How to Make Your Swimwear Last: A Bear's Guide to Proper Care
You spent good money on a suit that fits the way you actually look. The last thing you want is to watch it fade, stretch out, or fall apart after a few wears because of something totally preventable. Swimwear takes a beating — chlorine, saltwater, sunscreen, heat — and most guys have no idea how much damage they're doing just by tossing it in the dryer.
Here's everything you need to know to keep your Bear Threads looking as good on wear 50 as they did on wear one.
1. Why It Matters
Quality swimwear is an investment. The fabrics we use at Bear Threads are engineered for stretch, color retention, and support — but those properties don't last forever if you treat your suit like a gym sock. Proper care isn't complicated. It just takes a minute of intention after every wear.
2. Washing — Gentle Is Everything
Hand wash whenever possible. Fill a sink with cool water, add a small amount of delicate or swimwear-specific detergent, and gently work the fabric for a minute or two. Rinse thoroughly.
If you machine wash: Use a mesh laundry bag, cold water only, and the delicate cycle. Never hot water — heat breaks down elastic and fades color fast.
What to avoid:
- Regular laundry detergent — too harsh, strips color and degrades elastic
- Fabric softener — coats the fibers and reduces stretch recovery
- Bleach or anything with optical brighteners — kills color immediately
- Washing with heavy items like jeans or towels — the friction causes pilling
Recommended: Swimwear-specific detergents like Woolite Delicates or Hex Performance work well and are easy to find.
3. Drying — Never the Dryer. Ever.
This one is non-negotiable. The dryer is the single fastest way to destroy a good swimsuit. Heat melts elastic, shrinks fabric, and causes colors to fade unevenly.
What to do instead:
- Gently press (don't wring or twist) excess water out of the suit
- Lay flat on a clean dry towel or hang on a clip hanger to air dry
- Dry in a shaded area or indoors — extended direct sunlight fades color over time
Air drying takes a couple of hours at most. It's worth it.
4. After the Pool or Ocean — Rinse Immediately
Chlorine and saltwater are the two biggest enemies of swimwear fabric. Both break down elastic fibers and fade color over time — and the damage accelerates the longer they sit in the fabric.
The rule: Rinse your suit in cool fresh water as soon as you're done swimming. Even a quick rinse at the pool shower or beach shower makes a significant difference. Don't leave a chlorinated or saltwater suit sitting in your bag for hours — that's when the real damage happens.
Sunscreen also degrades fabric over time, so a good rinse after every beach day is essential regardless of whether you hit the water.
5. Storage — Keep the Shape
How you store your swimwear matters more than most guys think. Stuffing it into a drawer in a ball, leaving it crumpled in a bag, or folding it with heavy items on top all put unnecessary stress on the elastic and can cause permanent creasing.
Two good options:
Clip hangers — the plastic hangers with clips at the bottom are perfect for swimwear. Hang by the waistband, let it keep its shape, easy to grab when you need it. This is what I personally do with every suit in my rotation.
Flat folding — if you prefer drawer storage, fold the suit flat along the waistband and lay it with lighter items. Don't stack heavy things on top.
A note on wooden drawers: If you store swimwear in a wood dresser, consider adding drawer liners or fabric storage cubes. Wood — especially unfinished or older wood — can leach tannins and stain light-colored fabrics over time. I've had it happen to my own suits. A simple liner is cheap insurance against ruining an expensive swimsuit.
What to avoid:
- Leaving damp suits in a bag or gym locker for extended periods (mildew is real)
- Hanging by the side seams — puts stress on the fabric over time
- Storing in direct sunlight or in a hot car
- Unlined wooden drawers in contact with light-colored suits
6. Watch Where You Sit
This one catches guys off guard. Mini briefs and classic briefs cover less fabric than board shorts, which means more of the suit is in contact with whatever surface you're sitting on. And a lot of pool and patio surfaces are surprisingly abrasive.
Concrete pavers, rough pool edges, hot tub surrounds, certain textured pool surfaces — all of these can snag and pull the fabric, leaving it looking rough, pilled, and jagged after just one encounter. Once that happens there's no fixing it.
The rule: If you're not sure about a surface, put a towel down first. It takes two seconds and saves your suit. A good beach towel between you and the concrete is all it takes.
7. Learn From My Mistakes
I've been making and wearing swimwear for years. I've also destroyed more suits than I care to admit — usually through impatience or thinking "it'll be fine just this once." It was never fine. Here's what I've personally ruined so I can save you the same pain:
The dryer incident. Put a suit in the dryer because I was in a hurry. It came out the right shape but the elastic was completely shot — no stretch recovery, no support, just a sad piece of fabric. Unwearable after one dry cycle.
The sun-bleached Grand Axis. I had a yellow suit I absolutely loved. Left it to dry on a white towel in direct sunlight. Came back to find it completely splotchy — uneven fading all over the fabric. The sun cooked it in one afternoon. That suit went straight in the trash. I still think about it.
The wooden drawer disaster. Stored several suits in an old wood dresser without any liner. Came back weeks later to find red and brown stains leached from the wood directly into the fabric. Light colored suits especially — completely ruined. No amount of washing got those stains out.
The chlorine elastic failure. Used a suit at the pool, came home, and just hung it up in the mudroom without rinsing it first. The fabric survived — it's tough enough. But the elastic sewn into the leg openings and waistband was not. The chlorine slowly destroyed it over the following days. By the time I put the suit on again it had lost its shape completely and never fit the same way again.
Every one of those mistakes cost me a suit I liked. None of them were complicated to prevent. Rinse it, air dry it, store it properly — that's really all it takes.
8. The Quick Reference
| Situation | Do This |
|---|---|
| After swimming | Rinse immediately in cool fresh water |
| Washing | Hand wash cold with delicate detergent |
| Drying | Air dry flat or on a clip hanger, out of direct sun |
| Storage | Clip hanger or flat fold, dry and cool location |
| Never | Dryer, hot water, bleach, fabric softener |
One Last Thing
A well-cared-for suit lasts years. I've got suits that I have been wearing year after year that I still love and fit great. That doesn't happen by accident — it happens because I took two minutes after every wear to do it right.
Your suit is built to show off. Treat it that way.
Have questions about fit, care, or what colorway is right for you? Drop us a message — we're always happy to help.
