Peter Travis, Order of Australia Member, and a snappy dresser told this to the The Sydney Morning Herald: "... A Manly boy, Peter Travis was working for Speedo Holdings in 1960 when his boss asked him to re-create the overseas fashion of shorts in Hawaiian motif. "My reply was: 'The whole world will have that. I will start with a costume you will swim in,"' Travis, 80, says. ..." [Link]That is the best way to design; function first, then form! Today's technology becomes tomorrows art.
1 comment:
I'm not sure that Peter Travis is as central to the whole Speedo history as this story makes out, or as he wants to be.
He certainly did some work on Speedo designs and popularised the brand, but he worked for Speedo between 1959 and 1960. This is considerably later than the crucial 1955 date of the "invention" of what we know as "speedos" made for the very first time with nylon. This caused the sensation at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. It was these lightweight nylon Speedos that allowed the Australian swimming team to break lots of world records.
I think that it was this bright idea (of making swimsuits out of the new synthetic nylon fabric) that created the character of what the world today knows as Speedos! Nylon Speedos also lasted forever.
Sportswear and investment company Pentland UK purchased the Australian Speedo brand in the 1980s, and because they were interested in selling more swim suits, they replaced the nylon material with a lycra fabric. In classic advertising double-speak, they marketed these as their "endurance" range! This stupid move allowed young manyfacturer AussieBum to reintroduce the original nylon "speedos"! Much better..
bondi.bloke@yahoo.com.au
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