Speedo

For serious racing, the LZR Racer is part of swimming history. It is the suit Michael Phelps wore to win eight golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and it sits in Speedo's performance lineage built on athletes who win medals. It is a premium, race-day investment rather than a training suit, so it is worth it if you are chasing times.

The brand introduced the swim briefs that became synonymous with its name around the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and the word "Speedo" is now a generic term for racing bathing suits. Ironically, those iconic briefs make up only a small slice of actual sales. Speedo's catalogue today spans suits, goggles, and accessories for men, women, and children.

They feel quite different on. Speedo suits tend to sit close to standard sizing with a firm, compressive feel and higher necklines, while TYR is often gentler and easier to pull on, making it a common first tech suit. Speedo's pedigree in Olympic record-breaking is a strong reason swimmers keep coming back to it.

Performance Speedo suits are cut for compression, so they often feel tight and snug, especially around the hips and thighs, which is by design for reducing drag. They are generally close to standard size charts, but expect a firm fit out of the box. If you want easy wearability over maximum compression, size and style choice matter.

Speedo was founded in Sydney, Australia in 1914 by Alexander MacRae, a Scottish emigrant. The name was born from a 1928 staff contest with the slogan "Speed on in your Speedos," after which the company became Speedo Knitting Mills. In keeping with those Australian roots, the brand uses a boomerang as its symbol.

Speedo is owned by the British Pentland Group, and the company is based in Nottingham, England. Pentland fully acquired Speedo Australia and Speedo International in the early 1990s, and in January 2020 it bought back the North American rights from PVH for $170 million. So an Australian-born brand is now Australian-British.

Fastskin is Speedo's family of drag-reducing racing suits, introduced at the start of the 2000s and worn during a wave of world records when the Sydney Olympics came to Speedo's home country. Michael Phelps wore the Fastskin II in Athens in 2004 to take eight medals. It is the lineage that the LZR Racer later built on.

Repeatedly. At the 1968 Mexico City Games, 27 of the 29 gold medalists wore Speedo suits, and the brand says 13 of 15 swimming records broken at the 2000 Sydney Olympics were set by swimmers in Speedo. The original LZR suits at Beijing in 2008 were worn by over 95% of medal-winning swimmers. Performance is central to the brand's identity.

Rinse it in cool fresh water after every swim to flush out chlorine, then air-dry it out of direct sun rather than wringing or machine-drying. Speedo's Endurance line was specifically developed to resist chlorine, which is worth seeking out if you swim in pools often. Gentle handling keeps the fit and elasticity intact.

Yes. Beyond swimwear, Speedo offers a wide range of accessories including more than seventy goggle models, watches, sunglasses, towels, swim aids, and footwear such as sandals and water shoes. The brand even runs a digital line of waterproof music players. Swimwear is the core, but it has expanded well around the pool.