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).

[NakedBudd]

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.

I remember "Parr of Arizona" had one made from chamois, with D-rings on the sides, and a little chamois pouch for your keys. HOT HOT HOT

[JamesSwim]

Originally Posted by NakedBudd

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.

I remember "Parr of Arizona" had one made from chamois, with D-rings on the sides, and a little chamois pouch for your keys. HOT HOT HOT

Is this an example of a lace-up at hips? This page has an old ad from the early 1950's.

http://madmen.wikia.com/wiki/Jantzen_Swimwear