Swimsuit shopping is easily one of the least-liked retail experiences around: harsh return policies, questionable sanitary measures, and subpar fitting-room encounters (crappy lighting, overly involved salespeople, and the like). A new startup called Cocodune , launching today, wants to completely change that — not just by improving the aforementioned awful aspects, but also by tacking on some qualities that could make the experience actually appealing.First it's bringing sustainability measures and under-$100 price tags to the table. And with that, founder Matthias Metternich sees Cocodune as more than merely a swimwear brand: “I think of us having a responsibility to change the nature of finding swimwear,” he says. “It’s a more macro view of solving a problem I’ve perceived: finding a swimsuit that’s well made, at a reasonable price, that doesn’t fall apart on you or degrade rapidly."The suits truly do feel luxe — and they’re also sustainably made. Metternich traveled to Italy to work with a fabric mill on a custom material to use in Cocodune’s suits, which contains proprietary threads made of “one part upcycled materials and one part extra-light Lycra, instead of using Spandex, which 99% of swim brands use,” he explains. “You end up with something that’s soft as silk, yet holds its shape and color four times longer” than a typical swimwear fabric. “Normal swimwear fabrics degrade when they’re just sitting in a drawer — and after about 20 hours of swimming, Spandex starts to break down and sag, whether it’s a $20 or $400 suit,” he says. “Even the top brands, by and large, use Spandex.” Work had already begun on the unique sustainable-Lycra blend before Cocodune was involved — the fabric was in development for a solid five or so years total.Thus, Cocodune’s suits are sort of positioned as investment pieces in the swim space: Spandex is cheaper than Lycra and it “expires, in a way, which keeps the market moving,” Metternich says (meaning you keep buying a new suit each season). “For the last two decades, ‘churn’ has been an important part of business — fast fashion, say, or big department stores moving product in and out quickly,” says Metternich. “We’re becoming conscious consumers — that are also looking for value.”