Speedo International Ltd. is a swimwear manufacturer and distributor of Australian-based swimwear and accessories based in Nottingham, England. Founded in Sydney, Australia in 1914 by Alexander MacRae, a Scottish emigrant, the industry's leading company is now a subsidiary of the British Pentland Group. Currently, the Speedo brand can be found on products ranging from swimwear and sunglasses to watches. The Speedo brand was manufactured for and marketed in North America as Speedo USA by PVH under an exclusive perpetual license, which acquired the previous license holder of Warnaco Group in 2013.
In accordance with its Australian roots, Speedo uses a boomerang as their symbol. Due to their success in the swimwear industry, the word "Speedo" has become synonymous with swimwear.
Video Speedo
Histori
Speedo Knitting Mills
The founder of the company Alexander MacRae emigrated from Loch Kishorn in the western Scottish Highlands to Sydney, Australia in 1910. Originally working as a milkman, he founded MacRae and Company Hosiery four years later, producing underwear under brand name Fortitude (taken from the family emblem). The Australian Army's need for socks during the First World War gave MacRae with enough business to expand and in 1927 the first line of his bathing suits, called "racer costumes" was introduced. The following year, a naming contest held among MacRae's staff produced the slogan "Speeding Your Speedos." Brand name born. The contest winner, Captain Parsonson, was awarded £ 5 for his slogan and the company changed its name to Speedo Knitting Mills.
Revolutionary yet revolutionary open-backed racist shoulders allow for greater range of motion in the water and are rapidly adopted by competitive swimmers, although it is forbidden by some beaches. In 1932, Speedo made his Olympic debut when 16-year-old Clare Dennis won the Women's 200 Meter Breaststroke at the Los Angeles Olympics. After being almost disqualified for "showing too much shoulder" in his brand Speedo silk bathing suits, Dennis went on to set a world record time of 3: 06.3. The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin also witnessed some controversy when the Australian men's swimming team featured swimwear without a shirt for the first time. Also in 1936, Alexander MacRae was involved in the Surf Life Saving Association. To this day, Speedo continues to support Australian volunteer organizations.
Two years later, company founder Alexander MacRae died at the age of 50 years.
Post-War Expansion
After dedicating most of his resources to War efforts during World War II, Speedo enjoyed a large post-war demand for swimwear, particularly the recently discovered bikini style. The company quickly rebuilt itself as a leader in swimwear manufacturing and once again attracted controversy when its two pieces were banned by Australian coastal watchdogs. In 1951, Speedo Knitting Mills (Holdings) Ltd. join and go public, sell its shares on the Sydney Stock Exchange. In 1955, nylon was used for the first time in the company's swimwear and the following year, an increasingly popular swimsuit brand returned to the Olympics when its home country hosted the Summer Games in Melbourne. The Australo-sponsored Australian man swimming team brought home eight gold medals and brought a new level of worldwide fame to the company that debuted swimwear that would become synonymous with the brand name. In 1957, Speedo has an exclusive license to manufacture and distribute Jockey brand men's clothing in Australia. The company finished from 1950 by exporting to the United States and exploring potential opportunities in South America, Europe, New Zealand and Japan.
The late 1950s also saw the onset of long-term business partnerships that continue to this day. In 1958, Speedo began producing American Warnaco's White Stag ski-wear line. Instead, in 1961, White Stag became the exclusive US distributor of Speedo swimsuits. Through the White Stag, the Speedo product line is expanded to include both men's and women's sports. In the mid-1960s, Speedo had acquired 30% of Nottingham, the English textile manufacturer Robert Shaw and Company Ltd. and has established a European subsidiary. Licenses are also granted to Japanese and South American companies. The 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico witnessed 27 of 29 gold medalists - 22 of which broke the world record - wearing a Speedo brand swimsuit.
Speedo started the next decade by completing the acquisition of Robert Shaw and Company in 1971. The 1970s also saw the company pioneering the use of elastane (spandex) and brand usage in Olympic record-breaking continued at the Munich Olympics and 1976 in 1972, most of which Speedo was the holder licensed swimwear license.
On Australia Day, January 26, 1981, the Australian Institute of Sport opened in Canberra, with Speedo as its first official sponsor. Also in the early decades, Speedo provides equipment and training to China to help the communist state return to the Olympics for the first time since 1958. Throughout the decade, the brand has expanded its reach in Europe by licensing production in Italy, Spain, Sweden and others. state, bringing the total distribution to 112 countries.
Modern technology
In 1990, British sportswear company Pentland Group, which recently sold the Reebok shoemaker stock, acquired a significant stake in Warnaco, Authentic Fitness, which is an exclusive license from North America, Speedo. Pentland follows this step by purchasing 80% of Speedo (Europe) Ltd. Early next year, Pentland completed its aggressive entrance into the global swimwear market by fully acquiring Speedo Australia and Speedo International. Under Pentland ownership, Speedo expanded its swimwear line to include more fashion-oriented beach clothing and triathlon accessories.
Even under the new corporate command, Speedo continues its triumphal tradition of utilizing advanced technology to reduce water barriers and increase speed to the 1990s. The decade sees the creation of a low drag S2000 suit, Endurance endurance chlorine as well as Aquablade series worn by more than three quarters of the medal winners at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Speedo started the 21st century by introducing his Fastskin swimsuit and, once again, breaking the world record when the Summer Games returned to the swimwear leader's home. The company's website boasts that 13 of 15 damaged swimming records at the 2000 Sydney Olympics are by athletes who wear Speedo. Three years later, Speedo celebrates its 75th anniversary with a special limited edition track supported by Jerry Hall, Naomi Campbell, and others. In 2004, Michael Phelps wore Fastskin II, the latest evolution of the Fastskin series, in Athens to become the first swimmer to win eight medals. Phelps followed up on this performance four years later, producing eight gold medals in Beijing, while wearing the LZR Racer Speedo suit. In 2010, the company launched Speedo Sculpture ShapeLine, a new line of swimwear that makes up the body for women.
Maps Speedo
Products
Although the brand name Speedo is often generalized to refer to a men's swimwear style, this account is less than 2% of the company's sales. Speedo names can be found in a variety of stylish swimwear for men, women, and children that focus on performance and style. Speedo also offers a range of sportswear, footwear, and accessories ranging from swimming glasses to electronics. In addition, Speedo International offers a line of men's underwear and Speedo Australia has an underwear line called Speedo Underbody for men and women, sold only at certain David Jones retail outlets.
Accessories
Speedo offers a wide range of swimming accessories including over seventy models of glasses, several models of watches, sunglasses, and towels. In addition, Speedo offers several water fitness aids and swimming aids for children and adults as well as scuba masks, snorkels and swimfins. Speedo International offers beach games equipment not offered on the SpeedoUSA website.
Footwear
The Speedo brand can be found on a variety of footwear including sandals, flip-flops, and water shoes. Speedo USA offers waterproof shoes for aqua fitness training.
Speedo Digital
Digital Speedo accessory lines include Aquabeat waterproof LZR Racer and Aquabeat digital music players and related accessories, manufactured by South Korean consumer electronics company Iriver. The Speedo electronics offer also includes Auquashot waterproof digital camera.
Swimwear
The Speedo USA men's collections are categorized as: Competition, Racing, Boardshorts and Swim Trunks, Fashion, and Lifeguard. Offering Speedo International men also includes wetsuits. Both Speedo USA and Speedo International also offer a wide range of children's styles including performance, racing, fashion and beginner lines.
Controversial technology
The swimming recordings were solved in the Speedo brand silk garments in the 1930s, and the company was the first to introduce the use of nylon in the 1950s and then nylon/elastane in the 1970s. Speedo's latest technological advances are found in Fastskin, Fastskin FS II series and LZR Racer suits. Throughout the company's history, it seems, every design innovation was greeted with great controversy. Clare Dennis was almost disqualified from a record-breaking Olympic encounter because her jacket showed too much skin; Early Speedo bikinis were banned from some Australian shores; More recently, NASA's technology in LZR Racer's outfit worn by Michael Phelps at the Beijing Olympics is the subject of great media scrutiny.
Fastskin
In 2000, British designer and former competitive swimmer Fiona Fairhurst was named finalist for European Inventors of the Year. Fairhurst helped design team Speedo Aqualab create his first-of-its-kind Fastskin swimsuit. Inspired by the varied shark skin textures, Fairhurst told the BBC that he "sought to develop fabrics that mimic nature". Both Fastskin and Fastkskin FS II are textured with bulges and bulges in major places, similar to those on shark skin. This back is claimed to channel water into the body of a swimmer in a more efficient way than traditional dress. However, research in 2012 has suggested that artificial shark skin patterns do not benefit human swimmers, whose body movements are different from sharks.
In addition, clothing designed specifically for this type of swim strokes will be used as well as engineered differently for women and men. This high-tech outfit uses elastic compression materials to restrict muscle oscillation and to condense the body of a swimmer, while in other areas more flexible fabrics are used to allow for greater range of motion. Without leaving out the missing details, the design team also uses a low profile layer. According to author Frank Vizard, Fastskin's suit reduces drag by up to four percent. Speedo adapted this new fabric technology for the 2006 Winter Olympics. The full-bodied Fastskin FSII Ice suit was brought in by a silver medal that won an American women's wagon team.
While bobsledders are given the opportunity to wear their Fastskin suit, the line has gone through several evolutions including Fastskin FS-II and Fastskin FS-Pro. From the beginning, this drag-reduction setting was greeted with great resistance. In question is the FÃÆ' Â © dation Internationale de Natation (FINA) ruled 10.7, stating "No swimmer must use a device that can help his speed, buoyancy, or endurance during competition (such as webbed gloves, fins, fins etc.). Goggles can be used ". In early 2000, Speedo handed over their new Fastskin outfit to 150 Olympic candidates and promised another 6,000 will be available for the Olympic trials. Afraid of the possible winners of the Speedo race-wrapped up in medals due to the challenge, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) asked the Sports Arbitration Court to check the legality of the FINA-approved suit. In May of that year, an arbitrator appointed by the CAS endorsed a FINA ruling that allowed the use of a lawsuit for an Olympic trials. Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates, however, said in a press conference that their swimmers would be allowed to wear a futuristic neck to the ankle cover, but would do so "at their own risk". Coates later stated that the decision he was looking for was whether the clothes should be classified as costumes or devices.
Professor Emeritus of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences at San Diego State University, Brent S. Rushall claimed in a report sent to CAS that the clothing - based on the FINA definition and based on the manufacturer's claims - is in fact a device, not a costume and therefore violates FINA rules, which prohibits equipment such as fins or fins. In the report, Rushall is equally critical of Adidas (who owns a similar designed bodysuit) and Speedo to give FINA members present and declares that these members should resign from the decision of the legality of the lawsuit.
In the end, the outfit was approved for use at the Sydney Olympics and in December 2000 the super suits gained place in the "Best Science of What's New" 100, along with the replacement of the US Navy F-16 and Kodak's Smart Digital Picture Frame with built-in modem.
Four years later, FSII made its debut in Athens summer match. While the next stage in the evolution of swimsuits was quickly approved by FINA, it was not without controversy. Competitor Speedo TYR developed a complete body suit similar to a separate arm, which the company calls Aqua Bands. The two Aqua bands that are detached from the TYR and Speedo FSII's arm are designed to essentially "grasp" the water in the inner arm. TYR maintains that basically the only difference between their suit and Speedo is whether the arm is attached. Nevertheless, FINA does not approve the TYR armband. In 2004, 47 medals were won by swimmers wearing Fastskin II.
At the end of 2011, in time for the holiday season, Speedo introduces the new Fastskin3 suit. This lawsuit comes in two styles, Elite and Super Elite. Speedo developed Fastskin3 as a racing system, consisting of newly introduced hats, sunglasses and competition settings. Michael Phelps is the main advertiser for Fastskin3 line of clothing, as Ryan Lochte has been reportedly preferring the older Fastskin LZR Elite suit. As a replacement for LZR Pro and Elite, Speedo changed the brand for their technical costume from "Fastskin LZR Racer" to "Fastskin", continuing the trend they left in 2008 when they debuted LZR Racer. Male coats are available as a normal cutting suit and a high-waisted suit that utilizes the space between the belly button and the male swimmer's waist. The heart of the Speedo advertising campaign for a new line of so-called "one-to-one" benefits with the lawsuit. Speedo advertises drag reduction of up to 16.6% and 11% increase in oxygen economy. The system is sold featuring a "fit point marker", which allows swimmers to line up accordingly, hats, and glasses to achieve the ideal fit and appearance. FINA approved the lawsuit as soon as it was launched, and the suit was anticipated for use in the London 2012 Olympics by the majority of athletes, along with the PowerSkin Carbon Pro Arena suit, which debuted in early 2012.
LZR Racer
The most controversial step of Speedo came with the 2008 launch of LZR (pronounced "lazer") Racer. The super fine jacket, optimized with the help of NASA's wind tunnel, uses a welded joint and several woven fabrics to reduce drag by up to six percent. In addition, LZR, like Fastskin, uses a core stabilizer, which acts almost as a corset, to reduce muscle movement. It's designed to help the swimmers maintain the right angle in the water for longer periods of time. The Popular Science Magazine named it as one of their "100 Best of What's New '08" lists, calling it "The world's fastest swimsuit". Subsequent research reveals another reason for the suit's success: small air bubbles tend to get trapped between the swimmer's body and its suit, lifting the swimmers a bit so that they benefit from lower friction on air compared to water.
The Speedo website boasts that LZR Racer "is very fast, banned from competition". Indeed, LZR Racer was banned from international competition by FINA in 2009, along with all full-body polyurethane outfits. Men's clothing is also prohibited from stretching over the waist or below the knee. Women's clothing can not get over the shoulder or go under the knees. However, at the time, the swimsuit wearing the suit had solved at least 46 world records.
The FINA ban on LZR Racer and all the "hi-tech" outfits came shortly before Michael Phelps was 200 meters freestyle loss to Germany's Paul Biedermann at the 2009 FINA Aquatic World Championships in Rome, Italy. Wearing the Arena X-Glide polyurethane suit, Biedermann broke two world records that day and beat Phelps for more than a second. Although FINA has approved the ban, it has not been scheduled until the following spring. The delay in the hi-tech ban FINA and the unexpected second place phelps (his first loss since 2005) left Phelps coach Bob Bowman threatening an international pool competition boycott. In the first three days of the eight-day competition, 15 world records were set.
The vague decision by the swimming governing body states that appropriate materials should be textile, rather than polymer-based, but do not offer specific deadlines for these changes to occur. The reason for the delay, FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu told AP, is to give enough time to the manufacturers "to switch from polyurethane to textile". Ambiguity continues when FINA can not define textiles. The most specific aspect of the verdict is returning men to the chest and naked women to shoulders naked. The current rules (GR 5.4), as posted on the FINA website, state "Before design swimwear, construction or new materials are used in competition, such swimwear manufacturers must submit swimwear to FINA and obtain FINA approval".
The latest version of the LZR Racer series, LZR Racer Elite, carries the FINA approval stamp. The Elite series, like its predecessor, uses a welded joint and compression material to sculpt a swimmer's body. The SpeedoUSA website specifically denies the new generation of LZR Racers is a "quick fix". The most recent list of approved FINA swimwear, published in January 2011, contains 78 special Speedo swimwear brands among 45 brands worldwide and nearly 720 models. Among them, 71 are Fastskin models and 13 LZR series. Some Speedo designs have been removed from the FINA list including the original LZR Racer, and some models of Fastskin.
Post-FINA surplus
FINA's ban on LZR Racers leaves Speedo with a significant surplus stock. Outdated competition clothes have found a new life. London College of Art and Design London received a donation of 600 outfits, 200 of which were converted into Chelsea Xpo Pavilion as part of the 2010 London Architecture Festival project. Pavilions can be seen on campus campus at Groot Parade Rootstein Hopkins.
Another collaboration between Speedo and academics netted the fashion designer line. Student teams from the London College of Fashion, University College Falmouth and the University of Huddersfield have reused material to create complete fashion lines including casual trousers, jackets, and even various swimsuits. Speedo International President David Robinson said in a press release "we are delighted to see the quality of talent emerging from the university that has taken part in. Speedo is committed to reducing its impact on the environment and therefore it is good to see Speedo LZR Racers live in this innovative design".
This is not the company's first attempt into high-fashion recycling, though. In September 2010, the award-winning sustainable fashion label, From Somewhere announced a series of new dresses made from surplus Speedo.
Sponsors
Olympic Committee
National team
Speedo is the sponsor of several national swimming teams.
Speedo also offers sponsorship for several high school and college leagues (NCAA, NAIA, Junior college) as well as non-profit recreation leagues such as YMCA and Boys and Girls Clubs.
Sponsor athletes
In addition to team and league sponsorships, these are some of the celebrity athletes currently sponsored by Speedo.
See also
- High-tech bathing suit
- List of generic and genericised trademarks
- List of swimwear brands
- Tyr Sport, Inc. - Speedo's main competitor in the performance swimwear market.
- Warnaco Group - North America's exclusive licensee of Speedo
References
External links
- Speedo International Limited
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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