Why Crochet Bikinis Do Not Work
A natural swimwear designer made a whole crochet collection in 2016, and says never again
The crochet bikini looks like the obvious answer to plastic swimwear. Hand made, cotton thread, no factory, no polyester. It feels like the natural choice. It is not, and the person who taught me why is the one who actually tried to build a business on it.
When I was at Sol Luna Atelier with Vivi Rufino and David, the couple behind the natural swimwear label Freedom Ecowear, I asked her straight, why not just make crochet bikinis if you want to go fully natural. She did not hesitate.
“Of course we tried it, in 2016,” Vivi told me. “We did our first crochet bikini collection, and it was like, never again.”
The first problem with a crochet bikini is the lining
“First of all, you still need a lining,” she said. “The lining is still a textile fabric. So you cannot really have a 100% crochet bikini and have it actually work. You need textile as the lining, at least.”
This is the part nobody selling you a crochet bikini mentions. The open weave of crochet is, by design, full of holes. To make it wearable in public it has to be backed with a solid fabric, and that lining is a conventional textile, usually synthetic. So the “100% natural hand made” bikini has a layer of the exact thing you were trying to avoid, sewn into the inside.
The second problem with crochet swimwear is the stretch
“And second,” Vivi went on, “you will have to either blend some of the threads, or use an elastic thread, which is spandex, or lycra, or elastane, to actually make it functional. A lot of people who crochet do not get this concept, that they need to add these things to make it work.”
Here is the mechanics of it, spelled out, because this is where it matters. Plain cotton or hemp thread has no stretch and no recovery. A swimsuit has to hold its shape against a moving body and against water. So the moment a crochet bikini needs to actually stay on and stay in shape, the maker has to thread elastic through it, and elastic thread is spandex, lycra or elastane. All three are plastic. The natural bikini quietly becomes a plastic blend, and because the elastic is knitted through every loop, you can never get it back out. It cannot biodegrade, so it belongs with the synthetics, not with hemp or linen.
This matters more than vanity, because the plastic does not just sit there. Synthetic swimwear sheds microfibres into the water with every wear and wash, and microplastics have now been found in human blood. The garment that touches the most of your skin, in the water, all day, is the last place you want a hidden plastic blend.
Why sustainable swimwear needs a little stretch at all
I wanted to understand why even Freedom keeps a small amount of stretch, so I asked Vivi if spandex is bad. Her answer was the most honest thing I have heard a designer say about it.
“I do not demonise it, because for swimwear it is necessary,” she said. “When a garment gets wet, it changes shape right away. Natural swimwear especially, because it is made of natural fibres, holds a lot of water, so it adds weight. You can go into the water with a swimsuit, and if it has no spandex at all, when you come up, you might be naked.”
That is the real constraint, and it is why a truly 100% natural swimsuit does not exist yet. A wet natural fibre with no stretch falls off the body. Freedom’s answer is not to pretend, it is to keep the synthetic content as low as physically possible. “We keep it below 8%,” Vivi said. “Not even 20. Because if it already works with less, why would we go all the way to 20%. It is just a stretch.”
So the honest hierarchy of swimwear is this. A crochet bikini is not the clean option it looks like, because it hides a synthetic lining and usually elastic thread on top. A natural fibre swimsuit with under 8% elastane, like Freedom Ecowear makes, is the cleanest swimwear you can actually wear and keep on. And the only true zero compromise is no swimsuit at all, which is what a clothing optional stay is for.
How to find genuinely sustainable swimwear instead
If you have a crochet bikini you love, wear it into the ground, that is always the most sustainable choice. But do not buy one believing it is plastic free, because the lining and the elastic almost certainly are not. If you want the real thing, look for natural fibre swimwear that is transparent about its small percentage of stretch, names it, and keeps it low. Transparency is the tell. A brand hiding the composition is hiding the plastic.
This is the same test we run on everything we list. Read the composition label, find the synthetic, and ask whether the brand is honest about it. You can see how the swimwear category measures up on our sustainable swimwear page, the wider principle on biodegradable clothing, and the full method in our sustainable clothing guide. It is the same composition reading we did line by line in the Mate the Label data review, where a brand’s own labels told the real story.
And if the truly zero compromise option appeals, no synthetic against your skin at all, that is exactly what a clothing optional stay gives you, which is why our clothing optional Caribbean guide exists alongside the swimwear we list.
What You Put On Your Body Is a Sacred Act
Clothing is intimate. It lives against our skin and moves with us through the world. Yet fast fashion has made it a source of harm, flooding the planet with pollution, toxic chemicals, and synthetic fibres that dishonour both people and Earth. Choose to dress with intention. Explore brands crafted with natural fibres, fair wages, and reverence for the body and the planet.
-12% Off Exclusive Discount On Sustainable Swimwear
Freedom Ecowear have given us a discount of -12% off to share with our website visitors. Use the link to claim your discount.
