Washing

After your rinse at the pool, wash your suit at home under cold tap water with a small amount of mild soap or specialist swimwear cleaner. The rinse removes most of the chlorine; the soap removes the rest, plus sun cream, body oils, and salt.

For racing tech suits — Arena Powerskin, TYR Venzo, Speedo Fastskin, FINIS Mach — be even more careful. These suits use bonded seams and specialised compressive fabrics that are more delicate than training fabric. Hand-rinse only, gentle pressing, never any soap stronger than swim-specific detergent.

Drying

Lay the suit flat or hang it loosely in a shaded, well-ventilated spot. The two things that destroy a drying swimsuit:

• Direct sunlight. Even outside Saudi summer, UV damages the fabric. Always shade.
• Heat sources. Never use a tumble dryer. Never use a hairdryer. Never lay a suit on a radiator. Heat above body temperature damages elastane permanently.

The suit should be fully dry before it goes back in a bag or drawer. A damp suit stored folded develops creases set into the fabric and starts smelling within a day. If you swim daily and your suit isn't fully drying between sessions, rotate two suits — it's cheaper than replacing one suit twice as often.

Storage

Two storage habits to break and one to adopt:

• Stop wrapping your wet suit in your towel. The chlorine soaks into the towel, and the suit stays in damp chemical contact for hours until you get home. Towel-wrapping is the single most common mistake.
• Stop leaving the suit in a sealed plastic bag. No airflow, prolonged chemical contact, fast degradation.
• Use a mesh bag. A mesh bag in your kit bag's wet compartment lets the suit start air-drying on the way home. Most swim backpacks have a dedicated wet compartment; if yours doesn't, a small mesh laundry bag works.

Once fully dry, fold the suit loosely — never tightly compressed. Tight folds set creases that can weaken the fabric along the fold line over time.

Fabric guide

Modern training swimwear uses one of three main fabric families. Knowing what you've got tells you how to care for it.

If you swim more than three times a week, a PBT-blend training suit is worth the extra money. The cost-per-swim is significantly lower than a Lycra suit replaced every few months.

Five things that destroy a suit faster than chlorine

When to replace your suit

Signs your suit has done its time, even if there are no visible holes:

Once any of these set in, the suit isn't doing its job. Replace it before it tears mid-session — embarrassing at training, devastating at a meet.

A note on tech suits

Racing tech suits — Arena Powerskin Carbon, TYR Avictor, Speedo LZR — are a different category of investment. They are designed for a limited number of uses and don't respond to standard care the way training suits do.

If you race in a tech suit:

• Track the number of times you've worn it — keep a note in your training log
• Never use it for training, only for races and the final couple of pre-race warmups
• Hand rinse only, with no soap unless the manufacturer specifies
• Dry completely flat, in shade, away from any heat
• Store it in the manufacturer's box, not in your kit bag

A tech suit treated this way reaches its full warranty life. A tech suit thrown in a swim bag with wet training kit lasts a third of that.