During the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004, Janet Jackson suffered what teenaged boys across the U.S. had been praying to see at pool parties for decades: a wardrobe malfunction.
Since then, stars from Chrissy Teigen to Bella Hadid have experienced one (intentionally or not), a “problem” that Patagonia has set out to eradicate, at least when female surfers are involved.
The outdoor company’s women’s sportswear discovered a potentially useful new technology called Nanogrip three years ago and has been testing prototype bikinis created from it ever since, according to Outside. What makes the fabric ideal is that (unlike Bon Jovi’s third album), the thousands of microscopic polyester filaments it’s made up of becomes grippier, not more slippery, when wet.
According to Laura Kinman of Patagonia, the tests with the Nanogrip fabric were “a huge hit” and surfer Summer Watson, who’d experienced her fair share of “nip slips” in the past, agrees. “The Nanogrip is pretty amazing,” she says. “It’s the first bikini I have ever worn bodysurfing that is comfortable and cute, yet I don’t have to stay underwater to adjust before surfacing.”
A full bikini set costs close to $150 and Patagonia plans to roll out a full-coverage suit next year.
Good stuff, we guess.
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