2015 Racing Suit Buyer’s Guide

With the 2016 Rio Olympics just over a year away, swim brands have already started releasing their newest technical racing suits featuring the latest technology, construction, and performance materials.

New tech suit brands like Hammerhead and MP Michael Phelps continue to hit the market, while established swim brands such as blueseventy, FINIS, and Dolfin—not traditionally known for their racing suits—have come out with their own elite-level suits featuring high levels of compression.

Meanwhile, several of the more traditional high-performance brands like Speedo, Arena, and TYR are featuring more suit options with different materials and compression levels for different types of swimmers and preferences.

While the proliferation of elite racing suits has been a positive development because it makes for more options and choices for consumers, it can also make the buying process that much more difficult and confusing.

Key Selection Factors

Luckily, there are ways to organize your thoughts around buying your next tech suit. In order to narrow down your choice for your next high-end racing suit, we suggest starting with four major questions:

1. What is your budget for this purchase?
2. How much compression do you need?
3. How long do you expect to wear the suit each time you wear it?
4. How long do you hope this particular suit will last?

In addition, the in-house suit experts at SwimOutlet.com—two-time Olympic gold medalist Mark Gangloff and 2012 Olympic Trials finalist Julie Stupp—offer five key factors you should consider when picking out a suit:

• Ease of donning the suit
• Fit
• Comfort while swimming
• Compression
• Durability

Read more about Mark Gangloff’s tips for selecting a men’s technical suit and Julie Stupp’s guidance for fitting a women’s suit.

Educate Yourself

At SwimOutlet.com, we try to give you as many resources as possible to help make your tech suit buying decision easier. The easiest way to start is to head to our new Racing Suit Technology Guide, which puts expert reviews, video interviews, brand information, and a community forum all in one place. We also provide extensive expert guides and sizing charts for all of the aquatics brands.

Our annual Tech Suit Review is the swimming world’s leader. Our experts also answer your questions and comments about tech suits through our Tech Talk series, which includes interviews with tech suit designers and developers.

When making a big decision such as buying your next racing tech suit, time spent researching your purchase is definitely time well spent.