After a long absence, Speedo re-entered the triathlon market this year with a new range of wetsuits and tri suits. Dr Tom Waller tells T-Zero why the timing is right and how he believes Speedo’s swimming heritage gives it a competitive edge.

Why has it taken you so long to produce triathlon specific products?

Speedo was into triathlon in a big way in the early 1990s, before the sport was an Olympic discipline and had the huge mass participation that it does today. However, it lacked the media coverage and interest that it does now and because resources are always limited we decided to focus our research and development efforts on pool based swimming, where we’ve had some impressive results. For example, we launched our first fastskin in 2000.

Since triathlon became an Olympic sport the growth has been terrific. On top of that, people seem to find Ironman something they can really buy into. With races catering to all distances and abilities, the sport is hugely accessible and this has helped it develop a broad popular appeal.

Clearly there is a massive crossover from swimming for us and for the technologies we’ve developed to help swimmers move more quickly through the water and we see a fantastic opportunity to apply that to triathlon.

Can you tell us what makes Speedo triathlon products different?

In brief, we understand swimmers and swimming better than anyone in the world. Obviously I can’t reveal all our secrets but factors include the best positions for adding buoyancy and body shaping, and materials to slip through the water faster.

The biggest factor holding back swimmers is form drag – basically the resistance to forward motion resulting from your body position. We’ve done extensive work studying how swimmers move through the water and developing products to make that movement more efficient and to help swimmers punch as small a hole through the water as possible.

Our products are also designed to reduce skin drag, which is obviously important although less so than form drag.

As triathletes become more conscious about the impact their sport has on the environment, what is Speedo doing to help keep athletes’ consciences clean?

As well as the environment, or Product Sustainability as we call it, the Speedo approach to managing its global impacts includes Ethical Trading (ensuring the workers making our products in our global supply chain are treated fairly and with respect) and Community (supporting the local communities in which we operate).

Specifically, our approach to product sustainability is to assess and understand the environmental lifecycle of our products.  Unfortunately there are no simple answers. All the critical teams in the business (including Aqualab) are investing in the development of specific tools and data to underpin our approach.

We have great examples of existing products where we have already reduced our impact and we will continue to look to reduce the impact of our products at every stage. For example, we designed the fabric for our ENDURANCE swimwear range to last up to 20 times longer than conventional elastane swimwear. Also, we are the only swimwear brand to have our entire range of swim goggles packaged in cartonboard which is 100% recyclable and uses recognised Forest Stewardship Council certified sustainable sources.

What can triathletes look forward to from Speedo next?

We are constantly improving and developing new products but how we release things into the market will depend on the feedback we receive on our existing range. Clearly Speedo is a swimming brand and this is where our strengths are. We will continue to leverage those strengths in triathlon.

One thing we are very keen on is working with athletes on product development as that really helps us to focus on what works best. You’re likely to see us at a number of triathlon and open water swimming events throughout the year because these are participation sports and people need to access our products at the point of use. We want people to see as a triathlon savvy brand with a strong swimming heritage.

Tom Waller talked to Simon Griffiths

Lucy Smith tests out her new Speedo tri kit

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