Against the flow

It’s not every day that a great swimsuit comes along and makes you think of winning gold medals and breaking world records while looking fabulous. Okay, it’s not often a regular suit can do that.

But Speedo claimed such a distinction by launching Fastskin Lzr Racer, a futuristic swimsuit in celebration of their 80th birthday. Tested with the help of NASA and Speedo’s Aqualab, this cool-looking space suit is made of ultra-lightweight, low-drag, water-repellent and fast-drying Lzr Pulse fabric unique to Speedo.

“Speedo’s Lzr Racer is designed to allow elite athletes to swim faster than any other human being,” says Michael O’Donnell Speedo Asia Pacific VP. “Compared to Speedo’s Fastskin FSII that was launched in 2004, Lzr Racer has 10 percent less passive drag and five percent more efficient oxygen intake for swimmers.”

Dig this, hundreds of swimmers’ bodies were scanned to discover more about the precise shape of their bodies. As the world’s first polybonded suit, the three-piece pattern is ultrasonically welded together so that there aren’t any seams in order to reduce skin-friction drag. With the Hydro Form Compression system, the suit helps compress the entire swimmer’s body into a more “streamlined shape.”

Dave Pease, sports scientist specializing in Swimming Biomechanics Flume testing from Otago University in New Zealand, was also here during the launch at the Speedo store in Bonifacio High Street. With firsthand experience testing the Lzr Racer, Pease explained that there is a lot of force swimmers have to deal with, almost like driving a car 140 miles per hour. With this spaceman-like swimsuit, swimmers can reduce skin vibration for greater power of movement.

“Lzr Racer controls the movement so that swimmers can get a smooth surface and get the sensation of sliding on the water,” says Pease.

When I saw Michael Phelps wear Lzr Racer, I really thought the design was futuristic and almost Zen-like. Well, that’s because Speedo worked with fashion label Comme de Garcons. Thanks to Rei Kawakubo’s sheer ingenuity, the fashion element comes through in the side panels of the suit incorporating a Japanese character kokoro, which means heart, mind and spirit, calligraphed by Inoue Yu-ichi. Now, that’s the perfect fusion of performance and avant-garde fashion.

Kawakubo enthuses, “I was interested in expressing the energy, the will to win, the power that comes from the spirit, which finally determines the result. The art of Inoue Yu-ichi is bound by no ancient conventions of calligraphy. He works with great mental power, drawing close to the origin of things, pursuing with freshness and strength a sense of speed, the source of speed. When we come to combine the development of the highest technology that is the realm of Speedo, with the force of the art of Yu-ichi, records will surely be broken.”

It’s not even the Olympics but records were already beaten thanks to the Lzr Racer. Wearing the Legskin version, Michael Phelps recently won the men’s 200-meter fly in 1:53.51, going four-tenths faster than his time in this event in Missouri Grand Prix last year. Phelps says, “When I hit the water, I feel like a rocket. This is going to take the sport of swimming to a new level.”

Other swimmers called this suit “out of this world.” Libby Lenton of Australia says “It’s like swimming downhill.” For her part, Natalie Coughlin loves the fit because “it’s super tight but really feels like part of your body when you put it on.” Grant Hackett, on the other hand says, “It’s the best suit yet and looks like something out of a futuristic movie.”

“Although it takes 20-30 minutes to put on the compression suit, you will really see the technology and engineering behind it,” concludes O’Donnell. “At Speedo, once we reach our limits, we go beyond them.”

Ah, what a nice way to celebrate Speedo’s 80th birthday. So, if you’re an elite swimmer, go strut your stuff in a Lzr Racer, which will be available in Speedo stores in May. And you’re sure to look cool and break world records. Besides, there’s no better accessory for the space-age suit than an Olympic gold medal. But if you’re not a swimmer, you can still admire avant-garde fashion, anyway.