Evolution of suits over the years

[JamesSwim]

How have brief changed over the years? One person in the board said he recognized a speedo style suit from the '80s. I realize fabrics change. What else changed? Have they gotten better, or worse?

[louis]

Well JameSwim, speedos really started in Australia, by a scotish immegrant, (he was gay) the firat speedos wereMAINLY ALL 100% nylon most were 4 inches sides.
Then triough the years the Dupont company came out with spandex lycra materials thus speedos from then on used those materials to fabricate speedos, as from the 80ts they didnt change much except that thay ahave bene made from 4 to 3 and 2 and 1 inches sides, new colors, patterns multocolors and such. Then were added pouches, and back and front seams like the japanese suits and Nikes and outhers .... some are now made with very shiny materials that enhances the suits. see trough and non see trough of course, front and back linings have bene added, mind you 100% nylon still prevails.
Now there is a huge competition between speedo makers and are sold by hundreds of different companys, just navigate trough the internet you will see that there is hundreds of choices of styles , materials, etc, Who sead thet speedos were out of style noticing the hundreds of them offered to detailers and the general public is prouf enough that they are still going on like our moto here on the board SPEEDO ON.... (SORRY FOR MY MISSPELLINGS)

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

Add to this that Speedo is a brand, not a style. Just like Kleenex is a brand, not a type of tissue. When people incorrectly call a swimsuit a speedo, they really mean a brief. There are not hundreds of companies that make speedos, there are lots of companies that make swim briefs.

[sebbie]

Jockey was the first company to come up with brief-style underwear for men, and the design dates from the 1930s. Guys were initially uneasy about the new, then considered very minimal, design, when the normal undewear for men was the so-called "Union suit", much larger, often with a trap door in the rear. As I understand the story, sales were slow initially especially in less urbanized areas , but men found the minimal jockey shorts to be very comfortable and by the 1940s they were widely worn See this link. Go to the 1930s http://www.jockey.com/en-us/CorporateInfo/History/

Anyhow, what the Speedo company did was simply adapt the Jockey Brief design for use as swimwear. Obviously cotton was not going to cut it as swimwear, and thats when the newly developed nylon came into play. Others had experimented with brief-style swimwear prior to Speedo. In the 40s there were actually brief-style swimuits for men made out of WOOL of all things!

The rest is history, mainly the transition to Lycra. In the late 1980s competition swmmers thought the smaller the brief the faster they could swim, so this was the period of time you saw the really tiny briefs, particularly worn by competitive swimmers from Europe...France, Italy, 1/4"-1/2" inch siides. Then the early 90s thongs became popular with many men but that is a story for another day. I remember sorting hrough a rack of thongs for men at Macy's. I used to wear these regularly at Hotel/Motel hot tubs.I would put a swimming brief on over the thong and then discard the brief as I entered the hot tub. Great fun!

Sebbie

[Byron]

As for fabrics we now have fastskin and tan thru (one on sale in forum) just
to mention two - and the new technology for printing on stretch material has of course produced a revolution in pattern and art representations.

As for design , one never seen now is the lace-up at both hips (perhaps from the sixties).
A sexy bikini, mostly pioneered by the French, was joined at the sides by rings, or fixed with interlocking clips. Looked good on the right body but
would need to be searched out from a specialist supplier these days.

As for better or worse, well there are only so many changes possible in a small garment and many have appeared over the years. Today the Brazilian sunga seems to predominate (instead of the trendy tanga of a few years back) but others may disagree.

[louis]

Effectively Byron and Sebby added interesting details to this subject.
SwimteamSpeedo the term speedo is generally used to refer to brief style swimwear,effectively it is a brand, I usually use the term SPEEDO BRAND wene referring speedo made suits and just speedo (s) wene refreeing to swimwear in genaral.

[Byron]

Yes, that's probably been a good way of tackling it and there has also been much past discussion on the speedoboard about a correct singular or plural designation of the garment's by-word.

My own habit has been to use S for the brand and s for all other swim briefs.
I wish in a way that the word had never been adopted at all for general usage but I would think that speedo lovers generally know what they are talking about to each other.

The problems lie with manufacturers and journalists. Just about any type of male swimwear can be found to be described as a speedo. I always was and still am annoyed to see the last James Bond actor being captioned on a pic as wearing a speedo or a tiny speedo. It was neither of course and I had steam coming from my ears when one newspaper even referred to him as wearing a daring bikini ! (in fact Burt Lancaster was more daring in his beach scene with ?.. sixty years ago).

[Torchwatch]

The trouble with men's swim suits is that they are so loosely defined, everyone having different perspectives and definitions.

To me a men's swim suit should be close fitting and exclude swim shorts, board shorts and other loose shorts used for swimming. A proper swim suit should have an elasticated waist and elasticated leg holes.
I would also exclude body suits, skin suits and wet suits as although they are meant to be used for swimming they have functions other than body cover and support built into them, eg warmth, flotation and faster movement through water.
A swim suit should have a back however brief, so I would exclude G strings and jock straps but include swim thongs.
A bikini has a fuller back than a thong but narrow sides (hips) ranging from half inch to 2 inch.
The speedo or swim brief or racing brief has sides ranging from 2 -5 inches, but has a distinct cut away leg look.
Square cuts (sangas in Brazil) lack the cut away look having full sides, resembling tight shorts, while jammers are up to knee length suits derived from cycle shorts.

Very tight brief suits and suits designed for fashion rather than speed may have a pouch front, there seems to be a fashion for pouch fronts at the moment particularly in Brazil.

Suits designed for diving, either from boards or blocks tend to have waist cords to avoid embarrassment when entering the water head first.

Many materials have been used for swim suits cotton canvas and knitted wool were early efforts. Wool is reputed to be very scratchy when dry and endlessly saggy when wet. Speedo pioneered the use of "parachute" nylon, it worked as it doesn't absorb water and just clung neatly to the body when wet. Nylon got replaced by Lycra which made suits truly skin tight although Aussibum have brought nylon back.

Seeing a picture of a suit we can spot the branding, the material and the cut and make a guess at the era and continent the suit comes from or from which the retro design is taken.

[Swimmboy]

I don't think there are any suits designed for diving - I think divers just tend to 'downsive' their Speedos or TYRs or whatever brand of brief suit the other guys on their swim team wear.

[Byron]

Yes, it is a little misleading to suggest that there are special suits designed for
"diving" , be it from platform or block - and waist cords appear in all competition suits for obvious reasons, including those worn by backstrokers who do not commence with a dive.

(but I have yet to see any competitive swimmer enter the water by the pool ladder anyway).

Nevertheless, Torchwatch gives us a very good summary and a reminder of how many styles have appeared on the market over the years and just how confusing it is to put an accurate name to each.
(I wish he hadn't mentioned wool - my mind goes back to early teens and recalls just how horrible it was to be wearing such inappropriate material !)