Look Good in Wet Clothes

Chat:  Shower  Beach  Mud  Stories   Page 27  Home  Be a trendsetter on poolside or beach. Wear stylish clothes when swimming or splashing around.

Woven Wear

Sunsafe swimwear is not just tight fitting lycra gear. Woven wear is a term that describes loose fitting outfits that are more like casual clothes. It is made of a lightweight, densely woven quickdrying fabric with a SPF of 50+ to proctect your skin.

For this test we've received only samples from Solartex and Stingray and they all felt very comfortable on the skin, both wet and dry.

You can get colour coded sets of jacket, shorts, and sun hat and look real cool. Also some of their Lycra wear matches these outfits and can be combined with great effect.

We reckon that these clothes come very close to our Holy Grail of Amphibian Clothing which you can wear dry or wet and still look good, which is comfortable either way and quick drying. That way you can wear it all day and go swimming whenever you like without haveing to get changed all the time.

How does it compare with Jeans and T-shirts?

To begin with it's lighter and dries quicker. A wet T-shirt has a SPF of about 5, these clothes have over 50+ SPF. Jeans may provide you with better protection against sharp objects like corals. You can of course combine them and get the best of both worlds. Our photo model wears a plain white T-shirt under the sunsafe jacket.

What about a Poncho?

You can of course wear a breathable poncho, especially when it's not too windy. They provide an interesting feeling when you go swimming. Some are open on the side or have buttons which you can undo. Then you can unfold it and tie it to a tree as sun shade. We have a special poncho feature in our fashion section.

Sun Hats

Often forgotten, but most essential, is a good fitting sun hat. Again Stingray were the only suppliers who've provided test samples so far. The smaller hat you see on the left is made of the same material as the woven wear (Swim shirt by Sun Emprorium).

The two below are made of the same Lycra fabric used for the tight fitting swim suits. They provide more cover than the small hat, especially to the side of the face. When swimming the long one can get a bit in the way, with the flaps floating up.

   

Stingray also have a Polyamide Stretch Fishing Cap, but which we haven't had a test sample of yet. We reckon it's better suited for swimming, but need to confirm that first.