Review: Kiniki Tan Through Deep Waist Swim Brief
I thought with it being the Memorial Day weekend here and the unofficial start of summer, I’d do a swimsuit review (Patriotic at that). I’ve been wondering if tan through fabric works, so I decided to pick up a pair from Kiniki’s when they were having a sale. I also wanted to add a patriotic pair to my swimwear drawer. So that is why I decided to give this swimsuit a try. Now, the problem is I don’t know if I’ll be able to wear it enough to really tell how well it works. If I ever do then I’ll do a write up on it. I know it won’t be as good as full skin exposure. I decided to go with this one over the micro swim brief they offer. I found the micro underwear briefs to sit lower than I like and it slid down some on me. Description of the micro doesn’t state a draw string either like this swim brief does.
The fabric the swim brief is made of is called Transol® Tan Through fabric. It’s described as a micro mesh that they say contains millions of tiny holes (square & diamond shaped) that allows the sun to pass through. To make it not transparent, they use special prints that fool the eyes and camouflage the skin underneath.
I consider this swim brief a full brief. It has sides that measure about 3 1/4″ and it is a full back. It does not have a contour pouch. It is a flat front. The pouch does have a micro mesh lining in kind of a beige color. It is attached at the top and bottom, but loose on the sides. I assume it is there to help protect the privates with a little extra coverage. The fabric does seem to have stretch to it. Though when you run your hands over it, the fabric feels kind of stiff or plastic like. At the base or near the bottom of the back it felt like it was kind of scratchy or digging in some now and then. Now that could be part due to me testing them out wearing them around the house and spending too much time sitting in them. Wearing them at the beach, I’d either be laying out in them or standing up watching the kids, or in the water with them, so that might not be the case doing those things. The suit can be machine washed. Though it can be tumble dried they recommend hanging them to dry.
This swim brief is really fuller than I like. If the side were half the width then it would be closer to what I look for in a swim brief. It does kind of make more sense to wear a tan through suit that is fuller otherwise there isn’t a whole lot of benefit to one unless you are aiming at tanning the package. The sun doesn’t pass through the elastic in the waistband or leg openings, so you would have to move the suit around to try and prevent lines there. A fuller suit would make it easier to adjust for sunning. Kiniki likes to place their tags in odd places. This suit has it sewn in the side rear. You’d want to remove that before sunning in it. Most likely you don’t want to have a tag tan line. With it being mesh it will be a cooler suit to wear to the beach and should be fast drying too.
This swim brief isn’t the cut I prefer to wear. Not sure if I’ll wear it to the beach or not. Maybe if I want to be patriotic I’ll give it a whirl. I kind of feel it would be best as just a tanning suit for an hour or so, not a few hours at the beach with the kids. I prefer lycra/spandex in my swimwear with a nice hugging fit and a little more skin exposed. For a full swim brief it is decent and if you want to try and reduce some whiteness then these are worth a try for the price. Hopefully one day I can test out sunning in them.
| Support Rating: | 5.0 | |
| Overall Comfort: | 4.5 | |
| Recommendation: | No thongs up |
Pros: Decent amount of print options, fairly inexpensive
Cons: Really too much coverage for me; tag placement, but probably would want to cut it out no matter where it is.
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Before I comment on this review, I’d like to explain to all members of the forum the reason for my recent lack of activity on it. Due to some as yet unknown technical issue, I’m currently unable to post replies to any of the topics that arise, such as Ralange’s post about wearing his black thong at a beach, and THGBIKJOKUSER’S issue with wearing skimpy undies at work. Hopefully Nate will find a solution to this frustrating problem and let me get back in among the action.
On the subject of Kiniki’s tan through swimwear. I remember when Kiniki first introduced their tan through collection many years ago. They were more expensive than their regular thongs and bikinis, but with the company’s regular sales, they became more affordable and I bought a string half back bikini and a thong. To be fair, I never wore either garment long enough to notice if they did what they claimed and tanned the parts normally covered, but I do remember wearing the thong and discovering the pouch became transparent when I went in the sea(lol). If you lift up the garment to the light at a window you will be able to see through it, but the nature of the jazzy colours and patterns help to conceal what lies within, as Nate mentions in his review. I have to agree with Nate about the positioning of the label. While removing the label from the side of the thong’s pouch, I managed to pierce a small hole in it with the point of a pair of scissors, making it even more tan through(lol). The USA suit in this review is far too conservative for me with its thick sides and full back, so it would be a big thumbs down from me, but hopefully someone who follows this blog will have given a tan through suit sufficient wear to confirm that it does or doesn’t do what it claims to.
I am very impressed with Kiniki! Hopefully will expand their line maybe pick up some Prevail designs!
Yes they’re coming out with some great new ranges – I’d love to see some of their retro bikini cuts being reintroduced and then it really would be fill the Prevail gap.
Thanks for the review on this one – like you I find their micro swim brief too low rise for me. I’ve found their regular swim brief to be the perfect inbetween. It’s part of their 2021 swimwear collection so not in the tan through range but a really nice conservative cut without it being too full.
I had a Kiniki tan-through thong some years ago, as a Solar Tan Thru Suits in early 2000´s. Can´t remember the Kiniki than through effect, but that thong pattern was horrible, far too big. I had to take it to my dressmaker to knit the front seam again. Then it was a good fit. Very lightweight and worked also as a hot weather underwear due to breathable mesh fabric. Does anyone know if the Kiniki tan through thong pattern could be revised?
I have this same print in the swim micro. I like the Kiniki swim micro a lot and have about 10 of their tan through suits and 4 of their Andre swim micro’s in a varied colors. I just ordered some new print traditional swim micro’s and can’t wait for them to arrive.
Hi Mike. Was interested to see that you have 4 of Kiniki’s Andre swimsuits. I have 4 also in red, black, turquoise and purple. I think I only wore the purple one on my first trip to America, and the other three have never seen the light of day apart from when I tried them on at home. If memory serves me correct, they were incredibly tight and left nothing to the imagination, and I think the red might even have been slightly see through without getting wet. I think the main reason I never wore them was because I bought some half back string bikinis shortly afterwards which had narrower sides, backs and pouches which I preferred. Would be interested to know your thoughts on the Andre suits.
Hi T. This is my first season with the Andre swim micro suits but overall, I really like them. I have red, yellow, turquoise and black. The yellow is double lined and not see through at all. The red and turquoise are slightly see through when wet but that does not bother me. They do fit snug but need to since they have no draw string. They fit very low on the waist, have 1” sides and a 3/4 back. For me, that is exactly what I like as most of my suits are low rise suits.
Of all the tan through suits, Kiniki transmits the most sun. When you bend over, they all make your butt cleft visible through the suit. So be careful who might be looking. Second runner up is Skinzwear, but Skinzwear never shows butt cleft even if you stand on your head. Cooltan allows zero sun through it thus it is number 4. Solar swimwear is nice, completely visually opaque and transmits only a little more sun than Cooltan. If you want to get sun through these suits, the sun needs to be 90 degrees to the skin surface. If the sun strikes the fabric at 45 degrees, nothing gets through.
The deep waist brief wrinkles on the models and wrinkles on me, even in the smallest size. The brief, which is not the deep waist brief, wrinkles less. The micro which is pretty low in front, never wrinkles. All fabrics are opaque when against the skin. However, until they make a suit that fully forms to one’s right and left cheeks, where the suit bridges the gap, you can see. You can really see when bent over. Some fabrics are better than others for light transmission. any black splotches in the suit are quite transparent. Light colors are less transparent.
All in all, Kiniki does a good job of encouraging sun through the suit while controlling visibility of the butt cleft. You can wear them confidently walking, standing, lying down, but not bending over. If you want an even tan, assume that you need to cover yourself in SPF 30 and get a couple hours of direct overhead sun on your buns each day.
But the real Kiniki problem that needs fixing is that they make great patterns in conventional suits but they have less desirable patterns in tan through.
It is super easy to make a mesh suit that transmits lots of sun but covers the skin in contact with it. The tricky part is to make a mesh that covers butt cleft. I suppose a wide thong would solve this, but the reason you are not naked is to keep the skin police at bay. Maybe a flesh tone thong (or thong lining) under a open mesh brief could increase the sun transmission without the bare butt look.
Thanks for the in-depth info with your experience with tan through suits.