Open water masters swim athletes are a subset of the broader masters community with their own identity. The 2 mile lake swim, the 10K marathon swim, the ocean mile race down the coast. Apparel for this audience reads differently than pool team apparel: it leans into the specific event, the post swim recovery, and the keepsake value of a finished swim. Here is what works for open water teams and event organizers.
Open water masters swimmers overlap heavily with USMS masters but have a distinct identity. They train in pools through the winter, race in lakes and oceans through the summer, and tend to be older skewing on average (40s to 70s) than competition pool masters swimmers.
The shared traits across open water swimmers:
An apparel program for open water masters serves both the team or club identity and the event specific keepsake demand.
The use case for open water apparel is slightly different than pool team apparel. Three factors matter more for open water than for pool.
1. Post swim warmth. A swimmer finishing a 2 mile cold lake swim is genuinely cold. A heavyweight hoodie or a hooded fleece pullover is the difference between a comfortable post race meal and shivering through it
2. Identity at the put in. Open water swims often start at a beach or boat launch where dozens of clubs gather. The team apparel identifies the group during the pre race shuffle
3. Event keepsake value. Open water swims are often once a year events with significant emotional weight. The finisher shirt with the swim name, year, and distance becomes a meaningful keepsake
The apparel program reflects these three: a heavyweight warmup layer, a clean team identifier, and event specific keepsake shirts.
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For event specific runs, the cotton tee with the swim name, year, and distance is the keepsake. Run these as limited pre orders tied to the event registration.
Open water swim events typically include a finisher shirt as part of the registration fee. The shirt becomes the keepsake the swimmer hangs on the wall. Print on demand makes it easy to run these without holding inventory.
What a typical open water event shirt includes:
The event organizer can pre size the run based on registration, order through the open water masters club shop, and have the shirts arrive in time for the event packet pickup. Late registrants order individually through the shop and the shirt ships direct.
Open water apparel prices in line with general masters team apparel. The event specific shirts can carry a slight premium because of the keepsake value.
| Item | Base | Retail | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heavyweight pullover hoodie | $36.88 | $52 | $15.12 |
| Performance long sleeve | $29.88 | $42 | $12.12 |
| Cotton tee with team crest | $19.88 | $32 | $12.12 |
| Embroidered trucker hat | $25.88 | $36 | $10.12 |
| Crewneck sweatshirt | $33.88 | $48 | $14.12 |
| Event finisher shirt | $19.88 | $36 | $16.12 |
For event organizers, the finisher shirt typically gets bundled into the registration fee. Backing out the cost to the event ($19.88 plus shipping if bundled, or $36 retail with margin if sold separately) makes the math work either way.
Open a free Bear Grips Pro Shop and add the heavyweight hoodie, long sleeve, and event finisher shirt to your open water lineup.
Start FreeYes. Open water swimmers need heavier post swim warmup layers because conditions are colder, and the identity tends to be event specific rather than year round team. Otherwise the apparel categories overlap heavily.
Yes. Pre size the run based on registration, order through the open water team or event shop, and have shirts arrive in time for packet pickup. Late registrants order individually through the open shop.
The heavyweight pullover hoodie. Open water swimmers run cold post swim and the hoodie is the layer that goes over the dry clothes for the post race meal and the drive home.
Yes if the team is identified with a specific body of water (the Bay Area, Lake Tahoe, the Hudson, etc.). The location becomes part of the team identity and adds keepsake value to the apparel.
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