Bathing Suit Bust

Posted by Cynical Sarah on April 27, 2010

It’s nearing bathing-suit season – according to the calendar even if the weather isn’t cooperating just yet. I need a new swimsuit for aquafit, a water aerobics class I like to do, and I figured now was a good time to look.

My hope was there would still be a good selection to choose from and maybe, just maybe, they’d also be on sale too.

I’ve only looked in two stores so far – Costco and Zellers – but already I’m irritated by the whole process.

Issue 1: Tankini styles have become so popular that that’s most of what’s out there.

I dug through stacks of swimsuits at Costco and my choices were the two-piece tankinis or one-piece tank suits that were too big. Either all the one-piece suits were sold out in any size below a 16 or someone had decided that only women of a larger size would want a plain tank-style bathing suit.

I have nothing against tankinis. I own one myself for recreational swimming at the beach or the lake. But aquafit requires something a little more substantial and something I don’t have to worry about moving around a lot in.

The last thing I want to worry about while doing water aerobics is the top of my bathing suit floating up and revealing more skin than I want it to when we get low in the water. There’s also a lot of jumping and water jogging going on in aquafit, and tankinis aren’t usually built for such rugged use.

That brings me to …

Issue 2: A good sport bathing suit is more expensive than I thought it would be.

Costco’s swimsuits are a good price despite their lack of selection for what I want. However, I know from experience that those suits wear out fairly fast too. They’re not built for so much activity and a spin through the drier at the gym twice a week.

More than once I’ve finished a class and realized that parts of my suit were so worn out that it was starting to be a little see-through. This time I want something that will last more than a couple months before that happens.

That’s what I was looking for at Zellers – a quality suit, hopefully at a decent price.

Again it was a pretty poor selection if you wanted a one-piece suit. Once I eliminated the one tank suit with too low of a neckline for jumping around in and the one suit that had just a single strap, I was left with one option.

One option.

It wasn’t anything better than what was available at Costco (other than it actually came in my size) and it was $40. Luckily the pool is closed at the gym right now so I’m not in a huge rush to find something suitable. But I really don’t want to go all over town looking at bathing suits either looking for the right style and the right price.

Perhaps I’ll just have to make the price of a new swimsuit one of my goal rewards so I won’t have to feel guilty about shelling out more than I want to on something I know I’m going to wear out by the end of summer anyway. Or maybe that’s the best reason of all to be willing to put the money into it – at least I know it’s going to get used.

But for all you fashion buyer for stores out there, I just want you to know that tank suits do still have a purpose. I may not be a size 16 (anymore) but I still want a good one-piece suit in a style that I can use for actual sport swimming activities, and I don’t want to have to end up at a special sports store to find it.

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Tags: bathing suits, fashion, shopping, swimsuits

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