It鈥檚 not that singer and songwriter听Summer Watson likes to flash her boobs at strangers. But bikinis have a way of succumbing to the ocean鈥檚 tug, and more than once, this surfer has lost some part of her swimsuit to the waves. 鈥淓very once in a while you get a nip slip,鈥 says Watson, the marketing director at San Clemente, California's听Toes of the Noes surf shop. 鈥淏ut usually it鈥檚 your bottoms that you lose.鈥澨
Yet Watson鈥攍ike many women鈥攕till prefers to wear a bikini while surfing. 鈥淚 like the feeling of the ocean on my skin,鈥 she explains. Patagonia was hearing the same thing from its surfing ambassadors. 鈥淭hey feel most unencumbered in a bikini,鈥 says and surfing. So she searched for a way to make the beloved bikini more sport-ready.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 see a lot of people trying to create women鈥檚 products that are specifically built for sport and that鈥檚 discouraging,鈥 says Kinman. 鈥淚n surfing, all the swimwear innovation is happening on the men鈥檚 side of the business,鈥 she explains. Men get gee-whiz while sitting on the board. But for women? 鈥淭he focus is always on what鈥檚 a cute print,鈥 Kinman says.
So in 2014, when she discovered a strange, slightly sticky new fabric that became even grippier when wet, she felt like she鈥檇 found the solution to the slipping-bikini problem. She built a few prototypes and took them to Oahu鈥檚 North Shore, where Patagonia鈥檚 team of female put them to the test.听鈥淭hey were a huge hit,鈥 says Kinman. 鈥淭he women didn鈥檛 have to tug or fidget or move that fabric around. They could just be fully engaged in their sport.鈥
What makes the fabric sticky is its massive surface area: the material is made up of thousands of microscopic polyester filaments, measuring 1/175,000th the thickness of a human hair. They make the swimsuit feel clingy鈥攁lmost听wet鈥攅ven when it鈥檚 dry.
It鈥檚 not for every woman,听says Kinman. Lake paddleboarders, who don鈥檛 encounter fabric-nudging waves, might be happier with a standard bikini. And the Nanogrip fabric is particularly slow to dry (requiring an hour or more, in my experience).听
But I also found it to be wonderfully forgettable when I was in the water. Wearing it while snorkeling in Belize, I found that I could abandon some of the security measures I鈥檝e habitually used to hide bathing-suit-slippage. I didn鈥檛 have to hold my arm across my breasts when emerging from the water, or hold onto my bottoms when I dove. That鈥檚 liberating.
Watson听had a similar experience.听“The听Nanogrip听is听pretty amazing,” she听says.听“It's the first bikini I听have ever worn听bodysurfing听that is comfortable and cute,听yet I don't have to stay under water a few minutes more to adjust before surfacing.”听
The ($69-$75), which hit market last summer, fits B-DD cups. The ($65-69) also debuted last year. This year, the line expands with the fuller-coverage ($65-$69) and the ($69-$75), which fits A cups. Spring 2018 will introduce a full-coverage Nanogrip top styled like a sports bra for better sun protection.
听