Eco-friendly swimwear is still a relatively new area of innovation, but there are already a number of passionate designers transforming their love of the Earth into beautiful, fashionable, and eco-friendly swimwear. As more and more designers begin to experiment with green fashion and design in the coming years, we can expect to see even more fabulous eco-friendly swimwear designs.

Five Hot Eco-Friendly Swimwear Designers

Here is a selection of five of the hottest eco-friendly swimwear designers today:

Nikster Freedom Bikini

Nikster specializes in using eco-friendly materials such as organic cotton, bamboo, and soy fabrics to create super-sexy Brazilian-style bikinis. The two piece Freedom bikini features a bandeau-style top and a Brazilian-cut bottom with a side tie. It comes in black, blue, natural, and several combinations.

Miami-native Meadow makes eco-friendly bikinis with a little more coverage, for those who prefer to show less skin. Her pretty Luna bikini is made of bamboo and organic cotton fabric and comes in red, white, black, gray, moss, and zebra. Meadow’s designs are ethically produced in a local Miami factory.

Aaron Chang Tres Palmas Sport Bikini

Photographer and surfer Aaron Chang has recently started to combine his passions for surfing and the environment into a line of eco-friendly sport and fashion swimwear. One of the biggest challenges for eco-friendly swimwear designers has been finding an eco-friendly alternative for polyester. As a petroleum-based product, polyester is not very eco-friendly. However, it offers superior water-repellent qualities over most eco-friendly fabrics. Aaron Chang has solved this problem by using polyester fabric made from recycled plastic water bottles! This process not only reduces oil consumption and the air, soil, and water pollution it causes, it also diverts waste from landfills. Aaron’s Tres Palmas Sport Bikini is one of his line of recycled polyester sport bikinis. It a full coverage racerback bikini designed to stay in place while swimming, surfing, playing beach volleyball, or otherwise enjoying active fun in the sun. The rustic design reverses to solid black on both pieces.

Billabong PX Dom1nator Boardshorts

Billabong has created a similar line of eco-friendly boardshorts for men made from 100% recycled polyester. Billabong’s popular PX Dom1nator boardshort is also eco-friendly. The high performance stretch fabric is salvaged from unwanted and discarded textiles by textile recycling process called Eco Circle, developed by the Japanese textile manufacturer Teijin. Eco Circle’s polyester recycling methods reduce energy consumption by 84% and carbon emissions by 77% compared to creating new polyester materials from petroleum.

Eco Panda Summer Wind Bikini

Eco Panda also offers recycled swimwear. In this case, it is recycled nylon blended with chlorine-resistant Spandex that is designed to hold its shape and fit as much as ten times longer than suits made with non-chlorine resistant Spandex, reducing reduces waste. The Summer Wind Basic Triangle Bra and String Pant Bikini features a colorful, nature-inspired print in a classic bikini style. The print is also available as a halter set or monokini.