HIP HUGGERS : SWIMWEAR FOR MEN REFINES BASICS FOR GREAT FIT AND LASTING WEAR IN SURF OR ON SHORE
In the swimwear world, men are easy.
There’s none of that worry about how much or how little of the body is covered, about whether a suit will pucker here, bulge there or bind at precisely the place you don’t want it to. There’s no problem with physics (translation: will the thing stay on?) or with nomenclature (is this a Brazilian or a French thong?).
No, men’s swimwear is largely utilitarian. But that hasn’t stopped Southern California manufacturers from refining the basics until today a good pair of men’s swimming trunks not only fit beautifully but also allow the wearer to beat them up in the roughest surf without worrying that this ride may be their last.
All that and style, too. Because, reason the manufacturers, if the trunks can take the abuse, they might as well look distinctive while they’re doing it.
Men’s swimsuit designers, in California and in most of the rest of the United States, work with a basic silhouette: the trunk. Trunks are not unlike a pair of walk shorts made for the water. The smaller and more body-hugging styles--the Spandex suits that Speedo has become known for, and their tiny cousins--are worn mostly in competitive swimming circles and in Europe, say the designers.
For the California beach, however, the ideal is comfort via a loose and accommodating fit--but this year that also means a good and precise fit as well.
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Quiksilver, a surfboard manufacturer in Costa Mesa, has also been making a type of swimsuit known generally as “board shorts” since 1976, and Martial Crum, a designer for the company, sees both board and trunks as part of a whole.
Board shorts, he said, “are a functional, technical part of a surfer’s tools. They’re very important.”
And, because surfing is one of the most kinetic of sports, an accommodating fit is paramount.
“It’s really important in your hips,” said Crum, “with a bagginess there so your legs can move around.”
But not--absolutely not --baggy in the waist. Quiksilver, along with a handful of other manufacturers, has brought back the fitted waistband that was popular in the ‘70s but disappeared for several years in favor of the expandable elastic waistband.
With the expandable waistband (the garments are occasionally known as “volley shorts,” a reference to their popularity on the volleyball circuit), buyers had their choices limited to small, medium and large, said Dennis Del Rey, the vice president of design of Tustin-based Ocean Pacific Sunwear. With the solid waistband, precise waist sizes can be offered. They are durable, and they stay on.
How the waistband is fastened also may have a lot to do with how much pounding in the surf the trunks are expected to take. Crum said that his company offers a drawstring closure, as well as single and double snaps. The drawstrings and the double snaps, he said, are the most popular.
Further durability can be seen in the newer styles in the use of multiple stitching. Typical is the practice at Counter Culture, a manufacturer in Huntington Beach, of using triple stitching at all seams.
“It makes for a tough-as-nails kind of garment. It’s really a must for durability,” said co-owner Mike Schillmoeller.
Fabrics, too, are intended to lend durability, but there is variety among the local manufacturers. World Jungle, a Costa Mesa manufacturer, leans heavily toward nylon; more than 90% of the company’s output, said co-owner Jack Denny, is made from that fabric.
At OP--and elsewhere, said Del Rey--”everybody seems to be getting into heavier fabrics.” OP, in fact, has made use of a softened version of cordura nylon, “the same material they make backpacks out of,” Del Rey said.
Quiksilver, Crum said, has been using “strong cotton blends, poly-cottons and nylon-cottons,” and Counter Culture has returned to the heavy cotton poplins “that were made back in the ‘50s that were real successful and dried real quick,” Schillmoeller said.
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If there has been any recent evolution in men’s swimwear style, it has probably been concentrated in the length of the legs. Almost without exception, the manufacturers are building them longer--many are in line with the knee and, in some cases, even over it.
“We do a couple of shorter, more basic trunks with two snaps--the more functional, old-school type surfing trunks,” Denny said. “But the younger guys like the long ones.”
The longer cuts, Del Rey said, “at 17 to 19 inches, have a lot to do with what’s happened to walk shorts, which have gotten bigger and baggier in recent years.”
If there is such a thing as a surprise in this year’s men’s swimwear, it has to do with the colors and prints. Bearing in mind that beach-going is not exactly an introverted activity, and realizing that surfers are probably the most extroverted members of the beach crowd, the relatively muted nature of some of the styles might be unexpected.
“A lot of companies,” Schillmoeller said, “are putting out retro-looking styles, and that’s really what’s in right now. The prints aren’t as vivid as they used to be. People are more into the solid look.”
Quiksilver, Crum said, is offering prints “that are like abstract art” as well as “several original prints out of Australia--a very Polynesian influence, but with a kind of an edge to it.”
World Jungle, Denny said, has come out with “tribal-oriented” designs as well, but nothing on the market resembles the neon-like colors that were prevalent a few years ago. Del Rey said that, overall, buyers can expect to see dark forest greens, navys, rusts, burgundys, even blacks--”nothing terribly busy.”
And, unlike many pieces of women’s swimwear, nothing that is going to fracture the wallet. Quiksilver’s line, Crum said, retails from the mid-$30 range to the upper $40s, which is typical of other companies.
“It seems like people are buying things that they think are going to last longer,” Del Rey said. “They’ll buy a new pair when the old ones wear out or when a new style comes out and gives a guy a reason to buy new trunks.”
Like we said: easy.
