non-toxic swimwear, explained

“non-toxic” gets thrown around a lot, so it’s worth saying what we mean by it. not a marketing badge. just swimwear made without the handful of chemicals that have a real question mark over them, cut from materials you’d be comfortable sitting in while wet and warm. here’s what’s usually in a swimsuit, and what to look for instead.

what most swimwear is made of

pick up almost any swimsuit, bikini or pair of trunks and the label reads some mix of polyester, nylon and elastane. those are plastics, spun into fibre. elastane, the stretchy one, is what lets swimwear cling and snap back into shape, and it’s genuinely good at that. the trade-off is what comes with it.

a few things tend to ride along with synthetic swimwear. the dyes and finishes, first: bright, fade-proof colour on plastic usually means synthetic dyes and chemical fixatives, some of them known skin irritants. then the water and stain repellents, the “quick-dry” treatments, which have often meant pfas, the forever chemicals that build up in the body and the environment and are now banned or restricted in a growing list of places. and plastic fibre sheds: every synthetic garment releases microplastics, in the wash and in the water, and those are showing up in more or less everything that gets tested, us included.

bpa is worth a mention too. better known from plastic bottles, it’s been detected in some elastane-heavy swimwear, and it’s one of the chemicals people are keenest to keep away from.

why warm, wet skin is the point

swimwear lives in exactly the conditions that matter most. warm water and a sauna both raise your skin temperature, which makes skin more permeable than when you’re cool and dry. it’s the principle medicine uses for heat-assisted skin patches. this isn’t a claim that your bikini is poisoning you. it’s a simpler point: the warm, wet moments are the ones where it makes most sense to know what your clothing is made of.

what to look for instead

the short answer is natural fibre. linen, organic cotton and hemp all work in and around water and come without the plastic. look for colour from plant or mineral dyes rather than synthetic. and if a label carries a credible textile certification, oeko-tex standard 100 is a common one, that’s a sign someone has actually tested it for the nasties rather than just printing “natural” on the swing tag.

a fair caveat: natural-fibre swimwear behaves differently. it doesn’t cling and snap back the way elastane does, it can take longer to dry, and the colour is rarely neon. for some people, in some settings, that’s a worthwhile trade. for others it isn’t, and that’s a fair call to make with your eyes open.

where we land

we started löyl because we wanted things we’d actually wear in the heat, made from materials we trust. the sauna hat came first. natural-fibre pieces for the water are the obvious next step, and we’re taking the time to get the fit right rather than rushing something out. if that’s your kind of thing, join the list and you’ll hear when it lands.