← The Wirecutter Show
The Wirecutter Show
Find Your Perfect Swimsuit
00:37:25
Finding a swimsuit you feel good in can be daunting. We’re sharing insider tips on choosing designs, fabrics, and brands that you’ll actually love.
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- [00:00]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
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- [00:38]
Zoe Vanderweed
There's all sorts of things that people are self conscious about, whether it's their boobs or their butt or their hips or their tummy. That kind of factor into how we choose swimsuits.
- [00:53]
Christine Cyrclassette
I'm Christine Cyrclassette.
- [00:55]
Rosie Guerin
I'm Rosie Guerin and you're listening to the Wirecutter Show Show.
- [01:10]
Christine Cyrclassette
Rosie. It is everyone's favorite time of year.
- [01:14]
Rosie Guerin
You're going to have to give me a clue as to where you're going.
- [01:18]
Christine Cyrclassette
I was going to ask you all sorts of questions about like whether you're trying to go for your beach body. That's really outdated.
- [01:24]
Rosie Guerin
Have you met me?
- [01:26]
Christine Cyrclassette
Well, I'm not either, so I will just say that I'm actually cool. Quite excited to talk about this today because it's a product category that I'm kind of obsessed with. Swimsuits.
- [01:35]
Rosie Guerin
Yeah.
- [01:35]
Christine Cyrclassette
Yeah. How do you feel about swimsuits?
- [01:37]
Rosie Guerin
I don't feel good about swimsuits and I feel like I could use practical advice on how to find one that I will actually like, wear and not spend a ton of money on.
- [01:49]
Christine Cyrclassette
It's actually quite a challenge. That's a. You have thrown down the challenge that we are going to try to solve this episode. I have maybe a little bit of a problem. I buy so many swimsuits. I actually have. I just counted and I think I have over 15 swimsuits.
- [02:03]
Rosie Guerin
I did not know this about you.
- [02:04]
Christine Cyrclassette
I do lap swim, so some of them are lap swimsuits. But I, over the years have just bought so many swimsuits because my body has changed a lot over the last decade or so. I've had two kids. There have been times where I've felt more confident or less confident. And so, you know, I've bought a ton of swimsuits and I like, I actually have to put a moratorium on my swimsuit buying. But I do love the way I feel in a good swimsuit and I hate swimming in a bad swimsuit. So I'm excited to talk about how to shop for one you'll really love. So today we're going to have our senior style writer, Zoe Vanderweed on the show. She is a real expert on swimsuits. She has written a lot of our style guides and including guides that are kind of related to swimming, so for bras and shapewear. So she just knows a lot about the brands that are great right now, how to go about shopping for them and how to think about, you know, what you're looking for to help you find something you'll really like.
- [03:00]
Rosie Guerin
On the site we have coverage of women's swimsuits, so that's what we're going to be focusing on today with Zoe. Yeah, what I love too is that this episode was inspired by a listener question. We love our listeners and we encourage you Send us your questions.
- [03:14]
Christine Cyrclassette
That is right. You guys have such great ideas. We'd love to hear more. We're going to take a quick break and then we'll be back with Zoe.
- [03:20]
Rosie Guerin
I'm going to learn a little something from Zoe.
- [03:22]
Christine Cyrclassette
We're both going to.
- [03:30]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
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- [04:05]
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- [04:41]
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- [04:51]
Zoe Vanderweed
Hey everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this your first date?
- [04:54]
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- [05:01]
Zoe Vanderweed
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
- [05:03]
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- [05:06]
Zoe Vanderweed
Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.
- [05:17]
Christine Cyrclassette
Welcome back. Today's guest is Zoe Vanderweed. Zoe's a style writer at Wirecutter, and she's written guides to the best bras, the best underwear, and the best shapewear, amongst many other guides. And for our swimsuit guide, she led testing for women's swimsuits, and she tested 50 swimsuits with a range of people to narrow it down to 15 picks. Zoe, welcome to the show.
- [05:38]
Zoe Vanderweed
Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here.
- [05:40]
Rosie Guerin
We're very happy to have you here. So, Zoe, we'd been talking as a team about doing an episode on swimwear, and then one day we got an email. We love getting emails from our listeners. We got an email from a listener called Alison, and Allison said, I was wondering if you would do an episode on swimwear. I don't necessarily love going to the pool or beach, but I have three small children who do. I'm really just looking to be covered and comfortable and maybe a little cute in my postpartum body while chasing them around. Relatable. So we're gonna dedicate today's episode to Alison with thanks for the suggestion and hopes that we can point her in the right direction. I think we can.
- [06:20]
Christine Cyrclassette
Yeah, I think we can. I think Alison is really pinpointing a problem that a lot of people tend to have. You know, they've gone through some kind of body change. I think it's easy to find a bathing su for many people when they're younger. I'm curious, in your research for testing swimwear, what were you looking for, and who would you say the picks in our guide are really for? Because obviously, swimwear is, like, a vast topic. There are many, many different styles, but we only have 15 picks in the guide.
- [06:47]
Zoe Vanderweed
Yeah, totally. So, first of all, I want to say thank you, Allison, for the question. Very relatable for context.
- [06:53]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
I'm a mom.
- [06:54]
Zoe Vanderweed
I'm six months pregnant with my next kid right now, and so I completely like the dressing for your changing shape. And your postpartum body is, like, very much top of mind for me. Typically, in all of our style guides, we're looking to make recommendations of things that are good quality, that are going to have a decent lifespan, that have kind of like a classic, timeless aesthetic, nothing too trendy. Nothing too outlandish. Nothing too outlandish, Nothing overly embellished. But, you know, we wanted to find things that were going to work for a variety of different people. Of course, swimwear is not one size fits all and there are so many different bodies and body shapes and preferences out there. And so, you know, we did our best to try and capture a wide breadth of taste and things that are going to work for different bodies.
- [07:47]
Rosie Guerin
In the case of swimwear, how does the sizing come about? And I'm asking this because I'm wondering how you were size inclusive and thought about that when you were doing the research and testing for these swimsuits.
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Zoe Vanderweed
Yeah, when we were thinking about being size inclusive, I mean, the best way that we have as testers of doing this is to include people with different body sizes and shapes in our testing panel. So, you know, it's not just me testing swimsuits because I really have my own limited perspective, living in my own limited body. We try and bring in people that maybe represent a variety of body types and a variety of, quote, pain points or things that they're looking to solve for.
- [08:37]
Rosie Guerin
We're going to talk about that in a minute.
- [08:39]
Zoe Vanderweed
So we had, in the group, we had four testers and we ranged in size from, you know, a women's dress size 4 to 18. We ranged in bra size from A cups to E cups. Tall girl problems in swimsuits is a real thing. And our tallest tester was 6ft tall, so we got a lot of tall girl feedback as well.
- [09:00]
Rosie Guerin
Now I know, Zoe, some of the brands you tested and picked had a wider range of sizes than others. Can you explain from a design perspective how different brands size their suits? I know that in clothing, a size from one brand, let's say Old Navy, might be completely different than the same size at, say, Target or J.
- [09:22]
Zoe Vanderweed
Crew. Yeah, totally. So, like, when a swimsuit or any article of clothing gets designed, the designer creates a design and then there's a pattern maker who cuts patterns that get sewn. And then there's a fit model who represents the brand's target demographic. Their body is designed to be sort of like in the middle of who this swimsuit is intended for. A lot of times in the industry, a fit model is like a size 6. And the purpose of the fit model is to try on the pattern on a real body and then to make adjustments for, like, how it fits on a real three dimensional human being. But the thing is that if you always have size 6 fit models, you really are designing for a very Specific body type. And it's not gonna work for everybody.
- [10:15]
Rosie Guerin
That's also, I don't think, commensurate with the sort of average size.
- [10:22]
Christine Cyrclassette
Well, I think the average American woman is like a size 14 or something.
- [10:27]
Zoe Vanderweed
Like a 16 or something like that.
- [10:29]
Christine Cyrclassette
Yeah.
- [10:29]
Zoe Vanderweed
So when we say average, we definitely don't mean the average American woman. We mean the middle of where that brand is marketing to what they envision as their consumer.
- [10:43]
Christine Cyrclassette
Yeah. But just to be clear with the brand, who has a fit model that's, that's a size 6, they are then scaling their pattern up or down for different sizes. So they're taking that size 6 pattern and scaling it up to like a size 14 or whatever. But the proportions are all the same as the six. Correct. Six. Right. So plus size fit models. Tell us what that means.
- [11:04]
Zoe Vanderweed
So that means that they are creating distinct patterns for different size people. And a lot of brands that have like specific plus size lines or that have specific big bust lines or whatever are doing this. They are creating new patterns to fit the different lines for different types of bodies, different consumers. Because it's not realistic to think that like a size 2 is just a, a miniaturized version of a size 14 or that. You know what I mean? Like, and even then, no matter what you do, you're never gonna fit everybody because everybody has different proportions. And when you're basing it on like one person's body and their proportions, you're taking a guesstimate. You're saying, okay, I think these are like ordinary proportions. But you're gonna miss folks, you're gonna miss people who have bigger hips, bigger boobs, smaller waists, longer torsos, whatever.
- [12:04]
Christine Cyrclassette
Well, to that point around the pain points, as you were doing the research, I know you, it wasn't just about testing with your panel. I know you did. You probably read a lot of reviews. You probably, you know, really kind of locked in to the problems that people are talking about on the Internet. What are the biggest pain points that you found that people tend to have when they're shopping for a swimsuit?
- [12:22]
Zoe Vanderweed
I think it is going to depend very much on your body. But like some really common ones that you see are people who are looking for a top that is supportive for a larger bust. For instance, people who are looking for a one piece that is long enough to fit on a longer torso or a taller body. You know, and then there's all sorts of things, like people just want something that provides coverage that they're comfortable with. Some people like a lot, you know, like A high cut leg and a lot in a cheeky bum coverage. Other people want things, you know, totally covered. Some people want something that's gonna feel more compressive and sort of containing around the midsection. There's all sorts of things that people are self conscious about, whether it's their boobs or their butt or their hips or their tommy. That kind of factor into how we choose swimsuits.
- [13:19]
Rosie Guerin
Zoe. At home, we talk about how bodies are cool. So it was inspired by this really great children's book. I thought about that book a lot as I read your guide. The reality is that there are parts of our bodies, as our bodies change, that maybe we want to emphasize or maybe we want to de emphasize. So I want to ask you to suggest some swimsuit cuts, maybe shapes, maybe patterns, even materials for drawing attention to or away from certain areas. Can we do it?
- [13:53]
Zoe Vanderweed
We're all on our own self love and self acceptance journey. It's all very good, but it's okay to meet people where they're at. And we're not all. Of course, we can't expect ourselves to all be 100% great with everything. So some common things that come up. Like, one, a lot of people want to disguise the look of lumps and bumps and texture and ripples and loose skin and things like that. When it comes to that, my recommendation would be, one, you want a suit that's made from, like, a thicker fabric that's fully lined, and two, texture. A ribbed suit has vertical lines and this sort of distracting texture. In the guide, we recommend a couple crinkle suits, and those are really great as well. For anyone who just doesn't want to feel so naked in their swimsuit. You know, it's such a clingy fabric if you don't want it to feel. So second skin having a little texture in there helps. Another popular sort of solve for this is ruching. I'm not the hugest fan of ruching.
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Rosie Guerin
Is ruching like the. When it kind of gathers on the sides?
- [15:01]
Zoe Vanderweed
Yeah. So it's actually. So my dress that I'm wearing right now because I'm pregnant has ruching on it.
- [15:05]
Christine Cyrclassette
So I say, I. That was my suit. Postpartum was a ruched suit.
- [15:09]
Zoe Vanderweed
It offers more flexibility, and it also creates this sort of like, draping effect of the fabric that skims across the parts of your body that you want to de emphasize. So it can be flattering. A lot of people like a ruched
- [15:23]
Rosie Guerin
suit that's lumps and bumps.
- [15:24]
Zoe Vanderweed
That's lumps and bumps. That's texture.
- [15:26]
Rosie Guerin
But how about folks, you know, you mentioned you had a six foot tall tester. How about folks who are on the taller side?
- [15:33]
Zoe Vanderweed
A big concern that I hear from taller people and even people who are not that tall, like myself, like, I'm five foot six. But a lot of suits, especially when you're looking at one pieces, just are not proportioned for a taller body or a longer torso or even a body with just bigger boobs. So you'll find that they pull down on your shoulders or they, like, give you a wedgie, or, you know, they're too high cut in the front and they just feel uncomfortable for that. My recommendation would be, you know, a lot of brands make swimsuits in different lengths, so you're going to want to look for the brands that offer long or tall versions of their suits. And then the other things you're going to look for are, like, adjustability in the straps. This doesn't solve totally for the proportions, but it helps. Or having any sort of, like, tie strap system that allows you to sort of customize the fit more to your body, that can be really helpful.
- [16:31]
Christine Cyrclassette
How about if somebody's shopping for a suit, they've just had a baby or, you know, they're in that first year or so after having a baby, or maybe they're just self conscious about their belly. You know, in general, if your quote
- [16:44]
Zoe Vanderweed
unquote, problem area is your belly, there's a few things. One, you're probably going to want to have some coverage there. So either a one piece or, you know, a two piece with a higher rise, which we found actually a number of, like, really awesome ones. Two, you know, back to the texture. So whether it be ribbing or ruching or crinkle, fabric creates, like a blurring effect. So that can help people feel more comfortable. And then the third thing I would say is just compression.
- [17:16]
Rosie Guerin
What is that referring to?
- [17:17]
Zoe Vanderweed
So swim fabrics are compressive. They have some structure to them. They suck you in a little bit. The way that you can kind of assess whether a fabric is more or less compressive is to stretch it. All swimsuit fabrics are gonna stretch, but if it's more compressive, it's gonna be harder to pull apart.
- [17:42]
Rosie Guerin
Okay.
- [17:42]
Zoe Vanderweed
Because the fabric is working harder to keep you in. And that's what gives you that feeling of being, like, contained or sort of, like gently hugged that a lot of people really prefer.
- [17:54]
Christine Cyrclassette
The. The textured fabric. It takes a little longer to dry.
- [17:58]
Zoe Vanderweed
Yeah, absolutely.
- [17:58]
Christine Cyrclassette
So that's going to be the type of suit where you May be wet for the rest of the day if you're wearing it, right?
- [18:04]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Yeah.
- [18:04]
Zoe Vanderweed
I mean, you could be. Potentially, if you go swimming every day, you could be wet for the entire
- [18:08]
Christine Cyrclassette
summer, which may not be good for all your body parts. So maybe get another suit and be able to switch off.
- [18:14]
Zoe Vanderweed
Maybe it's not your only. If you're a frequent swimmer, that's not your only suit.
- [18:18]
Rosie Guerin
My last question here is I think probably fairly universal, which is recommendations for bodies that fluctuate in size.
- [18:27]
Zoe Vanderweed
For that, we actually have a really great recommendation in the guide that is this swimsuit made of this, like, super duper, stretchy, crinkly fabric. I literally wore this suit. I have this suit and I wore it when I was a size 4 last summer, and it fit me very well. And I tried it on yesterday as a rather pregnant person who's quite a bit larger than I was last summer, and it fit me perfectly.
- [19:02]
Christine Cyrclassette
Wow. Oh, that's the perfect maternity suit then. Because nobody wants to buy maternity clothing, right?
- [19:07]
Zoe Vanderweed
I mean, no, especially not a maternity bathing suit. I mean, gosh, yeah.
- [19:16]
Christine Cyrclassette
All right, so what I'm hearing here is when you're thinking about a shape that's going to suit your body, maybe think about the part of the body that you're trying to emphasize or de. Emphasize, think about the kind of fabric you might want. You know, do you want it to be compressive? Do you want it to have a little bit of texture? And then this is a great tip at the end that there are suits that can work with you at a range of sizes. So if you tend to your weight fluctuates or you. You're going into pregnancy or going out of pregnancy, maybe one of these crinkle suits is a good choice.
- [19:47]
Rosie Guerin
All right, we're going to take a quick break. We're going to name the brand of this one Size Fits All Almost suit after the break. And Zoe, you're going to run us through some of the other brands that made it to the top picks and who they might suit.
- [20:01]
Zoe Vanderweed
Do you get it? I do get it.
- [20:03]
Rosie Guerin
You got it. All right, we'll be right back.
- [20:06]
Zoe Vanderweed
Foreign.
- [20:11]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
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- [21:40]
Rosie Guerin
Welcome back. Before the break, we chatted with Zoe about some general tips on how to pick a swimsuit, ideally one that you're going to love. Now we're going to get into some of our picks. Zoe, do the brands that you ended up liking most have anything in common?
- [21:57]
Zoe Vanderweed
You know, hopefully they're all things that feel well made, that don't feel like throwaway purchases, and ultimately they're all things that we just thought were cute. On the style team, like, one of our main focuses is finding stuff that we like, stuff that fits our taste and that feels timeless and elevated and
- [22:20]
Rosie Guerin
cute and not just practical.
- [22:22]
Zoe Vanderweed
We purposely didn't look at practical sweepsuits.
- [22:26]
Christine Cyrclassette
Well, I'm always very interested in fabric details. Look at the labels. And I'm curious, for swimsuits, are there any things you should be looking for or looking out for?
- [22:35]
Zoe Vanderweed
So the vast, vast majority of swimwear is going to be made from primarily polyester or nylon. And then you're typically going to see, you know, around 20% of spandex blended in for that stretch and resilience factor. You know, and there's a reason for that. Like, those fibers are really durable, they're really strong, they are resilient. They are better at handling sun and chlorine and salt than say cotton, for instance. Higher end suits, like in general, I think nylon polyamide is a more expensive fabric than polyester. Generally in, like, higher end suits, you're probably going to see nylon as opposed to polyester. The nylon suits probably give you more of that, like buttery silky feel, too much spandex. You know, you go over like 25ish percent and you're probably gonna have a suit that's gonna like, be too stretchy and lose its shape.
- [23:42]
Rosie Guerin
How much should people be expecting, just in general to spend on a good quality swimsuit and how long should it last?
- [23:50]
Zoe Vanderweed
Well, the bad news is that swimsuits are more expensive than I want them to be. You know, we generally found that a mid tier price point is around 150 to $200 for a women's swimsuit.
- [24:05]
Rosie Guerin
Yikes.
- [24:05]
Zoe Vanderweed
Yeah, but that's not to say that you can't find less expensive options or more expensive options out there, because they definitely exist. And I think that, you know, where you choose to land should really be based on what you want to get out of this thing. And in terms of longevity, I'm sure
- [24:25]
Rosie Guerin
it's dependent on how you're using this suit.
- [24:28]
Zoe Vanderweed
It really, really depends. Like, I'm a person who does not go swimming every day of the summer. And so I have swimsuits that are like 8 years old.
- [24:37]
Rosie Guerin
Christine, you're at the beach all the time.
- [24:38]
Christine Cyrclassette
I mean, when I can, it's usually on the weekends.
- [24:41]
Rosie Guerin
She's like never at work.
- [24:42]
Christine Cyrclassette
My laptop is at the beach, I swear. But I do, I do spend a lot of time in a swimsuit, either at the pool or at the beach or at a lake when I'm visiting family. It comes down to how you're taking care of your suit too, right?
- [24:53]
Rosie Guerin
Absolutely.
- [24:54]
Christine Cyrclassette
Are you rinsing out chlorine if you're in the pool? Are you hang drying it? Never dry. Dry it in the dryer.
- [24:59]
Zoe Vanderweed
And also don't hang dry it? No, no.
- [25:02]
Rosie Guerin
How are we dry?
- [25:02]
Christine Cyrclassette
Tell me more. Does it stretch it out?
- [25:06]
Rosie Guerin
Yeah.
- [25:06]
Zoe Vanderweed
So any stretchy knit fabric, when it's wet, it weighs more. Right. And the weight is going to pull it down and kind of stress the fibers over time. That's going to stretch it out of shape.
- [25:20]
Rosie Guerin
Would you take a blow dryer and.
- [25:22]
Zoe Vanderweed
Yes, that's what you do. No, no. I mean, so this is like in laboratory conditions. How are we taking care of our swimsuits? We are washing them on a delicate cycle in a lingerie bag or we're hand washing them and then we are rolling them in a towel to get out the excess moisture. And then we are laying them flat to dry in a well ventilated area.
- [25:48]
Christine Cyrclassette
I mean, I would do that for a $300 swimsuit. I think I would, but not for.
- [25:53]
Rosie Guerin
I wouldn't. And therefore I would not buy.
- [25:55]
Zoe Vanderweed
So you're not a candidate for a $300 a swimsuit. Be realistic about like who you are, you know, Cuz in reality, here's another one that's very upsetting is you're not supposed to lay your swimsuit out in the sun to dry.
- [26:10]
Christine Cyrclassette
Says who?
- [26:13]
Zoe Vanderweed
Because ideally, you know, like, the more UV exposure it's getting, the more those fibers are degrading. Now is it going to like ruin your swimsuit if you do it a few times? No, it's more like if you want maximum longevity out of your suit, it should be laid flat in a well ventilated and shady area. But realistically, I know I'm not going to do that.
- [26:34]
Rosie Guerin
Right.
- [26:35]
Zoe Vanderweed
I am a person who throws their suit, hangs it by the way, over the like railing of the deck in the sun and that's how it gets dry. So I also shouldn't buy a $300 swimsuit.
- [26:50]
Rosie Guerin
It's very relatable. Okay, let's talk brands. So Zoe, there were seven brands that made the top pick section. And then of course there are even more suggestions in the also worth considering section. I want to focus on the top picks and run down these brands and you can tell us how they made it to the top and who they might be best for.
- [27:15]
Zoe Vanderweed
Yeah.
- [27:15]
Rosie Guerin
So let's start with the brand Left on Friday. That was not a brand I was familiar with.
- [27:20]
Christine Cyrclassette
Oh, I know that brand. It's been fed to me so much on Instagram. I have my suits.
- [27:25]
Zoe Vanderweed
Yeah, it's in my algo too. So we loved everything that we tried from Left on Friday. I would say their sort of prevailing aesthetic is very sort of elegant and minimal, classic shapes. All their suits come in like a zillion different colors. And all the suits feel really like buttery and smooth and high quality. The fabric is nice and thick. It's not like wearing a skims bodysuit, but it has that feeling of being contained, held kind of.
- [27:59]
Rosie Guerin
Okay.
- [28:00]
Zoe Vanderweed
And a lot of people find that very reassuring. And also I found the one pieces very like snatching.
- [28:06]
Christine Cyrclassette
They're very flattering. Like, I have several friends, we all showed up at a party two summers ago all wearing Left on Friday suits. And we were like so embarrassed that
- [28:16]
Zoe Vanderweed
we were all the same.
- [28:17]
Christine Cyrclassette
Yeah, yeah. I mean that's my demographic totally. So I think the founders worked at Lululemon or something like that. So they are kind of going for more of like a athletic branding. At least nothing's popping out when you're swimming in them. You could go like swim in the Ocean and you're not gonna have an issue body surfing or whatever. The only thing that I don't like about them, which I have told you many times, is that they take forever to dry.
- [28:41]
Zoe Vanderweed
It's that thicker fabric.
- [28:42]
Christine Cyrclassette
Yeah, they just take to dry. So. But I, I do reach for my one piece left on Friday when I'm, I just need a solid suit that I'm going to feel good in.
- [28:51]
Zoe Vanderweed
I love their one piece cuts. They have some really good plunging necklines. They have some really good plunging backs. They also make a great high waisted bikini bottom. And then the other kind of unique thing that they do is that they have a line of quote, big boob tops. So these are for our D ladies. These, these tops are made specifically with bigger boobs in mind, which is always better than just having a pattern sized up.
- [29:23]
Christine Cyrclassette
What about this brand? Uswim?
- [29:25]
Zoe Vanderweed
So uswim, this is the brand that I was talking about when I said I put it on yesterday as a six months pregnant lady and it fit. USWIM is really cool because all of their suits are made of this extremely stretchy, cushiony, spongy, soft crinkle material that can stretch for days in any direction. So they make, you know, they make one pieces, they make bikinis, they make whatever. We tried a one piece for the guide and they literally come in two sizes. One of them fits sizes 2 to 12 and the next size up fits sizes 14 to 24.
- [30:09]
Rosie Guerin
Amazing.
- [30:10]
Zoe Vanderweed
And amazingly, they actually fit who they say they're going to fit. Like when we did our testing, no one had any sizing issues with these suits. We also, on the day that we were doing a photo shoot for the guide, I had ordered both sizes of the suit. One for our smaller model, I think she was a size 4. And another for our larger model who I think was like a 14 or a 16. And the larger suit didn't come in time for the photo shoot. And I was freaking out and I was like, what are we going to do? I was like, well, okay, let's try this. Let's see if the same suit, the 2 to 12 suit, will fit on both of our models.
- [30:50]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
And it did.
- [30:51]
Zoe Vanderweed
And if you go on the site now, you can look at the pictures and it looks great on both of them. They do a great job with this fabric. The kind of OG crinkle suit is from a brand called Hunza Garrett that we also tested and we also recommend in the guide. But the U swim ones, I will say we chose them as our pick because they do come in the two sizes that are super inclusive, they're a little less expensive than the Hunza G suits. And so we just felt like, you know, a more inclusive recommendation.
- [31:21]
Rosie Guerin
You just mentioned Hunza G. Let's talk about that brand.
- [31:24]
Zoe Vanderweed
Yeah. So Hanza G is the original crinkle suit maker. I will say that their fabric is. It feels thicker and more compressive. So whereas the used swimsuits are really not compressive at all, the Hunt and Zig ones offer a little more of that, like, hugged feel. The downside for those is they only come in one size, so it's like, a lot less inclusive. They're more expensive. But we actually do have a pick from that brand that is not made of a crinkle material. And it's their long sleeve rash guard. And this suit I love so much. It's full coverage, great UPF protection, fully long sleeves, and the neck is like a mock neck, but then it has a zipper down the middle which you can zip or unzip to your preference to emphasize or de emphasize or whatever the bust. And it's a very, like, sexy suit. Like, it covers you up completely, but it's very sexy. It gives Bond girl kind of vibes.
- [32:34]
Rosie Guerin
I have never heard the word sexy and rash guard in the same sentence.
- [32:38]
Zoe Vanderweed
Sexy, full coverage rash guard.
- [32:41]
Rosie Guerin
First time for everything.
- [32:43]
Christine Cyrclassette
Okay, so let's talk about quints. I am fed a constant barrage of quints ads on Instagram. And I think a lot of people are curious about quints because they do sort of these. You could call them copies, but they're looking to other brands and sort of doing very close versions of what's on other brands. So I would say that a lot of the quince suits that I've seen look a lot like the left on Friday suits, but they're a lot less expensive. You feature one of them as a pick. What did you think?
- [33:11]
Zoe Vanderweed
Yeah. So Quince is a brand that we've tested tons of stuff from them. It's honestly hit or miss. They do some things really well, and they do some things really sloppily. And I honestly wasn't expecting a whole lot out of their swimwear. For some reason, I just thought, like, I was like, this is a category that they're gonna flub. But I was very pleasantly surprised. Their suits are, like, super affordable. Like the one pieces are. I think they're all $50. And then the suit bikini separates are all 25 bucks. So essentially all the suits are 50 bucks. And like you said, Christine, they're taking their design cues from Other brands, they're not giving you like, design originality, but they're actually executing these things well, in some cases, in my opinion, better than the things that they're copycatting.
- [34:03]
Christine Cyrclassette
What. What's an example of that? What did it do better than what it was copycatting?
- [34:07]
Zoe Vanderweed
So, like, we recommend a Quince one piece in our guide that's very, you know, almost visually indistinguishable from this really popular suit from Andy and the Quince one. It just felt nicer, like the construction was better, the fabric felt nicer, and I was shocked. And it's less than half the price, you know. And then there are other cases where I think that, like, for instance, the left on Friday suits are higher quality than the quint suits. I think the fabric feels nicer. I think the construction is cleaner. I think the designs are cleaner. But that being said, if you don't want to spend $200 on a swimsuit,
- [34:49]
Christine Cyrclassette
which I don't, I've done it, but I don't really want to.
- [34:52]
Zoe Vanderweed
So if you don't want to, then you'll probably be really happy with the quint suits.
- [34:57]
Rosie Guerin
How about this company?
- [34:58]
Zoe Vanderweed
Meco Miko is a really cool brand. It's. I think they're from Orange county and they make these sort of like surf inspired suits. They make one pieces, but we found that their one pieces were generally basically too short for all of us. But they make great bikinis and really clean, modern, chic designs. One thing that I will say about this brand is that from what we tested, their tops are really best for smaller boobs. So even though I loved the bikini tops, I was also like, I can't leave the house wearing this. Like, I'm not comfortable in public wearing this.
- [35:50]
Christine Cyrclassette
The last two brands that you feature in this guide are Legence, Belle and Monday. Tell me about those two.
- [35:58]
Zoe Vanderweed
So in very sad news, the legiance suit has been discontinued. Oh, no.
- [36:04]
Rosie Guerin
Bummer.
- [36:05]
Zoe Vanderweed
Such is the nature of Swim, a seasonal category. The brand's not making that design anymore. But I mean, I love that brand. They make really beautiful clothes. It's got like this halter neck, which I think speaking of shapes that flatter people, like, I think a halter is really flattering. The thing that we really loved about it was that it basically has this, like, strap that's threaded through the neckline and around the back. And it works like kind of a pulley system where you can really like customize the length and fit and neckline that you want.
- [36:45]
Rosie Guerin
Customization really seems like a key to Success here.
- [36:48]
Christine Cyrclassette
Yeah, it really does. And so what about Monday? I don't really know this brand at all.
- [36:53]
Zoe Vanderweed
So Monday makes a lot of really cute things. And one cool thing that they do that you know, like a lot of brands don't do is they are using plus size fit models. They are using bigger bust fit models. What we did like from this brand was, you know, they had a great supportive bikini that felt really cute on lots of bodies. So, you know, the top had an underwire and really comfy adjustable band and straps. The bottom was honestly one of the best high waisted swim bottoms that any of us tried. I am a sucker for like a wide waistband because it like doesn't dig in, it doesn't create any like pinching sensation. If you're curvier, it's a brand to try. It's not necessarily going to work for you. But I think it's nice when we can find brands out there that are maybe trying a little harder.
- [37:49]
Christine Cyrclassette
Yeah.
- [37:50]
Rosie Guerin
Hear, hear. All right, Zoe, we've come to the end, which means I get to ask you Kyra's famous final question. What is the last thing you bought that you really loved?
- [38:02]
Zoe Vanderweed
Well, on my way here, I bought a chocolate chip cookie that I ate that I loved. It was really good.
- [38:08]
Rosie Guerin
Perfect.
- [38:09]
Zoe Vanderweed
I got it at a coffee shop that's down the street from me that's called DayGlo. I've been treating myself to lots of chocolate chip cookies this year. That's good.
- [38:19]
Rosie Guerin
It clearly made you happy. I love that. All right, Zoe, thank you so much for joining us. This was really fun and really helpful.
- [38:26]
Zoe Vanderweed
Thank you so much for having me. This was a lot of fun.
- [38:32]
Rosie Guerin
Christine, what'd you think?
- [38:34]
Christine Cyrclassette
I would love to have Zoe back on. I also learned about some brands that I really hadn't, I haven't explored before. So I'll be looking at those. But again, I'm on a swimsuit moratorium. I can't buy anymore this season. You can look. I can always look. You know, something that I'm taking away from this episode that I am not very good about in my, in my life is I'm going to wash my swimsuits more and I will not be hang drying them. I'll be laying.
- [38:57]
Rosie Guerin
Apparently not.
- [38:58]
Christine Cyrclassette
Or maybe I won't, but we'll see.
- [39:00]
Rosie Guerin
I really appreciated hearing about the different textures you might want to consider and what they can kind of do for your body, particularly if you're trying to maybe de emphasize lumps and bumps. There are ways to think about cut size and also material that can help lead you to something that is going to be flattering. I also felt really good hearing that I don't have to spend $200 to get something that fits and flatters.
- [39:33]
Christine Cyrclassette
Absolutely. Yeah. And if you're not going to wash it every time you swim, then don't spend.
- [39:37]
Rosie Guerin
Don't look at me like that. If you want to find out more about Zoe's reporting, check out our website. You can see her guide to swimsuits there. And listeners, please feel free. Send in your questions, send in the things that are on your mind that you think our journalists here at Wirecutter can tackle. It's the wirecutter show@wirecutter.com Talk soon.
- [40:01]
Christine Cyrclassette
Bye. The Wirecutter show is executive produced by Rosie Guerin and produced by Abigail Keel. Engineering support from Mattie Mazziello and Nick Pittman. Today's episode was mixed by Katherine Anderson. Original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Rowan Nimusto, Catherine Anderson and Diane Wong. Cliff Levy is Wirecutter's deputy publisher and general manager. Ben Fruman is Wirecutter's editor in chief. I'm Christine One speaker, Cyr Clissette.
- [40:31]
Rosie Guerin
And I'm Rosie Guerin.
- [40:33]
Christine Cyrclassette
Thanks for listening,
- [40:39]
Zoe Vanderweed
But I wouldn't ever wear it on its own just because it would be too, like, for my comfortability level. Like, too porny. But. But they're not supposed to look porny. They look really tasteful and cute. On.
- [40:53]
Christine Cyrclassette
On a smaller bust.
- [40:53]
Zoe Vanderweed
On a smaller bust. Yes.
- [40:55]
Christine Cyrclassette
Okay, that makes sense.
- [40:58]
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- [41:12]
Zoe Vanderweed
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