What Makes Swimwear Safe? 3 Things to Know Before You Swim
Swim that works off the beach too.
Since we started eit swim in 2018, we've built the brand around a simple idea: your life doesn't stop at the shoreline. You move between the beach and the street in the same day, so why shouldn't your swimwear?
That's why we've always leaned toward silhouettes that feel more like clothing than "swimwear" — pieces you don't have to change out of the moment you leave the water.
But the more freedom a design has, the more careful we have to be about one thing: does it actually work in the water.
Looking good on land matters. Feeling easy to wear around town matters. But none of that means much if the piece doesn't hold up once it's wet. That's the line between something that looks like a swimsuit and something you can trust to actually be one.
The Closer It Gets to Clothing, the More Function Matters
Swimwear as a category has been drifting toward ready-to-wear silhouettes for years, and we're no exception — softer shapes, no over-cinching, cuts that feel just as natural off the beach as on it.
But a swimsuit is still built to be worn in water first. The closer it gets to streetwear, the easier it is to lose sight of that. It's something we come back to constantly.
Take a relaxed cut through the chest or underarms, for example. On land, it reads as easy and effortless. In the water, that same looseness lets water pool between the fabric and your body. If the suit isn't built to let that water out, the fabric holds it, gets heavy, and starts working against you.
Dry comfort and wet comfort aren't the same thing. So when we design, we're not just checking the mirror. We're asking what happens the moment you're actually submerged.
Three Things We Take Seriously
We can't control where or how you wear what we make — swimming laps, lounging poolside, wearing it as a top days after the beach. Which means when we say a piece is safe to swim in, we take that claim seriously. Here's what that comes down to for us.
1. A Fit That Stays Put Underwater
Fit isn't just about comfort. It's about whether the suit moves with you or against you. If it shifts, twists, or rides up while you're swimming, that starts with the fit itself.
Fabric also behaves differently once it's wet — it stretches, it loosens. So it's not enough for a suit to feel right dry on land. We design for how it holds up once you're moving through water.
2. Water That Actually Drains
No suit, however well-fitted, can fully keep water out. So instead of chasing an impossible seal, we focus on what happens after water gets in — how quickly and cleanly it drains back out.
Small construction details make a big difference here, even ones you'd never notice just by looking. What's invisible on land can completely change how a suit performs in the water.
Looking good and functioning well aren't a trade-off. For us, making both true at once is the whole job.
3. The Right Size, Not Just a Flattering One
Safety isn't only a design question — it's a sizing one too. Fit changes once fabric is wet, which is why we often recommend sizing down slightly from your usual clothing size if you're between sizes.
That's not about going smaller for its own sake. It's about a fit that holds without shifting once you're actually in the water.
Built on Trial, Not Theory
None of this came from a formula. Over the years, we've ordered swimwear from brands all over the world, tried it on ourselves, and tested it in the water — swum in it, moved in it, felt how it changed once it was soaked through.
Piece by piece, that hands-on process taught us what a given detail on land actually means once you're in the ocean. Every misstep along the way is part of why our standards look the way they do now, and that process doesn't stop. As long as we keep getting in the water ourselves, it keeps evolving.
Freedom Without the Trade-Off
We make swimwear you can wear off the beach because we want you to enjoy it beyond just swim days — on a walk through town, on a trip, wherever. We want the line between "swimwear" and "clothing" to blur.
But that freedom was never meant to come at the cost of function. If anything, the more design freedom we take, the more seriously we have to take the water.
That's the thinking behind everything we make at eit swim.