Buying swimsuits (jammers) felt like a scam

agarose2000 - 2009-08-20 9:25 PM Just had to vent at my frustration with buying mens jammers.

Last year, I made the typical rookie mistake of buying lycra racing style mens jammers. They nearly disintegrated after 5 weeks of use in the pool, to my horror.

Fortunately, I asked around here, and was directed to 100% polyester jammers - I ordered one online, and it lasted nearly an entire year of abuse. (I even ran & biked in it often.) Unfortunately, it died today - found a 3 inch rip right down the back! Interestingly, the polyester panels are pristine - the stitching was the part that gave out!

I went to a Sports Authority and a Sports Chalet in LA. I know, it's not a specialty swim store, but they had hundreds of different types of swimwear, from skimpy speedos, to jammers to boardshorts.

To my horror, in both stores, out of hundreds of lycra racing jammers, I only found less than 10 (!!) "endurance" type jammers that had at least 50% polyester. I'd guess that 98% of their selection of racing style suits were lycra blends. And these endurance type polyblends were buried. To top it off, not a single one of them was 100% polyester. 

I know that it's a bad idea for Speedo or Tyr to cannibalize their sales by pushing the longer-lasting suits, but it really leaves me a bad taste when I see this kind of self-interested sales. I doubt that only competitive racers buy swimsuits, and I'll bet that FAR more fitness or training-type swimmers are shopping at these stores, yet they purposely avoid the specific suit type that would best serve their needs.

I ended up buying a Tyr 50% Polyester / 50% PBT blend. (I have no idea what that is.) It's supposed to last 3x longer than lycra, which doesn't seem too long for me compared to the months I got out of my polyester suit.

Just venting. Thanks.
 

tkd.teacher - 2009-08-20 11:30 PM 
5 weeks?? What are you guys doing to your suits?I get anywhere from 6 months to a year out of a typical lycra or lycra blend.

John

tkd.teacher - 2009-08-21 12:30 AM


5 weeks?? What are you guys doing to your suits?I get anywhere from 6 months to a year out of a typical lycra or lycra blend.

John

agarose2000 - 2009-08-21 9:56 AM

I normally would have gone online and bought there - for sure, that's the best route , and was where I got my first polyester jammers. This time though, it was an emergency! Sudden unexpected tear = no pool for a few days at least or hit the local sports store. 

I also never biked/ran in my lycra suit. It simply seemed too thin. My polyester one though - after 3 months of looking new, I did some biking & running in it for a few months which certainly accelerated its demise along the seams. I don't think the chlorine affected the poly panels at all though!

I suspect my pool is more chlorinated than others, accounting for the accelerated wear. I've been in 5 different pools and the one I mainly swim in is notably more chlorinated than the others. Lycra doesn't seem to do to well there.

Of note, I wish I was strong enough to swim in "board shorts" but I've noted such a huge penalty to my already slow pace that I drop to paces (2:00+) that make it hard to maintain a good glide. For me at least, board shorts give me a 15 sec/100m drop in pace that makes it frustratingly hard for me to swim well. Perhaps it's me, but there's definitely a difference in technique when I'm moving faster (I think akin to practicing with fins).