My favourite sustainable swimwear picks for a very Australian summer
Every January I do the same thing: pull last summer's swim from the back of the wardrobe and check whether it's still worth wearing. Usually it isn't. The straps stretch out, the chlorine turns the colour milky, or the whole thing was a trend that lasted a single summer and cost about the price of a decent dinner. I've been buying cheap swim for so long that I've become the person who owns twelve bikinis and none of them fit properly, which is exactly why I went looking for better options.
Sustainable swimwear turns out to be a much more specific conversation than sustainable clothing. A linen shirt can go to the beach, then dinner, then a second winter. Swimwear lives in salt water, sun and pool chlorine, and it's judged by how it handles all three. So my criteria became unfashionably simple: does the fabric come from waste rather than fresh petroleum, can I find a local repair when something gives way, and would I actually wear it in January 2027 rather than January 2025? Australia makes this test easy, because our summer runs from December to February, our beaches get the most use out of any clothing we own, and our UV index makes faded, stretched swim a genuine loss rather than a neutral one.
What follows is the shortlist I've landed on after two years of buying badly, returning generously and wearing everything here until it failed. I've included the Australian labels I trust, the best pre-loved routes for bargain-hunting and vintage hunting, a few styling ideas for swim that works past the waterline, and the checklist I now run through before I spend a cent.
Why sustainable swimwear is harder to find than it sounds
The first thing to know is that most swimwear on the racks at DJs and cheap online shops is made from virgin polyester and nylon with a touch of elastane for stretch. It feels fine. It photographs beautifully. It also sheds microplastics into our bays every time it's worn, and because the styles are so seasonal, the whole garment often ends up in landfill within eighteen months. Buying one piece you'd keep for a decade removes more plastic from the world than any recycled tote ever will.
The fabrics worth hunting for are specific. Look for ECONYL regenerated nylon, made partly from fishing nets and industrial yarn offcuts recovered from the sea, and recycled polyester spun from post-consumer bottles. Organic cotton blends are soft and comfortable for laps and spa swims, and deadstock or surplus linens show up in small-batch Australian labels. Chlorine-resistant elastane blends matter enormously if you use pools, and a care label that explicitly recommends cold machine washing and line drying tells you the brand has thought past the checkout. Transparency about where a garment is sewn, and by whom, is the part most marketing glosses over.
The harder truth is that fabric is only half of it. A swimsuit from a reclaimed vintage find that you wear for five summers beats a technically recycled bikini that frays after one. I've stopped treating sustainability as a label I buy and started treating it as a habit I keep: one good suit, repaired rather than replaced, washed carefully and packed properly. My notes and outfit logs live on ginghamandsparkle.com, which is where the reasoning behind each pick gets written down in full.
Australian swimwear labels that are earning their place
Gold Coast and Torquay are quietly home to some of the better work happening in swimwear right now. Billabong's Re-Solution range and Roxy's recycled lines are made in Australia with recycled nylon and post-consumer polyester, and because they're designed on Australian beaches, the coverage and support are genuinely tested for surf and surf-lifesaving conditions rather than imagined overseas. Rip Curl, still headquartered in Torquay, does the same with its recycled search and boardshort collections, and the simple convenience of buying locally means a strap or a zip can be sorted in town instead of posted across the country.
Melbourne's Gracious makes swimwear entirely in Australia and leans into quality over trend, with cuts that suit a body that hasn't been edited for a magazine. Brisbane's We Are Handsome builds small-batch swim with a similar ethos, and their pieces hold their shape through a full summer in the sun. Smaller labels like these cost more than the fast-fashion equivalent, but they run fewer, better-made pieces, and they generally answer the phone when you need a repair. That's worth something to me, living in a city where I'd rather walk to a tailor in Brunswick than post a garment interstate.
The Australian advantage is real, and so is the catch: local manufacture narrows your styles, and some runs sell out fast. My advice is to buy fewer pieces, buy them earlier in the season, and use the end-of-financial-year sales in June and July as the moment to buy a second pair of something you already know you love, rather than another novelty print you'd be bored of by Christmas.
Shopping pre-loved and vintage swimwear in Australia
Secondhand swim is where the maths gets very good, because the cheapest sustainable swimsuit is the one already in circulation. Australia's op shop network — the Salvo, Red Cross and community-run stores — has become surprisingly good for swim, with crates of vintage one-pieces and high-waisted bottoms from the sixties and seventies turning up regularly. My own approach to digging through those racks is written up in my guide to shopping vintage and secondhand fashion, and the same rules apply: check the elastic before you check the print.
Online, Gumtree and eBay have become the easiest route to a specific pre-loved size, and both are excellent for a discontinued bikini in a colour that no longer exists. Search by brand and size rather than by style name, and ask for close-up photos of the fabric, because sun-bleached elastic gives up at the seams first. Swim from the eighties and nineties often uses heavier, higher-waisted cuts that look wonderful now, and the elastane in them has usually survived better than the sheer fast-fashion pieces of the last five years.
Vintage isn't automatically the greener choice. Some older nylon was made with different chemistry, and a polyester from 1998 is not a recycled fibre. But extending the life of something that already exists, and repairing it rather than binning it, is where the real reduction happens. I also keep an eye on seasonal sales from the labels I trust, since a discounted good suit in June is a far better deal than a cheap one in December.
Styling swimwear for long Australian days
The best swim purchases earn their cost twice if you let them leave the water. A bikini top under a crisp white shirt and denim shorts reads as summer without the beach-towel connotations, and a one-piece under an open linen shirt works with everything from sneakers to sandals. The holiday wardrobe inspiration on She Said He Said is my favourite place to see swim treated as a proper wardrobe piece, and it's where I lifted the idea of buying the suit first and building the outfit around it.
Our climate makes the layering easier. In Sydney, a swim suit under a linen shirt handles a Bondi breakfast, a swim and an afternoon shop without a change of outfit, and in Queensland the same combination survives humidity better than most fabrics I've tried. Add reef-safe sunscreen, a wide-brimmed hat and a tote that fits a towel and a paperback, and most of a beach day is handled. Australian conditions reward that preparation: the UV index here is severe enough that rash guards and long-sleeve swim shirts are genuinely useful, not merely fashionable.
Travel makes the case for good swimwear even stronger. For a Great Barrier Reef trip or a week in the Whitsundays, packing light matters, and a swim suit that dries quickly, packs flat and needs no ironing is worth its weight twice. I keep two or three pieces in a separate pouch so they aren't crushed under a linen dress, and if I can manage a spare, it's a second bikini rather than a second outfit. In Melbourne the same pieces earn their keep differently, because I do cold-water laps at Port Melbourne and at an indoor swim centre, where chlorine eats through anything that wasn't made to last.
A practical checklist before I buy anything
I run through the same list every time now, and it stops me impulse-buying the print of the season. These are the details I check before the price, followed by the labels and places I actually shop.
- Fabric: regenerated nylon such as ECONYL, recycled polyester or organic cotton, rather than a vague "eco-friendly" claim.
- Construction: double-lined front panels, adjustable straps, flat seams and a lining that won't ride up in the surf.
- Care: a label recommending cold wash and line dry, plus a spare elastic or a stated repair policy.
- Fit: a firm band, straps that don't dig, and a brief that stays put when you walk.
- Wearing test: I'd wear it in and out of the water, for at least three summers running.
And then where I buy, in no particular order:
- Billabong and Roxy recycled ranges — made in Australia, easy local repairs on the Gold Coast.
- Rip Curl — Torquay based, recycled nylon across their surf and boardshort lines.
- Gracious — Melbourne made, cut for real bodies and built to last several seasons.
- We Are Handsome — small-batch Brisbane swimwear with strong support and good coverage.
- Op shops, Gumtree and eBay — the best value per wear, if you're patient and know your sizes.
Here is how the favourites line up once you put fabric, price and longevity side by side.
| Label or source | Based in | Main fabric approach | Where it wins | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billabong / Roxy recycled ranges | Gold Coast, Queensland | Recycled nylon and post-consumer polyester | Surf-tested coverage, easy repairs, sold locally | Styles sell out early in the season |
| Rip Curl | Torquay, Victoria | Recycled nylon in surf and boardshort lines | Boardshorts that last, local repair network | Some lines are poly blend rather than fully recycled |
| Gracious | Melbourne, Victoria | Made in Australia, quality-first construction | Cuts that suit real bodies, excellent retention of shape | Smaller colour range, higher price per piece |
| We Are Handsome | Brisbane, Queensland | Small-batch swim, supportive cuts | Warm-weather comfort and strong straps | Limited runs, restocking can be slow |
| Op shops and vintage | Australia wide | Pre-existing nylon and polyester, sometimes deadstock | Cheapest per wear, genuinely one-of-a-kind | Check elastic and seams; UV fade is common |
| Pre-loved online (Gumtree, eBay) | Australia wide | Whatever the original label used | Discontinued colours and hard-to-find sizes | Ask for seam photos before paying |
If you're changing one thing this summer, make it the piece you reach for first, and buy the one you'd still be happy to wear in three years rather than the one that suits this month's mood. Before you pay, run it through the checklist above, ask who made it and where, and see whether a local alteration is possible when the first season does its damage. Give the care label the respect it deserves, cold wash, line dry in shade, and the suit will outlast the trend that sold it to you. Then pack it properly on your next trip north, because a good bikini on the wharf at Noosa or a reef pontoon in the Whitsundays is still the best thing in the suitcase. Tell me in the comments which piece you'd pack first, and save this shortlist for the next time a sale makes you think about buying something new. Pack it well, wear it often, and let it outlive the season it replaced.
