Style isn't about money, it is about ideas and classic designs. One of the nicest swimming outfits you can wear is a pair of jeans, a tee-shirt, and possibly canvas shoes. You don't have to spend much. It's about mixing and matching and getting things that fit properly. Express your individuality with classic denim swimwear for sun safety and more modesty.

Lifeguards in Jeans

In aquatic environments where a neoprene wetsuit isn't necessary, or where just suiting-up can be inconvenient, jeans are worn with a T-shirt or rash guard, with fins for diving, or with rescue gear by water safety patrol professionals.

Dive Skins

In the 1960's jeans became popular as classic swimwear for outdoor activities and watersports, especially swimming, surfing, and scuba diving.

Shrink to Fit Jeans

These are the jeans that made Levi-Strauss famous. Arriving stiff and in a deep indigo colour when new, these jeans may take a few swims to break in, at which point they will fit like a second skin and be faded to a mellow lighter blue. Read more...

Levi's 501 Test Review

We've tested the Shrink-to-Fit 501XX (STF) and the regular 501 to compare them with regular swimwear like shorts. Read more...

Reader Comments

Cool Cotton

Cotton jeans can get cold quickly once you come out of the water. Unless you intend to hop right back in, change into dry clothes between swims. We have a few jeans and T-shirts in our swim bag if we plan to take several breaks. It can be tricky to put on tight wet jeans, so we went back into the water in dry clothes. ~ Andrew, Brighton, England

Jeans Better Than Board Shorts

Jeans don't fall off when diving into a pool like some boardshorts, which are the worst clothing to swim in. When wading in waves on the beach boardshorts billow up between your legs and chafe with the sea, sand and saltwater. Jeans just fit well. ~ Joey, NSW, Australia

Skater Kit

I love swimming in jeans, also in my skater kit, like hoodies and such, which is so awesome. People look at me, maybe thinking wet jeans are hot. ~ Cody, Oregon, USA

All Purpose Navy Uniform

Jeans were invented for the Italian Navy in Genova, Italy, when that city was an independent republic and a naval power. The first jeans were made for the Genovese Navy because it required an all-purpose pant for its sailors that could be worn wet or dry, and whose legs could easily be rolled-up. They needed something practical for work on deck and for swimming. The jeans would be laundered by dragging them in nets behind the ship and the sea water would bleach them white.

Serge de Nimes, France

The first denim came from Nimes, France, hence the name denim (French: de Nimes). The French word for these pants was very similar to their word for Genova; this is where we get the term 'jeans' today.

Levi Strauss

Jeans were further developed in San Francisco around 1872 by Bavarian-born American Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis. They used copper rivets to reinforce the points of strain, such as on the pocket corners and at the base of the button fly.

Levi's riveted jeans first manufactured in San Francisco starting in the 1870s. They were sold by Levi Strauss to gold miners during the California Gold Rush. Levi's are known for their rugged construction, personal "shrink-to-fit", and versatility. Originally worn by miners, farmers, and cowboys, Levi's are worn and seen in all walks of life.

During World War II, families in the US sent jeans to their sons in the Navy and Marines stationed in the Pacific beause their fit was better for swimming than the baggy dungarees issued by the military.

White Levis

Jeans first became popular for swimming in the 1960's with the introduction of "White Levis" for surfers on the West Coast. White Levis fit lean and tapered, and made of unblenched, unshrunk denim, which shrank and bleached-out to a perfect white in chlorinated pools and in the ocean.

Wranglers Wet West

Like Levi's, Wranglers jeans will form-fit for swimming, enabling cowboys to ford western rivers or rescue a calf from a river without a second thought about getting wet. The method for fording a river or lake while riding a horse entails either remaining in the saddle while your horse swims across the water, or hanging on to the saddle horn and swimming along side, and re-mounting when you reach the opposite shore.

Wrangler Jeans are traditionally worn as western wear, and are popular among professional cowboys and people who prefer true western style jeans that are good with boots and a cowboy hat. Many a cowboy has cooled off in a stock tank or creek, escaping the summer heat, wearing his Wranglers.

It is only expected that any product which emphasises fun, adventure and athletics in a water environment would be appealing, especially to teenagers.

Levi's Second Skin

Advertised as 'your second skin', Levis are considered by athletic, intrepid swimmers and divers to be an extension of their aquatic body, and are worn for swimming, diving, whitewater, snorkeling and scuba. Levis' competitors have also used water and swimming settings for their commercials.

Wet Jeans on TV

Nautica Jeans advertised their jeans in a water commercial with wakeboarding champion Brian Grubb demonstrating his incredible wakeboarding skills while wearing Nautica Dimensional Denim Jeans.

Ironically the Wranglers television commercial depicting a college-age male emerging from a western river wearing jeans, is as much a statement about Wranglers as Levis, where the quick dip in a clean river in a rugged environment might be to cool off, or might include a bar of soap to bathe and wash your jeans at the same time.

Diesel Jeans has print ads with male and female models underwater wearing Diesel Jeans. Sears featured their River Canyon Blues in water commercials, with the model diving off a pier, and surf swimming in form-fitting Sears RCB Jeans.