How much coverage do you want?

Women's swimwear here is built around four kinds of pieces, and you can wear them alone or together.

• Burkini sets: full sets such as the Burkini Full Set with full-length leggings, the Libra Feel Free swimsuit (a bodysuit and leggings with an attached skirt) and the adidas Padded Full-Cover Swimwear Set.
• Rashguards: Pepla rashguards are sold as separate pieces. Pepla suggests wearing them over a nude padded sports bra with Pepla swim leggings for full coverage. Long rashguards give extra length.
• Cover-ups: beach wraps, the Wave cover-up skirt and a long swim skirt add coverage, and the beach wrap and Wave skirt listings mention sun protection. Pepla pairs its rashguards and swim leggings with cover-ups, and the long swim skirt is worn over a rashguard.
• One-piece swimsuits: sporty suits from Arena, Speedo and adidas for lap swimming.

Pool or beach: read the fabric

If you swim in a pool often, look for chlorine resistance. Arena makes the Kikko Pro, Swim Pro Back and Performance Finding R Combi-Short swimsuits in MaxLife Eco fabric, which it describes as chlorine resistant with UPF 50+ UV protection. Speedo's Eco Endurance+ Medalist and the adidas 3-Stripes V-Back swimsuit are also listed as chlorine resistant.

For the beach, the listing details change. The Libra Feel Free swimsuit is described as sand proof with UV 30+ protection, and the swim leggings as fast dry and sand proof with UV+50 sun protection. Pepla rashguards use a quick-dry performance fabric made for swimming and active beach days.

Brands to know

Pepla and Libra make most of the swimwear here, adidas adds full-cover sets and sporty swimsuits, and Arena and Speedo focus on pool swimsuits. Aerobird and Le Maillot are also in the range.

If you swim laps several times a week, start with a chlorine-resistant one-piece such as the Arena Swim Pro Back. For the beach with full coverage, start with a burkini set, or a Pepla rashguard with swim leggings. See burkinis and rashguards, swimsuits, cover-ups and the full Pepla range.