Darwin or XLA fabrics

[JamesSwim]

Anyone have suits made with the Darwin or XLA fabric?

Some Barracuda suits are made with Darwin
http://www.carvico.com/en/t/darwin-170-t.htm
http://www.swimoutlet.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=20706&color=11046

and I have a Kiefer suit made with XLA.
http://www.kiefer.com/kiefer-xla----racing-brief-products-500.php

They stretch like Lycra, but are different. Darwin is very soft, for example.

Are there other unusual suits out there that's not Nylon/Lycra

[Byron]

No, but interesting to read about them and SwimOutlet do refer to Darwin for the Barrucuda
Brief made in the USA.

Have to admit never heard of this - a 100% polyester fabric with an Aussie name and manufactured near Bergamo by a leading Italian company called Carrico (perhaps I should get out more).

PS: As a very soft fabric what is its "hold up tight" capability in a speedo?

[Byron]

Gets complicated:

It seems that Dow LXA fabric was introduced in 2002 but Dow of Michigan not apparently interested enough to later plow in new capital and the manufacturing plant in Spain closed in 2010.

Now Aquafil SpA and Carvico Group (Darwin fabric) are going into a joint 50/50 venture to acquire Dow assets and restart LXA production at a plant in Italy, later in 2012
(the equipment from Tarragona to be moved there for the purpose).

[JamesSwim]

No, but interesting to read about them and SwimOutlet do refer to Darwin for the Barrucuda
Brief made in the USA.

Have to admit never heard of this - a 100% polyester fabric with an Aussie name and manufactured near Bergamo by a leading Italian company called Carrico (perhaps I should get out more).

PS: As a very soft fabric what is its "hold up tight" capability in a speedo?

Even though it's soft, the Darwin fabric holds up its stretch well even after many uses. It is very comfortable -- it feels like a micro fiber cloth.

The XLA suit does not stretch as much, and feels tighter. You can even wash it in warm water & tumble dry. I happen to find XLA also used in a regular collared shirt, used like Lycra to give it a bit of stretch.

[Byron]

Thanks for info.

Use in a regular shirt alarms me a little as I remember the wonderful new nylon shirts of a few years back which were labor-saving as "non-iron" but
which turned out to be really awful to wear as regards body perspiration.
It has therefore been only cotton for me ever since, so how does XLA match up to that problem ?

[JamesSwim]

Thanks for info.

Use in a regular shirt alarms me a little as I remember the wonderful new nylon shirts of a few years back which were labor-saving as "non-iron" but
which turned out to be really awful to wear as regards body perspiration.
It has therefore been only cotton for me ever since, so how does XLA match up to that problem ?


The shirt I have was made with 97% cotton and only 3% XLA, so it did not have a problem with perspiration. This is different than a shirt with high content of nylon or polyester, which can get stuffy. So the shirt with XLA gets very few wrinkles from normal wear.

In any case, the description of XLA says it has good breathablity and is fast drying. I believe modern synthetic fabrics have gotten better -- people even prefer some polypropylene undergarments over cotton for sports since it wicks away moisture.