The shocking truth about swimwear today is that it is almost all made from toxic, microplastic-shedding plastic fabrics, which are harming our health and our ecosystems.
As a mother, and as a founder of non-toxic children’s brand Pure Earth Collection, I’m always searching for products which reduce the toxic load on our children and on our planet. For over 8 years I trawled the shops and the internet in a bid to find natural fabric swimwear. But all I could find were swimwear made from plastic.
Synthetic materials are one of the main sources of microplastics getting into humans and oceans, shedding thousands of microplastics into our bodies via skin contact, inhalation and by getting into our food chain once they enter our waterways.
Sadly, babies and small children ingest around 20x more microplastics than adults. And this is a direct result of the products they are surrounded with on a daily basis. THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE.
The most ‘eco’ swimwear options I could find were made from recycled plastic fabrics, which worryingly we now know are way more toxic to human health as they contain much higher concentrations of harmful chemicals. I really don’t consider this to be a safe option for children, particularly as wearing polyester pants (and therefore we can reasonably assume swimwear) has been shown to be detrimental to fertility in a number of studies – more on this below.
Pure Earth Collection have previously been known for pioneering plastic-free products in the sleep and play categories for little ones. The mission behind all of our products is to reduce the amount of plastics in children’s lives, safeguarding them from the excessive microplastic exposure that they are faced with today. With a severe lack of natural options in the swim space, developing a range of organic fabric swimwear was something I personally, and we as a brand, felt extremely passionate about.
What Are Microplastics?
What exactly are microplastics? Defined as small pieces of plastic smaller than 5mm, microplastics are tiny particles of petroleum mixed with thousands of harmful chemicals. Once inside our bodies they start to break down, releasing their toxins, unbalancing our hormones and causing a whole host of chronic health issues.
And the sad fact is, these tiny toxins have now been found in all parts of the human body.
Health Issues of Microplastics
Microplastics put pressure on the normal functioning of our bodies. They have been linked to various health issues including inflammation, cancer, diabetes, obesity and infertility (to name just a few).
A study released in 2024 found that microplastics in the bloodstream were associated with a 4.5x increased risk of heart disease, stroke or premature death.
Three other studies, involving rats and dogs wearing polyester pants (from between 12-24 months) discovered that the majority of the animals became infertile in that time. This same researcher then went on to humans, asking men to wear a polyester ‘pant sling’. After an average of around 140 days, these men stopped producing viable sperm. Most of these rats, dogs and men in these studies reverted to their normal levels of fertility after around 6 months of removing the polyester pants.
These are just a few of many studies which have now been done correlating synthetic fabrics and microplastics with serious health issues. There was yet another study published, showing that stroke patients had up to 50x more microplastics in the plasma.
At this point, I think it’s worth re-iterating the frightening statistic from earlier: That small children have up to 20x more of these inside their tiny bodies as a result of the synthetic products they’re surrounded with daily.
With the information we now have on these tiny toxins, it’s essential to try to minimise our exposure to microplastics as much as possible.
Environmental Issues
Microplastics are having a devastating impact on the environment.
Some studies suggest that around 70% of the microplastics found in our bodies and environments are coming from synthetic fabrics. And in my view, synthetic fabrics are almost entirely replaceable. They are often totally unnecessary and there are many biodegradable alternatives.
There needs to be an urgent move back to natural, non-toxic fabrics. Most importantly starting with children’s products, which have become far too reliant on synthetic fabric. Over 95% of soft toys are made from microplastic-shedding polyester, and over 98% of baby sleeping bags use polyester as the wadding. But ultimately we need urgent change across the whole consumer supply chain.
Pure Earth Collection Swimwear
That brings me back to the launch of Pure Earth Collection’s revolutionary organic swimwear range. This range is the world’s first organic swimwear range for the whole family. A much needed product line in my view. And I hope that other brands will follow suit.
We started sampling natural fabric swimwear over three years ago and my family has been wearing our organic swimwear ever since.
Aside from the health and environmental benefits mentioned above, it’s also fantastic for the following reasons:
- Organic swimwear lasts longer: At least double the amount of time before going saggy or bobbly.
- Organic swimwear is way more comfortable to wear, less sweaty and less sticky on hot days.
- Organic swimwear looks more luxurious and, well, it’s organic!
And it seems that it’s something consumers have been waiting for, as we sold over 400 pieces via pre-order before the swimwear had even arrived in our warehouse.
Pure Earth Collection will be tackling the microplastic crisis across three main categories:
Sleep. Play. Swim.