Swimming Race Suit Care Guide 2022
How To Look after Your Competition Swimwear
Our Swimming Race Suit Care Guide is here to help you get the most from your racing swimwear. If you are a competitive swimmer or the parent of one, this guide will save you money.
Swimmer's race suits vary a lot but the collective aim of them all is to help you race faster. It means the fabric has state of the art technologies for water repellency and muscle compression. Reducing drag, supporting you and improving glide in the water. Some suits have more compression than others and this is usually noticeable in the price tag! The downfall to these fabrics is that they stretch easily and are damaged by the chlorine in the pool.
Being fragile and expensive is not a good combination. So, check out our helpful tips for getting the most from your favourite race suits.
Swimming Race Suit Care Guide
WEAR YOUR COMPETITION SUIT FOR RACING ONLYA race suit can only spend a certain amount of time in the pool water, being exposed to chlorine. So, warming up or training in your suit will lower its life span. Save it for racing only. |
DO NOT WEAR IT LONGER THAN YOU NEED TOIt might be tempting to stand around in your super cool swimsuit after racing. But the longer you wear it out of the water, the more the suit will stretch and lose its compression strength. If you have multiple swims it is better to leave the suit on instead of changing in and out of it. However, once your racing is done get changed right away. |
PROTECT THE SUIT MATERIALIt may seem obvious but be mindful of the suit encountering anything that could damage it. For example, if you need to sit on the pool tiles, make sure you put shorts on. Be careful swimming over lane ropes, they can be sharp and snag/tear the suit fabric. When wearing between races, wear shorts and t-shirts over the top as a protection layer. |
TAKE CARE PUTTING YOUR RACE SUIT ON AND TAKING OFFRace suits can be super tight-fitting and you should use the proper techniques to slowly get into it. Make sure you are completely dry when putting it on, roll leg seams over, gently move the fabric little by little up your legs. If you lose patience and pull hard you can damage the suit or cause it to stretch. When taking the suit off take your time, the gentler you are the longer it will last. It can take 10-20 minutes to get it on/off. |
AFTER RACING WASH OFF THE CHLORINERinse the tech suit with fresh tap water right after your race. Do not use a washing machine or tumble drier and do not scrub it. Simply use your hands with plenty of tap water to gently rinse off the chlorine. |
AIR DRY ON A FLAT SURFACEOnce you have rinsed your race suit, let it dry naturally on a flat surface. Hanging it up can cause it to stretch so laying flat is preferred and letting it dry in its natural position. Do not use sources of heat like hair driers or radiators and keep it out of direct sunlight. Remember if the suit has bonded seams heat will damage/weaken the bonds. |
HAVE A MESH BAG OR DRY POCKET READYThere may be times when there is not enough time to air dry your race suit, if you are in a rush make sure you rinse the suit and place it neatly into a mesh bag or in a wet pocket on your backpack. Keep it away from other wet items that may have chlorine on them. The mesh will allow natural air to circulate over the suit and dry it off. |
Remember that each time you wear the suit you stretch it and damage its effectiveness. Only use your top race suits for your most important swim meets. It is good practice to carry two race suits with you to events.
Thanks for checking out our guide, we hope you found it helpful. If you want even more information check out Speedo's Official Care Guide.
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