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Early September is the single best week of the year to buy a swimsuit, and it has almost nothing to do with any holiday sale. Retailers are clearing summer stock to make room for autumn, so Labor Day Weekend lands right on top of the deepest markdowns swimwear sees. The catch is sizing: buy now for next summer and the range is enormous, wait a fortnight and it is whatever nobody wanted. Everything below shows live pricing.
Quick sale picks
The swimwear carrying the deepest markdowns today. Sizes go first in a clearance, so check availability in yours before you spend any time deciding between colours.
When swimwear actually goes on sale
Swimwear has the most exaggerated seasonal price curve of any clothing category, because it is unsellable for eight months of the year and nobody wants to warehouse it. The swing between the best and worst month is routinely sixty percent on the same garment.
| When | What to expect |
|---|---|
| January to March | The worst window, and by a wide margin. New season stock arrives at full price aimed at winter holidays, and demand is high enough that nothing is discounted. |
| April to May | Poor. Peak buying season begins and prices hold. Occasional promotions on last year’s colours, but the current range does not move. |
| June to mid-July | Mixed. The first real markdowns appear on slower styles, and the mid-summer sales event reaches swimwear properly for a few days. |
| Late August to Labor Day | Excellent, and this is the window. End-of-season clearance begins in earnest, sizes are still broadly available and discounts of forty to sixty percent are normal rather than exceptional. |
| September to October | The deepest prices of the year, though the size range collapses quickly. Worth checking weekly if you know exactly what you want and are flexible on colour. |
| Black Friday | Modest. Swimwear is out of season and out of mind, so it gets little promotional attention and stock is thin. |
| Whenever a colourway is retired | Reliable year-round. The garment is identical to the one still selling at full price; only the print has been dropped from the range. |
What actually counts as a good price
These are end-of-season marks rather than year-round ones, so they are deliberately aggressive. In September you should not be paying anything close to list.
Bikini sets
Sold both as sets and as separates, and the separates are usually the better buy since most people do not wear the same size top and bottom.
One-piece swimsuits
Construction varies enormously at this price. Look for a lined front and adjustable straps, which are the two things that separate a suit lasting one season from one lasting five.
Cover-ups and kaftans
The most heavily discounted part of the category right now, because they are the first thing retailers stop reordering. Sizing is forgiving, which makes clearance buying low risk.
Branded and designer swim
Judge by percentage here. The off-price retailers get last season’s designer stock now, and half off is the point at which the construction difference starts to justify itself.
Bikinis on sale
The largest and most discounted part of the category. Buy the top and bottom separately wherever the seller allows it, since matching sizes across a set is the most common reason a cheap suit gets returned.
Swim cover-ups on sale
Cleared harder than anything else in the category and forgiving about fit, which makes this the lowest-risk clearance purchase of the lot. A cover-up bought now is genuinely the same garment next June.
Kids swimwear on sale
The one part of the category where buying ahead is a gamble, since children change size unpredictably. Buying one size up is the usual compromise, and at these prices it is a cheap bet to lose.
Men’s swim shorts on sale
Discounted just as hard as women’s and with far less size anxiety attached, which makes buying a year ahead straightforward. Check for a mesh liner, since the cheapest pairs increasingly leave it out.
Where else to check today
The off-price and specialist swimwear retailers are where end-of-season clearance goes deepest, and several of them are sitting on last season’s designer stock right now. These are the ones worth opening in another tab.
Nordstrom RackBest for brands at a discount
Saks OFF 5THBest for designer swim
AerieBest for separates
Macy’sBest for one-pieces
SummersaltBest for quality at a mid price
How to buy swimwear in a clearance
Buy for next summer, not for this one. That is the whole trade being offered here. A suit bought in September costs roughly half what the same suit costs in April, and swimwear does not change enough year to year for anyone to notice. The only thing you give up is wearing it immediately.
Check your size is in stock before you fall in love with a print. Clearance stock is whatever is left, and the middle sizes go first. Filtering by size at the start rather than the end saves the specific disappointment of finding the perfect suit available only in extra small.
Buy separates rather than sets where you can. Most people are not the same size top and bottom, and a set forces a compromise on one of them. Retailers that sell the pieces separately are worth paying slightly more for, because the fit is the entire product here.
Read the return policy before buying, not after. Deep clearance is very often final sale, and swimwear is the category where you least want that to be true. Where returns are allowed, hygiene liners must usually be intact, so try it on over underwear the first time.
Look for lining and adjustable straps on one-pieces. These are the two features that separate a suit that holds its shape from one that goes translucent and saggy after a dozen swims. Both are usually stated in the listing and both are frequently absent at the cheapest end.
Buy a size up for children rather than to fit. Swimwear bought in September is worn nine months later, and that is a long time in a child’s growth. At clearance prices the cost of guessing wrong is small, and a slightly loose suit is a great deal more usable than a tight one.
Swimwear questions, answered
The bottom line
This is the week to buy swimwear, and the reason is stock rotation rather than any holiday promotion. Prices are already forty to sixty percent below spring and the size range is still broad, which will not be true in a month. Filter by your size first, buy separates rather than sets wherever the retailer allows it, and check whether the sale is final before you commit. If you swim regularly, spend the saving on one better suit rather than three cheap ones, because chlorine will find the difference within a season.
