Speedo Quality Decline

[Torchwatch]

ASDA the UK branch of Walmart (USA) have launched their summer ranges this week. This includes a home-brand men's swim brief. It is black with blue and white sides, is made of nylon and elastane, but looks like nylon. It is one of the thinnest stretch fabrics that I have seen. They have to use a wedge of paper to hold it on the clip hangers.

If you want a 8cm side swim brief you could buy this suit for £4 (GBP) but it might be best to consider it disposable.

[Torchwatch]

It appears that the 2012 UK version of the Speedo Endurance had an 8 cm side while the 2013 suit has a 7 cm side.

Wonder what the side length of the Australian suit that was found to be unsatisfactory was.

The 7-8 cm (3") sides seem to be an American style, against the European style of 5 cm (2") side in a racing brief.

Personally I prefer the 5 cm style, but then I am am tall and long legged, so won't be buying Speedo Endurance this season.

[PSDave]

Quality is slipping everywhere. I just sent back an Aussiebum that was so poorly made I would have been better off with a Chinese copy

[sebbie]

Interestingly, the really high quality stuff is made by the Chinese. Check out the Aquox ans Seobean briefs if you don't believe me!

[JamesSwim]

Originally Posted by epicinspeedo

I have had wonderful results form my TYR Durafast suit. I got it as a grab bag suit, as the sides seemed smaller than Speedo, plus the pattern was neat. This was a year and about 50 trips to the pool ago. The suit fits as it did on the first day. It is less stretchy, more nylon, not as much spandex. The emblem is embroidered, so it stays put as well. My speedo screen prints come off within 10 trips to the pool.

I own several speedo suits, and I would highly recommend he TYR durafast suits!

I noticed there are two types of Durafast suits. Regular training Durafast which is all polyester / PBT and a Durafast Elite competition suit that is made of polyester and lycra.

http://www.tyr.com/shop/mens/swimwea...ing-suits.html
http://www.tyr.com/shop/mens/swimwea...-swimsuit.html

[Torchwatch]

China's recent industrial revolution occurred with a poorly trained workforce and no tradition of quality control either for incoming raw materials or for the production process itself. The emphasis was upon mass production, not on quality and Chinese products had a reputation for failure.

Japan who had an industrial revolution in the 1950's went through the same process, making unreliable and odd motorbikes and cars until they started getting things right in the 1960's when their transistor based electronics burst forth upon the world.

When Japanese customers buy from China they demand proper quality standards, so Japanese labelled Chinese made goods are of high quality; while the rest of the world buying on price alone get what they deserve and face the consequences of substandard goods.

I spent last summer rebuilding Chinese made shower screens, there were design, manufacturing and assembly faults that had to be corrected. There was no feedback through the manufacturing process so the same mistakes were repeated over several orders and production runs.

If you must get Chinese made goods get those intended for the Japanese market rather than for Europe or America. As the customer services departments get tired of complaints for shoddily made goods the Chinese quality standards will gradually rise but so will their prices, allowing goods to be made elsewhere in the world.

[PSDave]

add Andrew Christian to the list. My friend told me his new suits stitching all came out the second wearing.