Genderless School Swimwear Drawing Attention in Japan

Tokyo, Aug. 22 (Jiji Press)--Genderless school swimwear developed by a Tokyo company is attracting attention amid growing moves to introduce a gender-neutral policy in education in Japan.

The unisex product, launched in June by Footmark Corp., is a set of a navy blue long-sleeved jacket and half pants, having roomy chest and waist areas to make differences in body shape between men and women less noticeable.

"We've been receiving inquiries in recent years from an increasing number of schools about swimwear that can meet demand from sexual minority students," said Reiko Sano, who is in charge of product development at the company.

In a product design project conducted with junior high school students in 2015, a male student proposed swimwear that can cover areas down to ankles, according to Sano.

"I thought that students may be hesitant to show their skin, regardless of gender," she said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]