsuits, just jillions of non-comp beach wear. Thank god for the modern method of shopping online. My favorite by far is swimoutlet.com

[Bede735]

I've bought a couple of pairs from Swimwear 4 Men:

http://www.swimwear4men.com/

It's a firm based in Austria which has a substantial number of briefs to choose from, though on the downside they are quite pricey.

[Swimmboy]

Jamesswim - Swimoutlet is indeed focused on serving the needs of competitive swimmers rather than the general public, and I am sure that is why you see more briefs on their web site. They are a major advertiser/sponsor of the Swimming World Magazine web site, which is dedicated to competitive swimming (Swimming World Magazine was created around 1960 to serve the college/high school/summer league swimming members). So it is not surprising to find such a wide choice of briefs on their site compared to sites run by department or general sporting goods stores.

[JamesSwim]

Jamesswim - Swimoutlet is indeed focused on serving the needs of competitive swimmers rather than the general public, and I am sure that is why you see more briefs on their web site. They are a major advertiser/sponsor of the Swimming World Magazine web site, which is dedicated to competitive swimming (Swimming World Magazine was created around 1960 to serve the college/high school/summer league swimming members). So it is not surprising to find such a wide choice of briefs on their site compared to sites run by department or general sporting goods stores.

Thanks, that make sense. There sell many suits that can be used for competition, but not too many that are in men's fashion category.

The site that Bede75 mentioned, Swimwear 4 men, also sells more briefs (504 styles) vs. board shorts (80 styles), but that's probably for a different reason. Their best selling brief is a solid white "HOM" brand brief, so it may cater to those in Europe (it's an Austrian web site) who buy it for recreation or sunning rather than for competition (they do sell standard competition suits, but not too many)

[Bede735]

Strange bestseller as 'they' always recommend that you shouldn't wear white briefs.

I don't know how many of their suits are meant for recreation as opposed to training/competition. Surely if the suit is brief enough then that makes it suitable for proper swimming?