Jerusalem – Devora, an Orthodox Jewish woman, never felt comfortable in the sleek, revealing bathing suits sold at the stores she frequented in her native France or in her adopted Israel.
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While she ordinarily wears fashionable skirts that fall below the knee and blouses that extend to her wrists, Devora, 31, was unable to find a swimsuit consistent with her Orthodox lifestyle.
Her standards of religious modesty extend not only to her wardrobe but also to sharing her full name, lest it draw attention to her and her family.
When the dress she typically wore over her bathing suit got wet, “it became heavy, unwieldy, clingy and transparent. I felt incredibly self-conscious, even while swimming during women-only hours,” she said of the segregated swimming that’s available at some Israeli pools and beaches.
A year ago, Devora heard about a modest-swimwear line called Sea Secret. Designed in Israel by two French-born Orthodox Jews in consultation with a respected rabbi, the company’s below-the-arm, below-the-knee swim-dresses adhere to the strict Orthodox Jewish dress code.
“I bought a swim-dress just before going on vacation last year and found it elegant, comfortable and modest,” she said. “Wearing it, I felt like a role model for my young daughter and comfortable around my young son. Other women saw it and asked where I’d purchased it. I loved it so much I ended up selling the company’s swimwear.”
Modest-minded women around the world are now enjoying a similar sense of new-found freedom, thanks to the recent emergence of several lines of modest swimwear in the U.S., the Middle East, Asia and Australia.
Although statistics on this niche market are hard to come by, online testimonials — with actual photos of satisfied customers in their swimsuits — and chat-room discussions and blog posts lend credence to manufacturers’ claims that the phenomenon is growing.
Even more, women can now be seen actually wearing the suits on local beaches.
Demand for cover-up beachwear has reached the point that even Speedo, the British bathing suit giant, sells a long-sleeved, long-legged swimsuit with a matching head-neck covering for $110 on its British website.
With few exceptions, conservative swimwear has been conceived by religious women whose strict interpretation of Judaism, Islam or Christianity forbids them from baring significant parts of their body to even close family members.
Daniella Teutsch, co-owner of Jerusalem-based HydroChic, which offers modest and sun-protective swimwear lines as well as sportswear, said her 2-year-old company has already doubled sales in the past year, “and last year we did nicely.”
Teutsch, a U.S. native, said most of HydroChic’s religious customers are modern Orthodox Jews, along with a healthy sprinkling of Christians, from English-speaking countries.
“They’re used to finding solutions so that they can do water activities with their families. They’re also health conscious and appreciate the sun protection and fast-drying material, but most of all they want something comfortable and safe. They’re seeking an alternative to wet T-shirts.”
HydroChic’s modest swimwear line includes both long shorts and long skirts, which means women “seeking total coverage, like devout Muslims and ultra-Orthodox Jews, won’t buy from us,” Teutsch said.
The two French-born women behind Sea Secret, Yardena G. and Esther, operate out of small warehouse in an Orthodox neighborhood here. As is often the case in ultra-Orthodox circles, the designers said it would be improper to be photographed or have their last names publicized.
When they wanted to ensure that their designs were conformed to Jewish law, they met with a prominent rabbi’s wife, not the rabbi himself. “We told the rabbi’s wife our idea, she brought it to her husband, and he said it was kosher,” Yardena said.
Because many fervently Orthodox women shun bright colors, Sea Secret’s swim-dresses and turbans are available in muted shades with just a strip of bright pink or turquoise at the edges. Mannequins, not actual women, model the swimwear on the company’s website.
The women said their decision to design modest swimwear rather than, say, a line of handbags, came from their desire to help others fulfill their religious obligations.
“The Torah commands us to dress modestly and to act modestly, and our contribution has been to show religious women that it’s possible to be both elegant and religiously observant,” Yardena said. “Our swimsuits are fashionable, but their reason for being is to bring more holiness to the world.”
Tznius is required by only woman beaches too?
there will be plenty of lifeguards who will unfortanitly have to work harder because of these swimdresses. these swim dresses are a danger in the pool to those who wear them. there are plenty of lifeguards who have a pool policy of tee shirts in the pool that cannot be loose fitting and lower then the hips for a healthy reason. sorry this new company i hope you won’t do damage to people wearing your merchandise in the pool. besides if you are worried about modesty at the beach you do not belong there!
These people are “twisted” with their hashkafos. What does dressing outside tziyus have to do with a public bath house. I understand that she may feel uncomfortable, which is very dangerous according to most psycologists, but don’t make a bathing suit into something that it was not meant to be. What they are doing now is allowing men and women to swim together because they are “tzniyus”. Don’t think this hasn’t crossed people’s minds yet.
I’m sure it will sell well in Iran & Afghanistan.
Kol hakovod to these eherleche yidden who are willing to commit the time and energy that allow us to enjoy the beach without any concern for tzinus issues. While some chassideshe vomen may still not want to “indulge”, having this option is a real gift especially for the summer, Knowing that these bathing suits have the “approval” of some highly regarded rabbonim (plus our local posek from shul) eliminates any basis for concerns for most vomen in moderneshe families.
givaltig!! now we can swim together
How does a Rov give a hechsher on a woman’s swimsuit? Does he examine it?
this whole idea is sick and absurd. Doesnt the jewish community have any real issues to worry about????? i am so tired of all these absurd chumrahs which are so far removed from anything G-d ever said or intended.
You people are crazy. You know that? I don’t know why I checked out the hydro chic website with my wife (me and my big mouth) but there is nothing tzniusdig about this attire. I highly doubt your grandmother would have worn this stuff in public.
IMHO, wearing such a swimdress has nothing to do with “modesty”, it has to do with shame.
In a swimming area, a frum woman can wear a bathing suit. Wearing something exceptionally revealing may be considered offensive, or a mark of insecurity with oneself, but covering up entirely has do with a warped sense of “tznius” that some women have. A Jewish woman is beautiful, and in the right time and place, she should feel comfortable with herself…
what does not giving a full name have to do with tzniut? I won’t give my full name here because I don’t want some of the crazy people who post on this site to contact me outside of this forum. These ladies are doing people a service (albeit a strange one as I find the return of the turn-of-the-last-century “swimming costumes” to be): you’d think they would want publicity to market their product.
So couture, beautiful, stylish, just don’t get too close to the pumps in the pool.
is this news from the Saudis. Or just radical Jews
It is true that long clothing can be dangerous. Especially getting caught under water with loose clothing. I have an idea..why not just swim amoungst women and men swim with men? I know there are some women that cover their hair at all women’s pool. I never understood that. Nor did i understand that they wore their snood with a bathing suit on and no t-shirt!
where do u apply to watch the women model and decide if its kosher
No matter where you are, especially under the sky, you should not be exposed, for Hashem hates immorality,
These manufacturers of such garments have a Schus and deserve a lot credit.
I sympathize all these people who get upset with such ” Chimrus”, obviously they probably did not get the right Chinuch
The Torah states:
והתקדשתם והייתם קדושים
Holy You Should Be!
By wearing immodest clothing we distance the Shechina (Divine Presence) from us.
As the Torah states:
ולא יראה בן ערות דבר ושב מאחריך
Immodesty should not be seen amongst you!
Or Hashem will withdraw his presence from you!
When the Shechina departs, we are stripped of our protection ח”ו
Maybe this is why so many tzoros, illness, crushing poverty and unbearable tragedies, have befallen us.
In the words of the Holy Chofetz Chaim tzl in a famous letter:
“A huge fire has broken out in many places through the despicable styles which the power of uncleanliness has unleashed”……….
THIS IS WHY BLESSINGS AND PROSPERITY HAVE LEFT US…….
To a large degree this despicable style negates the statement of the Torah:
“Your camp should be holy and there should not be found therein erveh”
Tight-fitting, short, flashy clothing, low cut necklines, long extravagant sheitels, etc. are contrary to Tznius standards,
Besides being the cause of other people’s sins.
Let us wear clothes that are befitting for Jewish Daughters
This will cause the Shechina to reside in our midst. This will bring many blessings upon ourselves, and ultimately bring the Geulah Sheleima בב”א
בזכות נשים צדקניות אתידין להגאל! The key to our salvation is in your hands!
Go to a place that sells wet suits for scuba divers and get the kind they sell for cold water….
looks great with a matching veil
1. These bathing suits are a hazard when swimming, there is a greater chance of drowning with all that fabric on the woman.
2. Her “comfortable” level has to do with self esteem, not tzniot.
3. This wont make it okay for both men and women to swim together. -wet clinging clothing on a woman’s body is just as untzniot.
Solution?
work out, lose weight, get a self esteem, and you wont feel “uncomfortable” about wearing a bathing suit around other people.
p.s. making this story publicly available for men about women in bathing suits is tzniot, how exactly?
On a side point.
In response to “lm Says” – “Besides being the cause of other people’s sins.”
Why don’t these “inadvertent” sinners take responsibility for their actions, instead of always having to look elsewhere for blame. Grow Up!
why can’t we go In a 2 piece set bikini between our friends in a pool? men don’t swim with us???
don’t get it.. I guess they made a new rule book
I wouldn’t encourage my wife or daughters to buy these dresses but I also wouldn’t discourage them either. Henoch lahem libnos yisroel – they know without a Brisker Kvetch and a Telzer Drai what is and what is not tzeni’us.
Frankly, the only thing I find disturbing is how many people here are disturbed by what someone else wants to do leshaim shomayim.
If you don’t hold of it don’t do it. So long as no one tries to impose this as a new standard for all of klal yisroel, who cares?
did anybody here ever read the song of songs? judaism is nor feminist nor phallocentric. jewish women are equal to men. even in the past if her husband would die, it was tradition for a lady to take over all his dealings. do you really think that the jewish religion itself requires jewish women to cover every inch? or not sing in front of men? most of us are ashkenazim and once upon a time the great rabbis looked at the christians, then each other, and said: “hmmm we can learn a few things…” so today my crazy cousin who mutes the TV or Radio or real life, when a lady begin singing is actually upholding a goyish tradition of keeping women firmly quiet in church and elsewhere. All this covering up is ridiculous too, because only ashkenazi women uphold it with such fervor. sephardic women today do not cover up every inch like the ashkenazi women do. immodesty is treating your body as a pin cushion or filling it like a toxins. hashem made beauty, especially feminine beauty for the world to see and appreciate. if everyone is made in the image of hashem, then why could we cover it up? beauty is just another one of hashems great creations.
there is also this new company that is manufacturing body suits for the mikva
Quote #38 All this covering up is ridiculous too, because only ashkenazi women uphold it with such fervor. sephardic women today do not cover up every inch like the ashkenazi women do. immodesty is treating your body as a pin cushion or filling it like a toxins. hashem made beauty, especially feminine beauty for the world to see and appreciate. if everyone is made in the image of hashem, then why could we cover it up? beauty is just another one of hashems great creations.”
Hmmm, I think I should add some things to your post. Feminine beauty is something not to be covered up. In fact, lets flaunt what we got. Why cant I wear something that shows my beautiful perfect size 2 figure. The heck with tznius, that was given to the arabs, and narrow minded people.
I meant to be sarcastic. #38 and alot of others should read the basic halachas of tznius AND FOLLOW IT.
I am a Red Cross certified lifeguard, and I can tell you that loose fitting swimsuits or clothes pose a danger of entrapment, as do hair decorations, and jewelry. I understand the need for modesty, but this particular approach increases risk to life. These swimsuits are not ideal for use in the water and could be dangerous.
Here in new york they have been selling such dresses known as “shvimkleider” – swimdress, and coolouts. The coolouts have a panty part attached so that the dress doesn’t lift entirely when you jump into the water. However I always made sure that the length of the dress when lifted never covered my mouth. That in a way is safer than a t-shirt. As a t-shirt is a heavy piece of fabric that goes over your head when you jump into the water and it’s hard to get it off your face. These should only be worn with a bathing suit – or at least undergarments, as it becomes quite revealing when wet.
I’m surprised this is even news. In many chasidishe bungalow colonies and camps the women already wear tzniusdig swimdresses and dont allow bathing suits in their pools.
I am a quite confident slim young woman, though I cannot imagine myself ever going swimming with a bathing suit. I view my beautiful young self as a precious treasure that’s here to fulfill a tafkid. Exposing it in public, even where just women are around would diminish its value. I don’t think its a matter of tznius, provided that there are only women in the vicinity. Its rather a matter of respect for ourselves. I wear the coolouts mentioned in a previous comment.
there is nothing wrong with modesty, absolutely a lady should have enough respect for her body not to wear a bikini to work. what i am saying is that people to take it to such extremes are missing the point. besides where does it actually say in the torah that a jewish woman needs to be covered head to toe at all times. i respect the fact that jewish women are innovative to learn new ways to work around it, i just dont think it should be interpreted to such an extent. xtians by the way created many of those laws, especially the one about keeping women silent.
Why don’t the ladies just use a submarine no more headaches?????
As a lifeguard for many years the idea of women swimming in dresses really scares me!One should be aware that this may be putting onself in danger.
I, personally, would swim with a regular bathing suit among women. At the same time, I have been lifeguarding for over 10 years at a girl’s camp that requires T-shirts over the bathing suits and I can assuredly state from experience, that there is no danger of swimming, jumping with a t-shirt.
In a women-only environment what tznius issues are there? If there are men in the vicinity than this is not the answer as these swimsuits would not do the job as well. This just another example of Uber-frumkeit or as us Yiddish speakers would say “Ibergedribben”. Is there any other Taliban practices that we want to adopt….?