When you are choosing swimwear, the choice of fabric is an important aspect.
If you can understand the characteristics of different fabrics, know their performance, and even know the reason why one might be more suitable for you than the other, it will help you choose the ideal swimwear, and help you make the right choice.
Theoretically, no fabric is better than another, but the fabric has different attributes that make them more suitable for different uses. Of course, most importantly, the quality of the supplier is also vital.
The fabric of swimwear is usually a mixture of nylon/polyester and elastane.
Nylon and Polyester Features
Nylon and Polyester are two of the most famous materials used in the modern textile industry. Let's start with what distinguishes fabrics made of nylon and fabric made of polyester.
Nylon
It can also be called polyamide. It is a manmade fabric coming from plastic materials and organic substances. Nylon is soft and comfortable and even enhances the brightest colors. It gives a good stretch, and it hugs your body well.
The commonly used for swimwear is around 80% nylon, and 20% Elastane. The purpose of this 20% is to provide great elasticity for your bikinis and swimsuits.
Polyester
Polyester is chlorine and UV-resistant. Polyester blends also have the benefit of absorbing dyes, therefore, usually polyester fabric has better color fastness.
Nylon and Polyester Differences
Nylon and polyester are dyed by using different dyestuff and processes.
Nylon fabric can be brighter in color, but the color fastness is not as good as that of polyester.
If you like swimwear in bright colors, especially fluorescent ones, nylon fabric may show better. However, if you are worried about fading problems, choose polyester swimwear.
Elastane/Spandex/Lycra
Elastane is most commonly used in Europe, and each continental European language has a slightly different version of this word. It's the most technical term used to describe these polyurethane fabrics.
Spandex is the term that DuPont originally used to describe their polyurethane fabric during the development process. It is the preferred term for referring to elastane products in the United States and elsewhere.
Lycra is a registered trademark of the DuPont corporation, it's a brand name for elastane, which is a highly elastic synthetic fabric, it has super resistance to chlorine. Chlorine resistance is better than ordinary elastane yarn.
If the swimwear contains lycra yarn, normally will have a lycra tag. This is an official certificate tag from Lycra company.
They are the same thing, make fabric elastic, comfortable, and perfectly fitting. It gives most of the stretch for your swimwear.
It can be considered that the higher the composition of elastane, the better the elasticity. For example, You could say that 80% nylon and 20% elastane will be more stretchy than 83% nylon and 17% elastane.
