The Panera ‘Swim Soup’ Collection Is Already Selling Out

There are certain things—cookie-butter lattes, true love, a crumbling 17th-century farm house—that the moment you realize they exist, you have to have them. 

The Panera Swim Soup is one such thing for me. The chain restaurant, famous for making you wonder if life would be better lived inside a bread bowl, just released a limited-edition swimwear collection. The theme? Broccoli cheddar. The color palette? Neglected pond, with a hint of hungover frog. The vibe? Ugly-hot soup chic. 

“It is officially the hottest time of the year, and over 70% of people say the hot weather does not stop them from eating soup,” reads the company’s press release, citing a Panera survey of 700 people. “For this group of year-round, hot soup aficionados, Panera sees you, and celebrates you with the launch of the new Swim Soup Collection.”

I am aware that this is a clever marketing ploy aimed at people like me—awkward women who eat a lot of soup and would like to be seen as adorably quirky for doing so. I don’t care. I walk through so much of my life simply sloshing, full with soup. Finally a brand has recognized me. 

The Swim Soup collection contains two classic one-pieces and two pairs of swim trunks, each available in either a broccoli cheddar print or a sickly algae color. There is also a pool float shaped like a bread bowl. I am drawn, with an intensity that has shocked me, to the nauseatingly green one-piece that just says, “Soup.” After all, what is the human body if not a soft, supple container of upright soup?  

While they were in stock (pun intended), each Swim Soup sold for $25, with the pool float going for $20. The suits ran from XS to 4X. They were sold through Panera’s online system, which, kind of charmingly, treated the order as if you were ringing up an actual bowl of soup instead of a retail purchase. Tragically, the entire line sold out in less than a week—like hot, refreshing soup on a sunny day (or something.) Panera told Glamour that there are “no plans to restock at the moment.” 

But those of us who eat soup are accustomed to waiting (for the soup to cool down). In the meantime we will blow on our broth, as one blows out candles on a birthday cake, and make a wish: for more sexy soup-themed merchandise. The world is our bread-bowl; we will be satisfied. 

Now then, it’s 90 degrees in parts of the East Coast today, and you know what that means: Time for some nice, hot soup. 

Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter.