I decided that this year I get to buy a new swimsuit. I looked at Walmart, Target, Shopko, and Kmart without finding anything that I liked in my size. I then looked at Mervyns and Macy’s where I nearly hyperventilated at the prices. I still didn’t find anything I liked. Apparently any person who is as small as I am, must want to show off all possible skin. All the one piece suits were in larger sizes. I turned to the internet. Land’s end has a beautiful swimdress that I’m confident I would love. But it is $86 dollars. Yipe. Also they seem to think that I’m smaller than a size 4 according to my measurements. That is just weird. I might have worn size 4 in high school, but not lately. Kmart online has a different swimdress for only $26. The Kmart dress isn’t as pretty, but it actually fits inside my budget. Both dresses are black and I was hoping to buy something with some color. I was also hoping not to have to spend this much time or money. I hate this kind of shopping. Where I know what I want and can’t find it anywhere within a reasonable price range.
15 thoughts on “Swimsuit shopping”
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Check out Newport News. They are online and a catalog. They’ve had some nice suits on sales recently. They even sell “bikinis” that cover far more than normal.
http://www.newport-news.com
Hope it helps.
Well, here’s a thing. Land’s End suits will last for years and years and years on end. K-Mart suits and other suits of lower price will last one, maybe two, in my experience. So the question is, do you want to spend a little money every other year, or a lot of money now as an investment?
P.S. Black suits are slimming. Not that you need it, but still. I always go with Land’s End for swimsuits, because they have actual modest suits that you can get to match your body type, which I’ve never found anywhere else.
Ditto on the Newport News comment. I got their catalog by mistake as the person who lived in my house before me forgot to forward her subscriptions and I love their stuff and most of their prices. I would check there.
Ditto. Land’s End suits are excellent quality and last for years. They fit well and are modest. It’s a scary bullet to bite, but well worth it. And their return policy is good, too, if I remember correctly.
The last swimming suit I got was a Speedo from Sam’s Club, believe it or not. It has lasted well for two years! It isn’t a fashion bathing suit, but one for swimming laps. It would probably be hard to find one your size there, though.
Good luck!
I ordered from Newport News and it wasn’t good. The gold shirt was mistakenly cut on the bias so it pulled to the left when I put it on but hung straight on the hanger. The ecru tank top was good except it was missing 2 eyes to thread the ribbon through. The snakeskin grey print was actually more of a tan and it was badly serged on the edges.
I returned the gold and ecru tops to them for replacement but all they did was refund my money. I was rather put out. I had clearly marked the ticket exchange and had even talked to them on the phone. It took me about 2 weeks to even get the information on how to return the items to them for exchange.
They don’t get my business again.
Go to sports stores – like any place with a full swimming athletic department. Sport swimmers don’t wear bikinis.
Sorry to hear that. I’ve order from them multiple times with no problems. Definitely no quality issues. They sell Jeanology Jeans which are by far the best fittings jeans on the market and they sell them in hard-to-find sizes.
On the other hand, I’ve had horrible order issues from Land’s End and other high-level catalog merchants, so Newport News has probably got no worse of a records than anyone else. Clothing purchases are always difficult. Hope you felt like you didn’t take any major losses from your experience.
And maybe check out Overstock.com
I do very well on there for books, movies and the like…
Size 4? SIZE 4! I haven’t been a size 4 since second grade and neither one of my daughters could wear one now!
On a less envious note, Land’s End sizes tend to run larger than the average Kmart brand. Their clothes are better made (imho) and so they don’t skimp in the fabric… therefor the clothes are actually the proper size and you don’t have to get one size up because they’re so skimpy. Also, try the racing or competitive swimwear shops. You might pay a bit more but you’ll get a suit that will hold up for years and ALL the suits that are designed for competition are one piece.
Don’t forget that I’m 5’2″ I’m short. Also, there is no way that I’m actually a size 4. Most of the clothes I wear are size 8.
two piece
My wife is close to six foot, but tends to have similar problems. She and I share the extra-long torso genetic anomaly.
One year, out of frustration, she ended up getting a couple separates and wearing a two-piece that she’d chosen carefully. It showed some belly, but it was like shorts and a short tank top, rather than the mega-skin things that tend to be popular among the sleek-n-morally-bankrupt crowd. This was several years and three kids ago, and I’m not sure she’d be willing to do something like that now, even if those sorts of things are available this year. Yeah, the trends of fashion are too confounding for me, I assure you.
Not absolutely recommending this as a solution – we’re LDS too, you see – but I guess I’m suggesting that further thinking outside the box may work out for you. Of course, that may also involve spending more time with the shopping …
Probably pricier than you’d like, but check out http://www.diviinemodestee.com/divinitasole/
really cute, modest swimsuits by a local Utah company. I am totally dying for one of the square neck halters.
ohanaswimwear.com is a site that specializes in modest swimwear. Their 1 piece suits are all around $55.00 and the have a clearance section for less.
I am very amused to see that several other people immediately thought of Newport News, too.
They have one swimdress that I think is lovely — http://www.newport-news.com/shop/product_single.aspx?tool=t1&f=b&Ntt=swimdress&N=151589+10000&nm=1&Nty=1&D=swimdress&style_id=16799050&No=0&Ntk=alltext — but alas, at $49, definitely pricey.
My last swimsuit was from Land’s End and I was super satisfied with it. It was pricy — maybe $60USD or so (I’m Canadian, and so there was some conversion involved) — but lasted for about five years before I finally wore it through.
I’m particularly fond of their “tugless” line — those suits actually don’t ride up! That made me much less self-conscious while I swam.