Wearing tight swimming trunks and a swimming cap is mandatory in many European countries. Why?
That has to do with hygiene and safety, says Mariska Hol. She is a quality manager at the National Swimming Safety Council. The dirtier the person in the water, the harder the cleaning filters and the chlorine have to work. “Come swimming in swimwear that you put on in the changing rooms and take out of your bag clean. Tight or loose, that fortunately doesn’t matter in the Netherlands, but pants that have nothing to do with swimming, such as short jeans or kickboxing pants, don’t belong in a swimming pool.”
There is dirt in the pockets, you don’t know if there are underpants underneath and how long someone has been wearing the pants and where the wearer has been sitting. Women who jump in in their underwear and bra also pollute the swimming pool water. Your worn underwear is not clean and that dirt goes straight into the bath water.
Also rinse off your creams under the shower
And, says Hol: always shower before you jump in, that way you lose a large part of your dirt and fat. “It’s not always about dirt and sweat, but also day creams and sunscreens pollute the swimming pool. We really have one of the best techniques for purifying water in the Netherlands, but it’s a shame. More and more chlorine has to be used and we want to prevent that.”
The tight speedo is increasing in popularity, knows Loes van Niekerk, who is a trend watcher at knowledge platform Dresscode.nl. There were many online searches for it last year, and this year – always around June – men search even more often for such tight pants.
“As a man, you need a good dose of self-confidence to wear it in the Netherlands. The trend of long, wide swimming trunks down to the knee has been disappearing for some time. Those are also not as hygienic if they are worn with underpants underneath.”
Hip edge of underpants
Men keep those underpants on because of the ‘hip’ edge that sticks out above the swimming trunks, she knows. Hip or not, it is not appreciated by many swimming pools because hygiene suffers. The styling knowledge platform surveyed 500 swimming pools in the Netherlands. Underpants are explicitly prohibited at one in twenty swimming pools. Just under 40 percent of the surveyed swimming pools prohibit wearing T-shirts, shoes, caps or jeans in the water.
The Dutch man wears a tight speedo because it is fashionable, thinks Van Niekerk, but not necessarily because he wants to contribute to clean swimming pool water or make many meters in the water unhindered by textile.
“The speedo is a practical swimming trunk, but the Dutch man will rather wear it because he likes to show off his body that he may have worked hard for.” Dutch men generally like to wear playful prints on their swimming trunks, vertical stripes or flowers. They are getting shorter and shorter – the current trend is a little above the knee.
Swimming cap for safety
In France, the Speedo is mandatory in public swimming pools, in Belgium it varies per swimming pool – PlopsaAqua recently announced that it will only accept Speedos – and in Italy you must wear a swimming cap.
The swimming cap prevents hair from getting into the water, but also protects against suction clamping in swimming pool grates. Hairs that get stuck in swimming pool grates with too strong suction power are impossible to loosen, and that causes drowning deaths worldwide every year.
These are gruesome incidents that swimming pools can prevent by having their grates replaced, and that you yourself prevent with a swimming cap. Mariska Hol: “If you don’t want to wear a cap, then make a braid or ponytail. And don’t hang in front of the grates. Stay a little away from them.”
If you are going on holiday outside the Netherlands, take a swimming cap with you just to be sure, Hol tips, then you know you are welcome. “And always read the house rules of the swimming pool first.”
Whether you need anything else besides self-confidence to wear tight swimming trunks with enthusiasm? No, says trend watcher Van Niekerk. “Wear what you feel good in. Every body fits in a speedo.”