Woollen swimwear, popular a century ago, might soon make a splash on Australian beaches again.
In the 19th century, when natural fibers were the only option, beach-goers donned costumes made of wool or cotton. Swimsuits worn at the water’s edge or in the crashing waves transformed across the 20th century from natural fibers to sleek, synthetics.
But with concern mounting over and the search for , the woollen swimsuits of the past could be the swimwear of the future.
Shifting (and shrinking) swimsuits
Plenty who enjoyed a day on the sand in the first decades of the 20th century did so fully clothed. It was not uncommon for men to dress for the beach in three-piec[Today's Headlines]e suits or for women to wear gowns that fell to their ankles.
At the beginning of the last century, people often went to the beach fully clothed.
Photo via National Museum of Australia.
But women who ventured into the water donned belted, knee-length bathing gowns that featured bloomers to conceal the legs. Men’s two-piece bathing costumes revealed a little more, with a top extending to the thighs paired with shorts to the knees.
In the space of a couple of decades, however, . Styles altered as attitudes to the exposure of bodies relaxed, shifting ideas around public morality.
Both men and women were modestly dressed for swimming.
Photo via State Library of Queensland.
The 1930s witnessed a rise in topless bathing for men as they adopted . Some had half skirts at the front, and many sported belts with buckles to keep them firmly on the waist.
Women’s swimwear now – then even more when bikinis appeared on Australian beaches in 1950. rippled across the sand.
Swimwear had reached body-baring new dimensions.
As the decades passed, bathing suits got smaller. Photo by Mark Strizic via State Library of Victoria.
Wool on the beach
Knitted wool – rather than woven wool or cotton – fitted swimwear snugly to the body, helping it shrink in size.
For wearers of Foy & Gibson’s wool suits in the late 1920s and early 1930s – “Sunnybeach”, “Sunbath”, “Seafit” and “Siren” among them – this knit offered comfort and freedom.
Speedo’s knitted wool trucks in the late 1930s were made to streamline men’s figures, sparking the enticing slogan: “Next to your figure Speedo looks best!”
Those with knitting skills could make their own swimsuits that decade, using like those given in the Australian Women’s Weekly.
With the introduction of “” – a rubber yarn – to woollen swimsuits in the 1930s, they transitioned to even more body-hugging fits. These exuded a new kind of glamorous appeal that elevated swimwear to a “” (as one newspaper columnist quipped) new height.
The synthetic swimsuit revolution
When synthetics burst onto the market, Australians embraced the new “modern” fibers. Wool was also in short supply, prioritized for and blankets for second world war troops.
Swimwear started to be made in the so-called “miracle” fibers: in the 1940s, then (known as “Terylene” in Australia) in the 1950s. From the 1960s, “” (also called elastane and spandex) was blended into swimsuits. These made sleeker, slimmer, more satin-like suits.
By the 1960s, bathing suits were more streamlined and made with synthetic fibers.
Photo by H. Dacre Stubbs via State Library of Victoria, CC BY.
Neoprene, a foam fabric, first appeared in wetsuits on Australia’s beaches in the late 1950s – increasing the possibilities for . Wetsuits significantly in decades to follow, keeping their wearer warm by trapping a thin layer of water heated by the body.
In the pool, our Olympic swimmers tested more advanced fabrics. Those at the Sydney Games in 2000 wore the Speedo “”, with its compression fab[Today's Headlines]ric and replication of shark skin scales that streamlined the body in the water.
More recently, swimsuits made from recycled plastic – bottles, bags and other plastic waste – have emerged as an eco-friendly option. Some question, however, just how these recycled swimmers truly are when reducing all plastic consumption is needed to make a difference.
Why wool, again?
We might dismiss woollen swimsuits from the 20th century’s first decades as unpleasant or uncomfortable to wear. Or we might see them as unflatterin[Today's Headlines]g for the way they sagged .
But new processes for working with wool suggest it is ideal to wear in the water. New have been designed to dry in less than seven minutes. Wool is also thermo-regulating, helping the body maintain an even temperature.
It’s not just that wool options are increasingly available. As we clothing at alarming rates, some have embraced the natural fiber as a sustainable, renewable alternative to synthetics.
Today’s knitted bathers look quite different to these. Photo via Museums Victoria.
Wool is biodegradable, naturally returning to and nourishing the earth, unlike synthetics that can take to break down. Clothes in artificial fibers linger in landfill, with .
Our growing awareness of microplastics – tiny fibers that pollute (and other) environments – is also driving this shift.
So is it time to rethink wearing wool as you head to the beach this summer?
This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .
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