ABOUT
The Swimwear Edit is an independent guide to swimwear that is built to be kept. It exists because the honest information about what a swimsuit is made of, how it should fit and what happens to it afterwards is scattered across marketing copy, technical datasheets and academic papers, and almost never in one place.
What this site covers
Four things, in roughly this order of usefulness. First, fabrics: what regenerated nylon, TENCEL and organic linen actually are, how they are made, and which of the claims made about them survive scrutiny. Second, fit: how swimwear sizing works, why it does not map cleanly onto dress sizes, and how to measure yourself so that an online purchase is not a lottery. Third, end of life: why worn-out swimwear is unusually difficult to recycle and what the take-back schemes do with what they collect. Fourth, the wider picture — the reading in our journal, from textile waste and microfibres to second-hand shopping and seasonal food.
How it is put together
The material here is compiled from published technical documentation, industry reporting and public research, and written up in plain language. Where a figure is quoted — the eight million pieces of plastic entering the ocean each day, the 350,000 tonnes of wearable clothing sent to UK landfill each year, the 24 per cent emissions reduction from doubling a garment's life — it comes from published work rather than from a brand's own marketing.
Photography is archive fashion and editorial imagery, used to illustrate garment construction, fit across a range of bodies, and the settings swimwear is actually worn in.
Our stance, briefly
Buying less and buying better is not a slogan here, it is the conclusion the evidence keeps pointing at. Almost every credible study of clothing's environmental impact finds that the single largest lever available to an individual is extending the life of what they already own. Fabric innovation matters, and regenerated fibres are a genuine improvement on virgin petroleum nylon, but no fibre is as good as a garment that gets worn for five summers instead of one.
We are also sceptical of certification as a shortcut. Labels such as B Corp, OEKO-TEX and GOTS mean specific, checkable things, and it is worth knowing what each one actually certifies rather than treating the badge as a general seal of virtue. That is the subject of one of the longer pieces in the journal.
What this site is not
The Swimwear Edit is an independent editorial publication. It is not a shop and not the website of any swimwear brand, retailer or manufacturer. It does not sell anything, take orders or payments, hold stock, or handle returns, and it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or speaking for any of the brands, certification bodies or publications mentioned on the site.
Nothing here is commercial advice about a specific purchase. Where a product category is described, the intention is to explain how the category works, not to recommend a particular item.