The color of your child’s swimsuit can play a huge role in preventing drowning incidents, according to a study.
When most parents go shopping for their child’s swimsuit, they usually pick the child’s favorite color, cartoon character, or style and comfort. But a recent study conducted by ALIVE Solutions Inc., a company that specializes in aquatics safety, reports that the color of the child’s swimwear could make a difference in saving their life.
The company put swimsuit colors to the test to see their visibility in both pools and open water.
Here are the following results:
Pool test
In the pool study, the top photo in each section is the fabric underwater and the bottom photo is the fabric with surface agitation.
“Our bottom two colors are white and light blue (check out how they disappear) and our top choices would be neon pink and neon orange,” ALIVE Solutions said in its post. “Although the darker colors show up on a light pool bottom they can often be dismissed for a pile of leaves, dirt, or a shadow so I tend to stay away from those colors when possible.”
Lake test
In the lake test, the same colors used in the pool test were also tested in 18 inches of lake water with low visibility when it was partly sunny.
“We placed each color on the surface (first row images), second row images were from shore level perspective, and third row are from a slightly elevated perspective — simulating standing on a boat/dock view,” ALIVE Solutions shared.
What they found:
- Top Colors were Neon Yellow / Green / Orange (still think bright and contrasting!)
- White came in fourth place, but appeared more to be a light reflection or clouds on the surface and wouldn’t stand out in a crowd…so personally wouldn’t be on our list as a top choice.
- Neon Pink did not perform well, like it did in the white bottom pool environment.
- All other colors disappeared so quickly (and this was only 18″ of water).
The company recommends bright and contrasting colors that can help people or lifeguards see the child if they go underwater.