98 Years in the Water

Speedo was born on Bondi Beach in 1928. Not to follow swimming — but to change it.

At the time, swimwear held swimmers back. Heavy, restrictive, built for modesty over movement. That changed with one idea. Founder Alexander McRae introduced the Racerback suit — the first non-wool design that allowed the shoulders to move freely through the water.

It wasn’t just more comfortable. It made swimmers faster.

That belief — that what you wear in the water should work with you, not against you — has defined Speedo ever since.

For 98 years, every innovation has followed the same principle: reduce resistance, maximise efficiency, and give swimmers an advantage they can feel. From early advancements in lightweight fabrics to the development of Fastskin® — inspired by the texture of shark skin — Speedo has consistently rethought how the body moves through water.

When the Fastskin LZR Racer® launched, it didn’t just raise the bar. It reset it. Engineered to compress, streamline and reduce drag, it became part of some of the fastest swims ever recorded. Not by chance — by design.

But progress in the water isn’t only measured in world records.

It’s in the discipline of early starts. The focus of training sets. The moment a swimmer finds their rhythm, their confidence, their edge. That’s where Speedo lives day to day — in goggles that hold their seal, in suits that keep their shape, in kit designed to perform under pressure, session after session.

Because swimming is unforgiving. There’s no hiding from the water. Every movement counts.

And for nearly a century, Speedo has been built to make those movements better.

98 years on, the mindset hasn’t changed. Keep refining. Keep testing. Keep moving forward.

Because in the water, efficiency is everything. And speed is earned.