Brand Q&A: Catching Up with Dolfin

Perhaps best-known to swimmers of all levels for the crazy patterns and bright colors of the Uglies, the Dolfin brand recently unveiled its newest elite racing tech suit, the Titanium, in May. The Titanium marks the brand’s first real top-of-the-line racing suit highlighting an increased focus on performance product. We caught up with Dolfin Brand Director Matt Zimmer to hear more about Dolfin’s plans and products as a swim brand.

SwimOutlet.com Blog: Dolfin has been a popular training suit for many years, but you are moving more and more into high-end tech suits. Tell us about that evolution?

Dolfin: The movement to more high-end products is not only limited to our technical suit. Our philosophy is to have a technical leading product in every category – whether that be goggles, training aids, or racing suits. We already have the world’s best training suits, so our growth now is an extension of our core philosophy as a brand.

SwimOutlet.com Blog: The Platinum was your debut elite suit, what’s new about the Platinum2 suit that will help swimmers?

Dolfin: The Platinum 2 Pro is a very high-quality racing suit, at a significant value. Like all racing technology, it evolves. The Platinum 2 Pro technology is an excellent value, and was the top of the line technology only a few years ago. Now, of course, we also have the Titanium, which includes our 4-Stage Framing System that gives superior compression to enhance muscle return, as well as the hydrolock weave offering the highest strength to weight ratio in the industry.

SwimOutlet.com Blog: What’s your brand ethos, you don’t have a lot of elite pool swimmers on your sponsorship roster but you’ve recently signed some open water swimmers – is that a focus for Dolfin?

Dolfin: We’ve had some great open water swimmers so far, but by no means is that our primary focus. The pool swimmers and high-profile teams have been knocking on our door since we launched Titanium, and we have a number of press releases coming very soon about those. I think we’re going to surprise a lot of folks at who is going be wearing Dolfin. 

SwimOutlet.com Blog: The Dolfin Uglies is such a popular brand, how are you able to keep the designs and prints so fresh and relevant each season?

Dolfin: The designers want to make us managers nervous! They get a kick out of pushing the boundaries every year with something really new. I think our biggest asset is we have young and hungry people who want to lead, and that’s especially true of our design team coming up with new designs, patterns and colorways.

SwimOutlet.com Blog: Any hints at new products or styles coming out from you and your Uglies line in 2015?

Dolfin: Absolutely, our new catalog is now online and everyone can see what’s coming down the pipeline this year! 

SwimOutlet.com Blog: What are some other product categories where Dolfin features fresh new products?

Dolfin: The biggest growth categories where we will be offering up some great products toswimmers include:

- Bellas – fun and VERY fashion forward active training suits
- Technical training aids – like the Feedback paddle, the first patented training paddle in 10+ years.  This paddle is designed to constantly provide essential feedback on the swimmers technique – helping promote the most efficient catch possible.  It’s really simple, but incredibly effective.
- Technical goggles