ACTIVEWEAR YOU’LL WANT, EVEN IF YOU’RE NOT A TRIATHLETE.

When I was invited to a showing at Swimwear Anywhere, the second largest branded swimwear manufacturer in the country and holder of countless licenses for major brands, I thought great.  Pretty swimsuits will bring hopes of the warmth to come, even though it was a day after a massive snowstorm.

On this cold, winter day, Swimwear Anywhere was announcing its partnership with TYR, creators of a variety of active wear, but not just active wear.  This is active wear with a brain, and big muscles, designed not so much for the beach or yoga class at the local gym, but for serious athletes.  Tri-athletes.  Iron Men, and women.  Among the wearers of TYR:  Sarah Haskins, Olympic favorite for the Women’s Triathlon, All-American Triathlete Andy Potts and Iron Woman Chrissie Wellington.  Pictures of people with zero-percent body fat fill TYR’s brochures.

I am not a Triathlete or an Iron Woman, and my paltry gym workouts would make these fully fit athletic machines laugh, so hearing that TYR uses new, state-of-the-art technology that helps you glide through water or keeps you dry when you’re running a race doesn’t do me a whole lot of good.  But then, I saw them.  The diamond or ring-back, one-piece swimsuits may be technologically perfect for a swimmer, but the designs, with names like “Shockwave”, “Aries” and “Sunset Beach” are beautiful and stylish.  The Thin-X Back designs, like “Rockstar”, “Graffiti Floral” and “Groovy” are colorful and cute, and even come in bikini styles.  There’s also a series of reversible models, plain and utilitarian on one side, cute and rockin’ when they’re inside out.

The workout wear may be made for dedicated athletes, but the fabrics, especially on their beautifully fitted track suits, are so soft and supple you’ll want to live in them.  The workout shorts and leggings might actually inspire you back to the gym, and the spinning shorts have their own carbon technology that helps wick away sweat from, well, places where you don’t want sweat.  TYR makes a full-length wet suit that’s a wonder of modern science (I wondered how anyone got into it, or, more importantly, out of it, it was that form-fitting). But that’s for the pros.  I saw stylish, perfectly-constructed clothes at accessible price points that I really want to own.  The technology is for the super-athletes.  The stylish and comfortable clothes are for the rest of us.