The bikini that tells you when to reapply sunscreen

A BIKINI that tells you when it is time to apply more sunscreen is about to hit beaches near you — and it will only set you back $200.

Bikini tells you when to reapply sunscreen

A BIKINI that tells you when it is time to apply more sunscreen is hitting the beach in time for the northern hemisphere’s summer.

The made-to-measure invention comes from France — the country that invented the bikini — with a price tag that will impress: 149 euros ($A216), not that much more than a regular bikini. For that price, the wearer will get a two-piece swimsuit with a small detachable ultraviolet sensor that, through a smartphone or tablet, sends a “sunscreen alert” when the user’s skin needs extra protection.

TO GO TO AFP STORY BY ARNAUD BOUVIER A model holds up the sensor installed in the swimsuit during a photo session to present a new connected swimsuit collection by French company Spinali Design in Reiningue, eastern France, on June 4, 2015. AFP PHOTO / SEBASTIEN BOZON

The detector is calibrated to the wearer’s skin type and how much of a tan she wants to get.

And there is even a “Valentine” function that sends the message to a boyfriend’s smartphone so he knows when to apply the cream to his girlfriend’s skin.

“The idea came to me right away, on a day when I saw someone get sunburnt on a beach,” said the Frenchwoman behind the smart bikinis, Marie Spinali.

She started her company, Spinali Design, last month in the eastern French town of Mulhouse where she lives, and sells the bikinis through her website.

“There are flowerpots that give an alert when plants need watering, so I thought it was time to invent something to warn when the sun is too strong,” she said.

“It’s not a gimmick,” she added, explaining that often when people think to add more suncream, it is too late and they are already burned.

Some of the swimsuit designs.

An expert, Dr Claudine Blanchet-Bardon of France’s National Association of Dermatologists, said the device was “interesting, because anything that warns people against UV exposure is good”. But she qualified that by saying that having the sensor attached to a bikini “doesn’t send the right message — the best protection against the sun is to not get too much exposure and to stay covered with clothes”.

Thomas Remilleret of ObjetConnecte.net commented that the idea of having UV detectors linked to a smartphone app is “not really new or revolutionary” but acknowledged that Spinali’s bikinis “meet a demand” even though he believed their price still too high for the market.

Spinali said her team was working with French researchers in nanotechnology to come up with a smaller UV sensor that would be part of the bikini itself.

She also said they were at work on models for men and for children — with the sensors for the latter also featuring GPS locators, to quickly find kids on the beach.