One really good swimsuit: The thinking behind it

Most swimmers have a drawer of old swimsuits: the one that went baggy, the one that faded, the one with the tag that scratches. We accept it as normal. Suits wear out, so you buy another.

At THEMAGIC5 we started by refusing to accept that goggles had to leak and fog. When we decided to make a swimsuit, we asked the same question: what are swimmers just putting up with? Here is what we did about it.

A suit that keeps its shape

Chlorine slowly breaks down the stretch fibres most swimsuits rely on, so every session takes a little more out of them. Many suits feel great on day one and loose by month three.

We went the other way: a fabric with less stretch than most swimwear, doubled up with dual-layer construction throughout. The suit feels a little firmer when you first put it on. That is deliberate. It relies less on stretch, so it has less to lose, and it stays put when you push off the wall.

It is also why we recommend sizing up if you are between sizes. You are choosing the fit you will have in six months, not just today.

Colour that is part of the fabric

On many suits, the colour is printed on top of the fabric like a thin coat. Chlorine, sun and salt water wear it down until it cracks or fades.

We use sublimation printing. The dye is heated into a gas and bonds with the fibres themselves, so there is no surface layer to crack. You will not see that in a product photo. You will see it a year from now.

Nothing that gets in the way

Some details only matter when they are wrong. A tag is fine standing still and maddening 40 minutes into a session, so we removed it and printed the size and care information inside. The seams are hidden, so there is less to rub.

The drawstring, down to the tips

On the men's briefs, we spent more time on the drawstring than you might expect. It is the part of the suit you touch every time you put it on, and the part most swimsuits treat as an afterthought.

Ours is thicker and softer than a typical swimsuit cord, so it sits comfortably against your skin instead of digging in during a long set.

Then there are the ends. Each one is finished with a soft silicone cap. On most suits the cord ends start to fray after a few months in chlorine, until you are left with loose threads hanging from your waistband. The silicone caps keep the ends sealed and neat, swim after swim. And because they are soft, there is nothing hard against your skin.

Nobody buys a swimsuit for its drawstring. But plenty of people stop wearing one because of it.

Packaging you keep

Most swimsuits arrive in a plastic bag that goes straight in the bin. We wanted the packaging to have a job after you open it.

Every suit comes in a reusable, waterproof pouch. Even the zipper is waterproof, so once it is closed, it stays closed.

Think about the end of a swim. You are standing in the changing room with a dripping suit in one hand and a bag full of dry things in the other: your towel, your clothes, your phone, maybe your laptop. Usually the wet suit ends up rolled in a towel, stuffed into a carrier bag or just pushed into a corner of the bag and hoped for the best.

With the pouch, it is simple. Swim. Take it off. Put it back. Zip it shut, and nothing else in your bag gets wet or smells of chlorine.

It works on holiday too. After the last swim before you head to the airport, the wet suit goes in the pouch and the pouch goes in the suitcase.

It is one less thing to throw away, and one more thing in your swim bag that actually earns its place.

Made to last is made responsibly

The fabric is around 75% recycled content. But the biggest difference we can make is a suit you do not need to replace so often.