FOR LASTING FIT, DURABLE FABRICS, AND COMFORT FOR EVERY BODY, CHOOSE LYCRA® BRAND SWIMWEAR FIBERS
Great swimwear should be well-fitting, comfortable, beautiful, and stay in place — whether you’re swimming laps, taking a beach walk, chasing the kids, or throwing down in beach volleyball. Swimwear fibers should last longer than a season, too, retaining their stretch and recovery power without wearing out.
Fit, comfort, and durability matter, particularly in swimwear. Swimsuits are often a higher-cost purchase worn less frequently than, say, a pair of jeans or favorite dress, but prone to fiber breakage that leads to a saggy fit. Consumers want their investment to last, and to feel confident knowing their swimwear will still fit beautifully swim after swim.
Swimwear fibers from the LYCRA® brand can solve these pain points and more. With our range of swimwear fiber technologies, brands and mills can craft beautiful, durable swimwear garments with a range of benefits, from responsive stretch to chlorine resistance to more sustainable offerings.
With over 65 years in the spandex business, LYCRA® brand is a trusted name in stretch and your partner in innovation. Pair your design vision with our fiber expertise to create swimwear collections that deliver exceptional performance, stand out in the market, and drive sales.
"Swimsuit fibers from the LYCRA® brand offer transformative benefits to consumers. Our chlorine-resistant and UV-resistant fibers, for example, last up to 10 times longer than typical spandex, meaning swimsuits can actually do the thing they’re meant to do without breaking down — offer a long-lasting, comfortable fit while you’re enjoying a beach day or swimming a big race. And that’s exactly what consumers want."
Molly Fulin
Product category director, knits
The LYCRA Company
WHAT CONSUMER RESEARCH REVEALS ABOUT SWIMWEAR FIBERS
Wellness and longevity continue to grow ever more important to consumers, driving decisions about where people live, what they eat, and how they move their bodies. Swimming is an increasingly popular choice for exercise; it’s among the best full-body workouts you can do and has a low barrier to entry (once you know how to do it). Today, more Americans swim regularly in local urban waterways than in years past, and wild swimming has doubled in popularity in the UK over the past decade.
All those swimmers? They need durable swimwear that performs.
A 2025 consumer research report from Zalando found that consumers named comfort, fit, and durability as clothing purchase drivers above all other factors besides value for money
A 2020 survey of European consumers by McKinsey found that 65% were planning to buy more durable items.
WRAP’s research has found that extending the wear life of clothing by an additional nine months can reduce the garment’s carbon and water footprints by up to 20%
Clearly, durability matters for both people and planet — and demand is growing, according to a recent swimwear market analysis report from Grand View Research projecting 2025-2030 trends. As WRAP Americas' executive director Leah Karrer put it, "Longer-lasting clothes are what the public wants to see on shelf."
BENEFITS OF SWIMWEAR WITH LYCRA® FIBERS
DURABLE
Resists damage from chlorine, sun, lotion, and more
LONG-LASTING FIT
Won’t sag or bag after just a few wears
TOTAL COMFORT
A second-skin fit, whether lounging, racing, or sunbathing
COLOR PERFORMANCE
Bold hues, true blacks, and zero spandex shine
SHAPING
Get the right balance between compression and comfort for a sculpting fit
LYCRA® FIBERS FOR SWIMWEAR
Craft chlorine- and UV-resistant swimwear fabrics, deliver a comfortable fit, and offer durable spandex that lasts — choose LYCRA® brand.
RENEWABLE LYCRA® FIBER
Made with 70% plant-based content, renewable LYCRA® fiber adds performance stretch to swimwear for consumers chasing more sustainable fashions.
LYCRA XTRA LIFE® FIBER
Our most durable spandex for swimwear, LYCRA XTRA LIFE® fiber lasts up to 10 times longer than unprotected spandex, resisting damage from chlorine, UV rays, heat, sunscreen, body lotion, and more.
LYCRA ADAPTIV® FIBER
LYCRA® ADAPTIV fiber adjusts its fit to meet the wearer’s needs, providing the right support, compression, and comfort, plus high levels of recovery for comfortable swimwear that holds its shape.
LYCRA® BLACK FIBER
True black swimwear gets its long-lasting, durable color from LYCRA® BLACK fiber, our chlorine-resistant black spandex. With spun-in pigment, swimwear made with LYCRA® BLACK fiber is free from grin-through and shine, offering excellent aesthetics and performance.
LYCRA® CHROMA FIBER
Bring bold, colorful swimwear to life with LYCRA® CHROMA fiber. Offering excellent dye uptake and colorfastness, swimwear is brighter for longer with no spandex shine.
LYCRA® T400® FIBER
For permanent stretch and recovery in performance swimwear, LYCRA® T400® fiber delivers. This quick-drying, moisture-wicking fiber resists damage from abrasion and offers a comfortable, smooth wear experience. Also available as LYCRA® T400® EcoMade fiber, made with at least 50% recycled PET and 14% plant-based materials.
LYCRA FITSENSE® PRINT TECHNOLOGY
LYCRA FitSense® print technology adds targeted support and shaping to swimwear with zero added bulk. This lightweight shaping solution can be screen-printed onto fabrics to lift, sculpt, and even provide coverage in bikini tops.
LYCRA® SPORT FABRIC TECHNOLOGY
LYCRA® SPORT fabrics are specially designed to meet the needs of athletes and everyday active people, offering the right balance of power, comfort, and energy to support performance.
LYCRA® BEAUTY FABRIC TECHNOLOGY
LYCRA® BEAUTY fabrics sculpt, smooth, and enhance the wearer’s natural silhouette, for fashionable swimwear that skims curves and stuns.
SUSTAINABLE SWIMWEAR FIBER SOLUTIONS
For more sustainable swimwear crafted with recycled and renewable fibers, the LYCRA® brand offers durable, high-performance solutions.
Renewable LYCRA® fiber is crafted from 70% plant-based materials, primarily dent corn grown in the US Midwest. It can reduce the carbon footprint of traditional LYCRA® fiber by up to 45%* without compromising performance, delivering the stretch consumers crave with a lighter touch on the planet
LYCRA XTRA LIFE® fiber delivers long-lasting quality — lasting up to 10 times longer than typical spandex — meeting the needs of consumers who want to wear their swimwear longer and keep it out of the landfill
LYCRA® T400® EcoMade fiber, made in part from recycled PET bottles and renewable plant-based materials, delivers permanent stretch and recovery to performance swimwear. In controlled tests, LYCRA® T400® fiber components were blended with standard polyester and respun into new polyester fibers
Our recycled and renewable fibers have received third-party sustainability certifications: All recycled polyester products from The LYCRA Company have achieved OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100. Products made from recycled bottles are Global Recycled Standard certified, and products from textile waste are Recycled Content Standard certified.
*Comparative Life Cycle Assessment: LYCRA® fiber with Bio-derived PTMEG vs. LYCRA® fiber with Fossil-Derived PTMEG, Ramboll, 2026
