Woollen Togs

In summers past many people donned their ‘woollies’ to go for a swim.

These smart woollen Jantzen togs were bought by New Plymouth man Cliff Ward after his World War Two naval service. His wife Ngaire remembers they came in very handy during a visit to Fiji.

When Cliff bought his pair of Jantzens, the manufacturers were ramping up swimwear production again after being forced to make military products including gas mask carriers and sleeping bags during the war. But the reign of woollen togs like these would soon end as cotton, elastic and synthetics began to take over and alternative trends emerged.

In Salts and Suits surf writer Phil Jarratt notes by the late 1940s California surfers were buying navy ‘whites’, cutting them off under the knees, and wearing them in the surf. By the 1960s demand for board shorts was growing and woollen numbers like these were fast becoming a distant memory.