Modesty becomes them

SWIMWEAR | New products are well-suited to lifestyles of women who need to cover up

BY Kara Spak
Chicago Sun-Times
May 28, 2007


Ronza Othman is a Muslim woman who has found the ability to swim in the ocean thanks to a line of modest swimwear called Splashgear.
(Jean Lachat/Sun-Times)

Ronza Othman waited until night to dip in the pool on family vacations, swimming with female relatives only after the men had gone to sleep. She's a Muslim who wears a headscarf and traditional dress, and even the most tame swimsuits didn't fit into her code of modesty.

But a design created by a Muslim woman with a love of scuba diving offered 25-year-old Othman, an attorney from south suburban Burbank, the opportunity to do something she never thought possible: swim in public.

She replaced her typical wading outfit of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with a full Splashgear swimsuit -- pants, top and head covering -- before cruising to the Caribbean in March.

"I never thought I'd be swimming in the ocean, and I got to do that," she said. "I've swam in private before with just women around, but this was actually kind of liberating."

Splashgear isn't the only business offering floral-print swimsuits with sleeves, skirts, high necks and long shorts or pants.

A handful of Internet-based businesses are finding a lucrative market in alternative swimwear, selling thousands of suits a year to women by advertising over religious networks ranging from Mormons to Muslims.

The suits make L.L. Bean's low-cut legs, swingy skirts and boxy tops look borderline racy. Though still on the fringe of fashion, women buying modest swimsuits say they provide the freedom to enjoy swimming pools and snorkeling, water parks and hot tubs, within the strictures of their personal beliefs.

Shereen Sabet, a microbiologist at California State University at Long Beach, started designing her Splashgear line several years ago to reconcile her love of scuba diving with her Muslim faith's dress code.

While Sabet estimates 90 percent of customers are Muslim, she thinks the potential customer base is much broader. "There are obese women you don't see at the beach or in a pool, women with prosthetics, Orthodox Jewish women, older women who don't want to wear bikinis," she said. "Eventually the dream is to have my own Splashgear line in stores."

Muslims aren't the only ones shopping for modesty.

Modest Swimwear Solutions, an Internet-based business whose Web site implores "May God be glorified by the way we dress!" caters to conservative Christians.

Rick Hopkins, president of Utah-based Swim Modest, said his wife sewed swimsuits for their three daughters four years ago because, "We were sick and tired of all the immodesty in swimwear."

"They were classy looking but they did cover a lot of the body," he said of the homemade suits. "They felt comfortable swimming and playing around."

People spotted the girls in their suits and asked where they bought them. A business was born.

Hopkins said religion is not the only factor leading customers to the suits, which feature cap sleeves, high necklines, attached sarong skirts and long shorts in bright tropical prints.

"A lot of people want it as beachwear," he said. "It's not modesty, it's just the point of being comfortable."

Melanoma, not modesty, inspired Mary Kay McCormick to start her full-coverage Solar Eclipses beachwear line 16 years ago. Her husband and mother-in-law both died of skin cancer, and a daughter had two cancerous spots removed.

"I'm in business to protect and educate the public to the dangers of exposing your body to the sun," McCormick said. Her swimsuits and swim shirts are the equivalent of wearing SPF 30 sunscreen.

"Clothing is really the way to protect yourself," she said. "It's not being sweat off, rubbed off and you're not missing a spot."

Jackie Rawlins, a mother of five and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was looking for something that not only covered her up but allowed her to get in the pool with her kids. Her Internet-based company Ohana sold 2,500 swimsuits last year.

She described her swimsuits as "a middle ground" between skimpy bikinis and "modest swimsuit companies out there that take you back in time."

"Women that want to be modest are still looking to be fashion-forward," she said. "They still want to be able to express their fashion sense and be comfortable."

Suzanne Hamidi of Naperville isn't Muslim, but her husband is. She said she was pleasantly surprised to find through Splashgear swimwear they both liked.

"They actually have products that are kind of modern looking," Hamidi said. "I can get in the water and not be too risque."

© Copyright 2007 Sun-Times News Group