The art of washing a swimsuit

Once you have invested in a premium swimsuit you want to give it the best care. After all, swimsuits are exposed to salt, heat, chlorine, suncream and body oils can leave tricky stains. Follow our guide and tips and tricks to ensure you care for your swimwear the best possible way.

HOW

NEVER STORE A SWIMSUIT IN A PLASTIC BAG

First of all, rule number one: never leave your wet swimsuit in a plastic bag for long: plastic bags prevent air circulation and cause bacterias to grow and bad smell. Better to store your wet swimsuit inside our bikini bags or, as an alternative, to wrap them in a towel. After spending a long day at the beach, you’d better remove all sand from your swimsuits before washing.

RINSE (BEFORE AND) AFTER YOU SWIM

Make it a habit to use the shower, before if possible, and after a swim. When you rinse first, the construction of the swim textiles will be filled with fresh water, and therefore will wick less of the chlorinated or salt water. After a swim, rinse in fresh water or shower will help to remove some of the chemicals, salt, and sand that your suit has been exposed to until you can give it a proper wash.

HAND-WASH

Do not leave them soap but rinse immediately under cold or lukewarm tap water. Even though the fabric itself can be machine washed, we do not recommend machine washing for a bikini since it is a harsh clothing care process. The movements, twisting, centrifugation etc, manipulate the seams and trimmings which may result in damage. Instead, we recommend you to hand-wash your swimsuit after every day. Wash with a small quantity of mild & neutral soap to remove any stains, you can focus on these spots only.

USE ONLY MILD DETERGENT

Choosing a fitting detergent for your clothes is important. Using the wrong detergent can actually destroy your garments. Never use laundry detergents such as powders as they are far too harsh for synthetic stretch fabric and will often cause the color to fade and break the fiber bindings. Even just a little bit of detergent can lead to color fading.

Use a mild detergent, we recommend Almgrens organic wash soap, which is our best tried soap to date, to gently rub any stains from sun-creams and oils off the fabric. Rinse well in lukewarm water.

Rinsing is really important because detergents tend to alter the fabric pH and, consequently, to interfere with the chemical bond between the dyestuff and the fiber, thus creating darker marks.

AIR DRY FLAT

Remove excess water by rolling your suit in a towel (as you would with a down jacket or cashmere sweater), and hang it inside out, by putting pegs either on the straps or on the pad. If the weather allows it, let it dry in the open air (but away from direct sunlight which may speed up color degradation).

STORE IT RIGHT

Good maintenance is key for the duration of your swimwear. Taking care of your swimwear also means store all items in the right place while waiting for next summer.

Also knowing how to fold swimsuits is important, since elastic bands mustn’t be stressed and pads have to be preserved, in case of padded bikinis tops. Last but not least, you need to make sure your swimwear is perfectly dry before putting everything away in winter.

In the closet, always store your swimwear flat, that lets air flow through.