Shocking new research reveals that UK women are wasting over £285m every year on new swimsuits and bikinis which they never actually wear.

On average, UK women buy two new swimsuits every summer – and yet nearly half (45%) never wear them. Nearly 55% claim this is because they feel too self conscious in the new purchases, whilst 42% just end up sticking to their old swimsuit year after year.

The survey also reveals that for over a quarter of UK women (28%), having to wear a swimsuit is what they dread most about the summer holidays, worse even than delays at the airport (14%) and falling ill abroad (13%).

Thirty seven percent of women claim to be so terrified at the prospect of having to wear a bikini that they have seriously considered not going on holiday at all – with 11% admitting they have actually done this in the past.

Head of Nutrition, Catherine Matthews at tescodiets.com which carried out the survey says: "It's a shame that for so many women, low self-confidence and poor body image seems to be getting in the way of enjoying a holiday. But we can do something about this.

“Eating healthily and taking regular exercise can really help boost our morale and self-esteem so, even if we're not quite at our target weight, we know we're on the way and are doing everything we can to look and feel great."

For the vast majority (63%), the stomach is the body part they feel most nervous about showing, followed by legs (37%), bum (29%), whilst nearly 20% dread showing their entire body.

On a scale of 1-10, the average woman in the UK rates themselves as just a 3 when asked how confident they feel in a swimsuit, 1 being not confident at all and 10 being extremely confident).

The poll of 3,000 women also reveals that women deploy a number of tactics in order to avoid flashing their body on the beach, including wearing a kaftan or T shirt even in the pool (30%), only stripping down to a bikini when in the water (29%) and even avoiding the beach or pool altogether (12%).

For more information contact Sam Westcott
email sam.westcott@gmail,com