Salt, Sun, Chlorine
How a swim short lives for years. Three enemies, four habits.
A well-made swim short is built to be bought once and kept. Whether it gets to keep its side of the bargain depends on four habits, none of which takes a minute.
RINSE, ALWAYS. The single habit that outranks the rest: fresh water through the short after every swim, every time. Salt left to dry becomes abrasive crystal working inside the weave. Chlorine left to sit keeps chemically attacking elastane long after you have left the pool, which is why pool shorts age faster than sea shorts. A thirty-second rinse in the shower, cool water, ends both attacks. Soap is rarely needed. When it is, mild, and never softener, which coats technical fibers and ruins their behavior.
WRING NOTHING. Twisting a wet short is how drawcords warp and seams learn bad habits. Squeeze flat between hands or in a towel, then hang.
DRY IN SHADE. The sun that made the day is the fabric’s slowest enemy: prolonged direct UV fades color and, over seasons, tires the fiber itself. Hang in shade or indoors, and never on a radiator or the searing terrace rail. Concentrated heat is elastane’s least favorite thing. For the same reason the tumble dryer is banned for life. A technical short line-dries so fast the machine was never earning its risk.
BEWARE THE ROUGH WORLD. Pool edges, boat decks, and harbor walls do more damage than any chemical: sit on a towel when the surface looks like sandpaper. Rotate two pairs on long trips so each dries fully. A perpetually damp waistband is where elastic goes to retire. And at season’s end, one proper wash, one full dry, then a drawer, not a beach bag in a hot car until next June.
That is the entire discipline: rinse, no wringing, shade, and respect for concrete. Ten years is a reasonable ambition for a good pair. The habits above are the difference between a garment and a consumable, and we know which one we build.
