A review of noteworthy progress and opportunities in swimsuit design

Abstract

Swimsuits represent an interdisciplinary research field of textiles and clothing, materials, bionics, fluid mechanics, and other disciplines. The aesthetic style, comfort design, speed performance, and additional functions of swimsuits have been studied extensively. However, due to the diversity of research topics, swimsuit-related research is scattered in various research branches. An overview of research progress and frontiers in this whole field is hard to find. Given that a comprehensive application of technologies is required to meet consumers’ increasing demands for more functional and professional sports products, it is necessary to have knowledge of the latest progress in each research area. This study covers the aesthetics, comfort, speed enhancement, and other additional functions of swimsuits, summarizes the research progress in each relevant area, and predicts potential hotspots based on analysis. It is predicted that smart textiles and technologies will be applied more widely to swimsuits for real-time monitoring and instruction, intelligent drag reduction, energy harvesting, etc. With the upgrade of each function, efforts will be needed to maintain the delicate balance between the multiple functions integrated into swimsuits, and a more refined classification will be required to meet the specialized demands of swimmers.