(RNS4-JUL17) Jerusalem-based HydroChic offers modest and sun-protective swimwear lines for a growing customer base of mostly Orthodox Jewish, Christian and Muslim women. For use with RNS-MODEST-SUITS, transmitted June 17, 2009. Religion News Service photo courtesy HydroChic.

(RNS4-JUL17) Jerusalem-based HydroChic offers modest and sun-protective swimwear lines for a growing customer base of mostly Orthodox Jewish, Christian and Muslim women. For use with RNS-MODEST-SUITS, transmitted June 17, 2009. Religion News Service photo courtesy HydroChic.

JERUSALEM — Devora, an Orthodox Jewish woman, never felt comfortable in the sleek, revealing bathing suits sold at the stores she frequented in her native France or in her adopted Israel.

While she ordinarily wears fashionable skirts that fall below the knee and blouses that extend to her wrists, Devora, 31, was unable to find a swimsuit consistent with her Orthodox lifestyle.

Her standards of religious modesty extend not only to her wardrobe but also to sharing her full name, lest it draw attention to her and her family.

When the dress she typically wore over her bathing suit got wet, “it became heavy, unwieldy, clingy and transparent. I felt incredibly self-conscious, even while swimming during women-only hours,” she said of the segregated swimming that’s available at some Israeli pools and beaches.

A year ago, Devora heard about a modest-swimwear line called Sea Secret. Designed in Israel by two French-born Orthodox Jews in consultation with a respected rabbi, the company’s below-the-arm, below-the-knee swim-dresses adhere to the strict Orthodox Jewish dress code.

“I bought a swim-dress just before going on vacation last year and found it elegant, comfortable and modest,” she said. “Wearing it, I felt like a role model for my young daughter and comfortable around my young son. Other women saw it and asked where I’d purchased it. I loved it so much I ended up selling the company’s swimwear.”

Modest-minded women around the world are now enjoying a similar sense of new-found freedom, thanks to the recent emergence of several lines of modest swimwear in the U.S., the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

Although statistics on this niche market are hard to come by, online testimonials — with actual photos of satisfied customers in their swimsuits — and chat-room discussions and blog posts lend credence to manufacturers’ claims that the phenomenon is growing.

Even more, women can now be seen actually wearing the suits on local beaches.

Demand for cover-up beachwear has reached the point that even Speedo, the British bathing suit giant, sells a long-sleeved, long-legged swimsuit with a matching head-neck covering for $110 on its British Web site.

With few exceptions, conservative swimwear has been conceived by religious women whose strict interpretation of Judaism, Islam or Christianity forbids them from baring significant parts of their body to even close family members.

Shereen Sabet, a Muslim from Huntington Beach, Calif., launched Splashgear after she became more religiously observant a decade ago.

“After I decided to don the hijab (an Islamic head headscarf), I realized for the first time that there were limited options for women who dressed modestly and wanted to participate in water recreation,” Sabet, a sports enthusiast, said by phone.

After her pleas fell flat with manufacturers, Sabet took on the job herself. Her sun-protective suits feature both dark- and brightly colored tops that go above the collarbones and wrists, and pants that reach the ankles. They resemble running suits, or maybe water-proof pajamas.

“I’d say 95 percent of my clientele is Muslim, but I also have Jewish and Christian customers as well as non-religious women,” Sabet said. “They may be a plus size, sensitive to the sun, are older, or have a physical abnormality.”

Sabet, who sold her first swimsuit in 2006, anticipates a 34-percent increase in sales this year compared to 2008.

Daniella Teutsch, co-owner of Jerusalem-based HydroChic, which offers modest and sun-protective swimwear lines as well as sportswear, said her two-year-old company has already doubled sales in the past year, “and last year we did nicely.”

Teutsch, a U.S. native, said most of HydroChic’s religious customers are modern Orthodox Jews, along with a healthy sprinkling of Christians, from English-speaking countries.

“They’re used to finding solutions so that they can do water activities with their families. They’re also health conscious and appreciate the sun protection and fast-drying material, but most of all they want something comfortable and safe. They’re seeking an alternative to wet T-shirts.”

HydroChic’s modest swimwear line includes both long shorts and long skirts, which means women “seeking total coverage, like devout Muslims and ultra-Orthodox Jews, won’t buy from us,” Teutsch said.

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Muslim women who wear the head-to-toe burqa have embraced both Sabet’s line and the “burqini,” the creation of Australian Muslim designer Aheda Zanetti. The bright suits and hood, which are made of Lycra and resemble a diving suit, are worn by Muslim female lifeguards on Australia’s beaches.

The two French-born women behind Sea Secret, Yardena G. and Esther, operate out of a small warehouse in an Orthodox neighborhood here. As is often the case in ultra-Orthodox circles, the designers said it would be improper to be photographed or have their last names publicized.

When they wanted to ensure that their designs were conformed to Jewish law, they met with a prominent rabbi’s wife, not the rabbi himself. “We told the rabbi’s wife our idea, she brought it to her husband, and he said it was kosher,” Yardena said.

Because many fervently Orthodox women shun bright colors, Sea Secret’s swim-dresses and turbans are available in muted shades with just a strip of bright pink or turquoise at the edges. Mannequins, not actual women, model the swimwear on the company’s Web site.

The women said their decision to design modest swimwear rather than, say, a line of handbags, came from their desire to help others fulfill their religious obligations.

“The Torah commands us to dress modestly and to act modestly, and our contribution has been to show religious women that it’s possible to be both elegant and religiously observant,” Yardena said. “Our swimsuits are fashionable, but their reason for being is to bring more holiness to the world.”