High-technology swimwear fabric

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High-technology swimwear , or tech suits, are scientifically advanced materials used for swimwear in competitive water sports such as swimming and triathlon. Materials of this type are normally spandex and nylon composite fabrics with features to reduce drag against the water. [1] The fabrics include features that increase the swimmer's glide through water and reduce the absorption of water by the suit as opposed to regular swimsuits.

Contents

Purpose and Design

High-technology swimwear is designed to reduce drag and improve swimming performance. [2] Speedo claims that their LZR Racer reduced drag or water resistance by 38% compared to a traditional Lycra practice swim suit. [1] This high-technology swimwear is designed to minimize drag while maximizing support to muscles. [1] Some companies claim that their fabrics reduce drag even more than the water's normal friction against the skin. To do this, they design high-end lines of competitive swimwear that cover the arms and legs. The fabric used for high-technology swimwear is light and water-repellent. The material is often composed of highly stretchy spandex and nylon. High-technology swimwear is often made using bonded seams, to reduce further drag. These suits also provide the compression necessary to increase performance. [1]

Regulation

After the 2008 Olympic Games, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) voted to regulate the use of high-technology swimwear in competition. More than 130 swimming world records were broken from 2008 through 2009 through the use of high-tech swimwear. However, FINA unanimously voted to regulate the use of these suits in official competition beginning in 2010. [3] The banned suits used in 2008 and 2009 were polyurethane based. Guidelines as of 2015 have specific measures to regulate the thickness, buoyancy, and permeability of the fabric. [4] The high-technology suits used in competition are no longer able to have zippers or other types of fastening. [4] A large change found in the FINA regulations is the regulations in the design of the suit. Unlike the body suits seen in the 2008 Olympics, men's suits cannot extend above the navel or below the knee. Women's suits cannot cover the neck or extend past the shoulders, or below the knee. [4]

Manufacturer

High-tech fabric lines by swimwear manufacturer:

Controversy

Advantages

Whether high-tech fabric lines such as these give substantial advantages to swimmers is debated. High-technology suits can increase one's swimming speed by around 4 percent. [1] A 2012 study, by Joel Stager of Indiana University's Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming, reportedly found an increase of only 0.34%. [6] Most of the manufacturers counter with their own studies though touting the advantages of their own individual lines overall and against their competitors. Different manufacturers also offer specific advantages to particular types of swimmers—for example, the LZR X is popular among freestyle sprinters for its compression, while many distance swimmers find the compression detrimental to leg muscles over the course of a longer race. Meanwhile, Arena suits are often preferred by breaststrokers for a looser fit, enabling better range of motion while performing a breaststroke kick.

Cost

The materials are sometimes very expensive (USD$300–$600 or GBP£300-£500 for a full suit), limiting their use to highly competitive and professional levels of the sport. However, in recent years with the advance of technology the most basic 'high-technology swimwear' can be purchased for approximately $100 or £100.

Records

Prior to the start of the ban of the high-tech swimsuits at the start of 2010, estimated that over 130 world records had already been broken using the high-tech fabrics. Nearly every medal winner at the 2008 Summer Olympics made use of the high-tech swimwear. This is often seen as the catalyst behind the "technological arms race" in professional swimming competitions including the 2009 World Championships. World Champion American swimmer Aaron Peirsol, who swam two world record times at the 2009 World Championships, said, "A lot of us are joking that this might be the fastest we ever go, we might as well enjoy this (2009) year". [7] Many thought the introduced regulations on high-technology swimwear would end the era of record-breaking performances in swimming, and existing world records currently beaten with the high-tech swimwear be annotated with an asterisk. [8] Nearly two and a half years after FINA regulations were in place 9 records were broken at 2012 Olympics. [9] Many of the super suited records have been broken and with the next Olympics coming closer it offers another opportunity for the era of super suited records to be replaced with faster and new textile records. Regulations on high-technology swimwear has not hindered progress in competitive swimming. As of 2020 only 21 super suited records remain for both long course meters and short course meters (individual and relay records combined). This is around four times less than the amount of super suited records in the books a decade ago.

Related Research Articles

Swimsuit Clothing worn for swimming

A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types may be worn by men, women, and children. A swimsuit can be described by various names, some of which are used only in particular locations, including swimwear, bathing suit, swimming costume, bathing costume, swimming suit, swimmers, swimming togs, bathers, cossie, or swimming trunks for men, besides others.

Speedo International Ltd. is a distributor of swimwear and swim-related accessories based in Nottingham, England. They have roots in Australia but are no longer manufactured in Australia. Founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1914 by Alexander MacRae, a Scottish emigrant, the industry-leading company is now a subsidiary of the British Pentland Group. Today, the Speedo brand can be found on products ranging from swimsuits and goggles to wristwatches. The Speedo brand was previously manufactured for and marketed in North America as Speedo USA by PVH under an exclusive perpetual licence, who acquired prior licensee Warnaco Group in 2013. As of January 2020, the Pentland Group purchased back the rights from PVH for $170 million in cash subject to regulatory approval.

Competitive swimwear Swimsuit, clothing, equipment and accessories used in the aquatic competitive sports

Competitive swimwear refers to the swimsuit, clothing, equipment, and accessories used in the aquatic sports of swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, triathlon, and water polo.

Arena (swimwear) swimwear company

Arena S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturing company of competitive swimwear created in 1973 by Horst Dassler. The company is currently headquartered in Tolentino, Italy. In 1990, Arena was sold by Adidas to Japanese corporation Descente Ltd., which still commercialises its products.

Aquapel is a technical racing swimsuit designed by Tyr Sport, Inc. It has a unique creation process that gives it a high-speed design, turbulence reduction and advanced compression biochemics. The suit fits snugly and uniformly across all parts of the body. The suit also sports strangely placed seams that together make-up what TYR calls hydrodynamic flow panels. These flow panels have been specially designed to reduce turbulence, and aid in the smooth control of water flow. In 2005, these suits ranged in price from roughly $55 for a racer to $220 for a bodyskin.

Aquashift is a high-end technical swimsuit made by American swimwear company TYR which was released in early 2004. It incorporates years of research that TYR performed with the Center for Research and Education in Special Environments (CRESE), at the University at Buffalo. The suit sports the "Tripwire", a feature unique to TYR and the Aquashift suit, that reportedly reduces drag by a very large percentage. The suits are made of a blend of 74% polyester and 26% Lycra. The line of suits offers a bodyskin for both men and women, a kneeskin for men and women, and a regular women's suit. The price range for these suits is roughly $120 for a pair of jammers to about $380 for a bodyskin.

The 2009 World Aquatics Championships or the XIII FINA World Championships were held in Rome, Italy from 18 July to 2 August 2009. The 2009 Championships featured competition in all 5 aquatics disciplines: diving, swimming, open water swimming, synchronised swimming and water polo.

The swimming competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place from 9 to 17 August 2008 at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre. The newly introduced open water marathon events (10 km) were held on 20 and 21 August 2008 at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.

Dolfin Swimwear is an American company that manufactures and sells competitive and recreational swimwear. The brand is well known for its "Dolfin Uglies" product line, which features brightly colored swimsuits in a wide range of designs. In 2015, Dolfin released the Titanium Technical swimsuit, a high-tech competition swimsuit designed for elite racing. Other products include apparel, swimming accessories, water aerobics gear and beach swimwear.

LZR Racer

The LZR Racer is a line of competition swimsuits manufactured by Speedo using a high-technology swimwear fabric composed of woven elastane-nylon and polyurethane. The swimsuits are made in body-length; they compress the body and trap air for buoyancy. The LZR Pro and LZR Elite were launched on 13 February 2008; the higher-priced LZR Elite was replaced by the LZR Elite 2 in early 2014. The LZR X, the most recent addition to Speedo's competition suit lineup, was launched in early 2015. The technology is patented in Italy, and protected worldwide.

Swim briefs Any briefs-style male swimsuit

A swim brief or racing brief is any briefs-style male swimsuit such as those worn in competitive swimming, diving and water polo. The popularity of the Australian Speedo brand racing brief has led to the use of its name in many countries around the world to refer to any racing brief, regardless of the maker. Occasionally, the Speedo genericized trademark also applies to square cut swimsuit, but in general the generic term is used in reference to swim briefs. Swim briefs are also referred to as competition briefs, swimming trunks, bathers, togs, racer bathers, posing briefs, racing briefs, and colloquially in Australia as "budgie smugglers".

Bikini variants

The bikini has spawned many stylistic variations. A regular bikini is a two-piece swimsuit that together covers a female's crotch, buttocks, and breasts. Some bikini designs cover larger portions of the wearer's body while other designs provide minimal coverage. Topless variants are still sometimes considered bikinis, although they are technically not a two-piece swimsuit.

Swimming (sport) Water-based sport

Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water. Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, with varied distance events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley. In addition to these individual events, four swimmers can take part in either a freestyle or medley relay. A medley relay consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke, ordered as backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.

Fiona Fairhurst, born in 1971, is accredited with the design of the Speedo Fastskin swimsuit. Fairhurst herself was a competitive swimmer until the age of 16 and this provided her with some background within the swimming industry. Fairhurst studied MSc textile technology at the University of Huddersfield, BA (Hons) at Leeds University and an MA at Central St Martins London. At Speedo, she had been working in the role Product Manager Research and Development, before moving on to the Speedo Fastskin, which has been considered the “silver bullet” in professional swimming and has led to numerous title and Olympic medals.

Arena X-Glide

Arena X-Glide is a swimsuit from the Arena brand, made of pure polyurethane that causes a swimmer to slide through water faster when swimming. One notable example of the efficacy of this suit design is that of Paul Biedermann of Germany who wore the suit in the 2009 World Championships, breaking two world records. The design of the suit covers basically the whole torso and the legs with the impermeable polyurethane, thereby exposing less skin to the water and improving the swimmer's buoyancy and streamlined shape. This significantly reduces the drag a swimmer experiences as he or she moves through the water.

History of swimming

Competitive swimming in Britain started around 1830, mostly using breaststroke. Swimming was part of the first modern Olympic games in 1896 in Athens. In 1908, the world swimming association, Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA), was formed.

Technology doping is the practice of gaining a competitive advantage using sports equipment. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) considers prohibiting technologies if they are "performance-enhancing" or "being against the spirit of the sport". In 2006, WADA initiated a consultation on technology doping which is now officially recognised as a threat, whilst the decision to allow or ban a new technology, specifically relating to sports equipment, is the responsibility of each sport’s own governing body.

History of competitive swimwear

The history of competitive swimwear has been dominated by concerns over public nudity in the first half of the 20th century and by efforts to reduce water drag in the second half. Those efforts initially lead swimmers to reduce the early sagging one-piece swimsuits down to briefs only. With the development of new materials that tightly fit the body and offered lower resistance to water than human skin, this trend was reversed to a complete body coverage from heels to neck and wrists. FINA banned full-body suits from competition effective from 1 January 2010, stating that it "wishes to recall the main and core principle is that swimming is a sport essentially based on the physical performance of the athlete".

Bruce Robert Mason OAM is a leading Australian sports scientist in the field of biomechanics. Between 1982 and 2014, he made a significant contribution to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in the area of biomechanics, particularly in the sport of swimming.

History of swimwear traces the changes in the styles of men's and women's swimwear over time and between cultures, and touches on the social, religious and legal attitudes to swimming and swimwear.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Rocket Swimsuit: Speedo's LZR Racer - Science in the News". Science in the News. 2008-09-15. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  2. ↑ "What Is High-Tech Swimwear". www.catalogs.com. Retrieved 2017-05-07.
  3. ↑ Crouse, Karen (July 24, 2009) Swimming Bans High-Tech Suits, Ending an Era. New York Times
  4. 1 2 3 FINA. "FINA REQUIREMENTS FOR SWIMWEAR APPROVAL (FRSA)" (PDF).Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ↑ Arena International. "Arena Powerskin (official website)".
  6. ↑ "Beyond the "High-Tech" Suits: Predicting 2012 Olympic Swim Performances" (PDF).
  7. ↑ "FINA Opts To Ban All High-Tech Swimsuits in Unanimous Vote". Washingtonpost.com. 2009-07-24. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  8. ↑ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jul-28-sp-elliott-world-swim28-story.html
  9. ↑ Watkins, Derek; Ericson, Matthew. "The World Records That Fell" . Retrieved 2017-05-01.
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