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Story of 'Speedo'





One of the showoffdownunder blog fans has sent in this posting about 'Speedos' - Makes an interesting read..
He has also send in some of his favourite pics to share with us.. thanks for sharing!
Speedo is not a generic name for men's swimwear, it is the name of the company that makes the Speedo brand of swimwear for males and females.
Their first Mill, and their Australian, and world Head Office was in Bondi Beach.

The company was founded in 1914 by the manufacturer, Alexander MacRae, who migrated from Scotland to Australia in 1910, as McRae Hosiery Manufacturers, then MacRae Knitting Mills in an effort to expand his company into swimwear. In 1928, the name Speedo was first adopted as the name of the Company after the firm developed its Raceback design of swimwear, making it the first manufacturers to specifically produce athletic designs.
The name was made up by a Captain Jim Parsonson who won a company competition with the slogan "Speed on in your Speedos".
During World War II, Speedo shifted nearly all of its production to war materials such as mosquito nets. Speedo resumed production after the war and became a publicly traded corporation in 1951.
In 1955, Speedo introduced nylon into its fabric for competitive swimwear. The 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne saw the widespread debut of the new fabric and the introduction of the world's first style of mens swimming briefs that has become associated with the brand.
The company quickly expanded into the international arena from there, with its first overseas Mill in Brazil, and kept expanding until the present, boasting that 70 percent of swimming medals were won by athletes wearing its products in the Olympic Games in 1968, 1972, 1976 and 2008.
Australian, Peter Travis, was recognised in 2008, for his invention of the Speedo bathing costume - or as the Sydney Morning Herald puts it, for creating the nation's best-loved stretch of nylon. Travis became a Member of the Order of Australia for his Speedo invention. He was also recognised for his work as a designer, sculptor, ceramicist, kite-maker and teacher. Travis invented the skimpy bathing costume while working for Speedo in 1961.
Travis says the crucial thing was to position the briefs on the hips, not the waist. He also cut the fabric on the side of the hips to just 5cm deep. The report in the Sydney Morning Herald says the costume was an immediate hit, but did not go down well with the prudish. The Herald continued: "Bondi's beach inspector arrested the first man to wear the briefs on the beach, but Travis recalls that the magistrate did not pursue charges, because there was no pubic hair showing."
The registered brand name Speedo, has sadly been "genericised" mainly by people. Australians should defend the use of the Speedo Registered brand name so that is only used to describe the Genuine Aussie Invention, and not all the late comers jumping on the band wagon.
Sadly, today the company is headquartered in Nottingham U.K. and is owned by the London-based Pentland Group. The company is currently the world's largest-selling swimwear brand and manufactures products for both recreational and competitive swimming.
As of August 14, 2008, 62 world records have been broken by swimmers wearing a Speedo LZR Racer.

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