Hunter Valley mum calls for Kmart girls swimwear to be taken off shelves

“I want them recalled so other parents and little girls don’t have to experience what we did."

4 min read

September 20, 2024 - 11:47AM

Lifestyle

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When Chloe purchased a swimsuit from Kmart for her three-year-old daughter, Alinta, she was confident she had made the right choice.

“I went into the store and compared a few of them and chose the one that I knew she would like and gave the most sun protection for her to wear at daycare during water play sessions,” the Hunter Valley mum tells Kidspot.

The one she selected was the Frozen Elsa License One Piece Swimsuit, which retails for $20.

“I liked that it’s long sleeved and has a UPF50+ sun protection rating.”

When she gifted the bathers to Alinta as a surprise for her third birthday earlier this month, they were as well received as she’d hoped.

“She saw them and put them on straight away and didn’t want to take them off.”

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The swimmers from Kmart. Image: Supplied

A regrettable purchase

Alinta’s first experience wearing the bathers in water came last week at her regular swimming lesson.

That’s when Chloe got a very rude shock and instantly regretted her purchase.

“She jumped into the paddle pool and laid down and I could see from across the pool that the bathers were see-through along her entire back.”

The startled mum instantly called her daughter out of the water.

“I thought I was seeing things at first, but when she came close, I was shocked because I could see the tag through the swimmers,” the 26-year-old says.

“The entire back, the arms and parts of the front where the character picture wasn’t shown were all see-through.”

The mother was shocked to see how see-through the bathers were. Image: Supplied

With the lesson starting in a few minutes and no backup option in her bag, the mum-of-one grudgingly watched her daughter in the pool in the mostly transparent swimsuit.

“I didn’t let on that I was stressed about it in front of her as I didn’t want her to feel self conscious, so she had the lesson thinking nothing was even wrong.”

Chloe’s only saving grace was her decision to put potty training briefs underneath the Kmart swimsuit as that ended up preventing the area under Alinta’s waist from being exposed.

“I felt lucky that I put them on her because usually I won’t.”

For Chloe, a sole parent who works and studies, purchasing something in good faith that is now useless to her is an added stress she doesn’t need.

“When they are dry, they don’t look see-through at all,” she says.

“It was impossible to know this could happen when I bought them. It’s hard because things are really expensive at the moment and even though this was only $20, I now have to go and replace them.”

Earlier this week, Chloe lodged a complaint to Kmart via Facebook Messenger, and the retailer replied, asking her to bring the item back to store where a staff member would “assess” it and provide “further assistance”.

For Chloe, it was an unsatisfactory response.

“I don’t feel that I’m going to get anywhere going to store because I don’t have the receipt anymore and I know they have a strict policy about that.”

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Making other parents aware of the problem

The caring mum, who works as a daycare educator, feels that having other parents being aware of the transparency is also more important than receiving a refund.

“If I took it back and left it at that, other parents will be in the same position that I was, and I would hate for that to happen - especially with older girls [the bathers are available in sizes 1-9].”

She hopes the product will be removed from the shelves until it is made with a “better material”.

“I believe their product is faulty and would like to see it recalled so more testing can be done on it before it’s sold again,” she says adamantly.

“I’m concerned for other little girls in public and having people see parts of them that they shouldn’t. You shouldn’t have to test bathers in the bath or shower to see if they are see-through or not.”

As for what will replace the Frozen bathers, a trip to Kmart won’t be on the agenda.

“I won’t be buying swimmers from Kmart again,” she says.

“I have bathers from there for me as well and I’m so wary of this happening to me that I don’t want to wear them anymore, either, which is sad because I shop often at Kmart and like wearing their clothes. Alinta still asks to wear hers again but I’m just telling her they’re dirty.”

Kidspot has contacted Kmart and the retailer has not responded at the time of publication.