If you’ve ever unzipped your swim bag after months of storage only to find a stretched out, faded, ill-fitting, or God forbid, a moldy mess all over your swimsuit, then you were probably forced to buy a new swimsuit on short notice at full price.
Repeating this process every summer is not only gross, but a pain in the butt and expensive. Instead of always buying swimsuits at full price, which can get costly, wouldn’t it be better if you could get them at a drastic discount?
Thankfully you can save a lot of money if you buy your swimsuit at a very specific time. Due to the seasonal nature of swimwear, obviously whenever it starts to get warm is when retailers will begin selling their swimsuits at full price to capitalize on the demand. What you should do is purchase a new bathing suit when the weather starts getting cooler and there is less demand for swimwear.
Therefore, the best time to buy a swimsuit in North America is during the months of August or September, when summer is near its end. At this point, demand will have decreased significantly, and retailers will be in a rush to get rid of their summer clothing so that they can transition to fall clothing. You can expect discounts as high as 40-70% so that they can clear their inventory quickly.
Sometimes there may be deals in the middle of summer, around the months of July and August. If you don’t want to wait until the end of summer, then this is the time that you can buy your swimwear for cheap and actually get to wear it before the weather gets too cold. There is certainly a risk of buying a swimsuit at the very end of summer, not being able to wear it, and then finding out it doesn’t fit you next summer.
Conversely, the worst time to buy swimwear is at the beginning of summer, as well as during fall and winter. The beginning of summer is when demand is highest and retailers have no pressure to lower prices. Fall and winter is when they have basically cleared out their summer inventory and any swimsuits you find at this point will probably be full price again.
The best time is around the end of summer
When it comes to buying seasonal products, there is a sweet spot where you can still have a nice selection of swimwear to choose from and you can get them at a reduced price. For swimsuits, this tends to happen around the tail end of summer, which are the months of August and September.
At this point, the prices are as low as they’ll go. You can easily save 50% or more on swimwear because of clearance sales. That said, some people have a misconception that if they wait even longer into fall or winter that it will get even cheaper. Not so.
By then, all of the good deals will have been snatched up by frugal shoppers. If you wait too long, there will be no selection for you to choose from. Furthermore, retailers will increase the price once again because the sale period is over.
Another reason is that, as we alluded to, the summer season occurs at different times around the world. When it’s winter in North America, it will be summertime in tropical areas of the world. Therefore, retailers know this and will capitalize on it by jacking up the prices again during winter because some folks going on vacation will shell out full price for them.
For these reasons, don’t sit on your hands for too long; once it is around August or September, buy a swimsuit or you’ll have to wait a full year before you get these kinds of prices again.
Don’t wait too long
Even though waiting until the very end of summer will get you the best price, it doesn’t necessarily give you the best experience. Here’s what I mean.
The closer to the end of summer you buy a swimsuit, the fewer chances you will get to wear the swimsuit. If you buy it at the end of summer, then you might not even have the chance to wear the swimsuit before you store it for next summer.
I don’t know about you, but when I buy something I like to use it as soon as possible. This is not just for the excitement factor, but there are practical reasons for doing so.
For instance, if I don’t get a chance to wear it a few times in the water, I won’t truly know if it fits me snugly and comfortably. I won’t know if there are any issues that might make me want to return it or buy a new swimsuit.
I also cannot guarantee that I will be roughly the same size next summer. There is a possibility that if I buy a swimsuit for my current size, never wear it, then by the time next summer rolls around, it already doesn’t fit me and I literally can’t wear it anymore
Consider thrifting
Depending on who you ask, shopping at a Goodwill is either the best thing you can do or the worst. Especially when it comes to intimates like swimwear, many people will think twice about buying a used swimsuit.
In my opinion, it is totally fine and not any dirtier than trying on a swimsuit elsewhere, and if you think so too then you have another avenue to get swimwear for cheap.
Goodwill is often the recipient of many Target clearance swimwear. I’ve personally gotten half a dozen swimsuits for about $2 each with the sanitary liner and tags still intact. Try looking for them around mid-July through to October.
Obviously the best swimsuits will probably be snatched up from Target long before they reach a Goodwill. But for $2 a piece, it’s too hard to pass up and you can still get some decent stuff.
Make your swimsuit last multiple summers
If the reason why you’re looking to buy swimsuits so often is because each swimsuit you buy doesn’t seem to last a long time, I’m sorry to say but have you considered that maybe you are the problem, not the swimsuits?
Rather than aiming to buy a swimsuit every summer, see if you can make one last multiple summers. Swimsuits are very delicate and you need to take good care of them if you want one to last more than a month. With proper care, you can make your swimsuit last months, if not years.
The “secret” is to rinse your swimsuit after every use. Do it as quickly as possible so that the chlorine (or salt water) doesn’t get a chance to deteriorate the fabric and elastics.
Chlorine is the primary culprit behind damaged swimsuits. Your aim is to rinse as much of it off so that your swimsuit has limited exposure to it. Consider washing it with a mild detergent such as swimsuit detergent or dish soap rather than laundry detergent, which contains harsh chemicals that are arguably worse than the chlorine you’re trying to wash off.
Afterwards, lay the swimsuit out on a dry towel and roll it up to squeeze out the excess water. Avoid twisting or wringing; these harsh movements can harm your swimsuit. Then lay your bathing suit out on yet another dry towel and let it air dry.
If you are able to follow these steps each time, then you are giving your swimsuit(s) the best odds to have a long lifespan. Maybe you won’t even need to buy a new swimsuit this summer.
Parting words
The best time to buy a bathing suit is near the end of summer, which is the months of August and September in North America. You may be able to get deals even in October if you shop at thrift stores. If you don’t want to wait that long, you may be able to find decent deals in the middle of summer.
The worst times to buy a swimsuit are at the beginning of summer or during the winter. Many retailers will capitalize on people traveling to tropical locations during winter and sell their swimwear at full price, which is still cheaper than buying it at the location from tourist shops.
If you do not want to spend so much money on swimwear, the best thing you can do is learn how to take better care of it. Wash it as soon as possible and let it air dry. Swimsuits should be able to last months of use at minimum, not just a few weeks. If you get a chlorine-resistant swimsuit, it can last for years.
That said, nothing lasts forever. When your swimsuit eventually does start to deteriorate and stretch out, you know when the best time is to buy a new one.
