Wondering if anyone has every ordered a wetsuit off of a website similar to Alibaba? I know many companies including vissla and buell get their wetsuits made by Japanese wetsuit wholesale companies. Trying to find a good company to order from so any feedback would be much appreciated. Also don't say "get a US made wetsuit" because that's a load of bs since nearly every wetsuit company out there gets the material and/or has it constructed in foreign countries.
Saw this on the 'erbb...Not sure if this company's entire suit is yamamoto rubber, but man...can't beat the price: http://www.needessentialsusa.com/.
several companies now use yamamoto ruber (been around since the 60's) go with one of the big 4. There's no reason to pay more for a product from a new co., to get a suit that wears out faster.
Get a US-made wetsuite. I use Chinese (and now Vietnamese and Cambodian) factories for my business. It works with the type of goods I sell, but I wouldn't bother with a knocked-off wetsuite. It's too technical and specialized. The sizing and patterns aren't going to be right, they don't surf (or probably even swim) so they don't understand where needs to be glued and double-blind stitched, and where you can get away with seal tape, or just a straight blind stitch. They don't know which panels can be swapped for less flexible materials, etc. etc. If they take you seriously enough to even talk to you, your "sample" is going to be trash not worth the S&H. Companies in the US take those samples, make improvements, and send the new templates back to the factory two or three times before they get a working product. You're better off hunting around in a thrift store if you don't want to shell out for new.
I would agree with this if most wetsuits weren't total POS. The funniest thing is that O'neill, the inventor of the surfing wetsuit, can't seem to get it right. Xcel seems to fit me good and last a decent amount of time (no idea where they are made). Most of the rest of them suck.
I think wetsuit companies need to get back to the basics. Kinda like Need Essentials is doing. Wetsuits come with all the bells and whistles and a price tag to match but in most cases the quality is just terrible. I understand lighter and stretchier = less durable, generally speaking, but I feel like they should be getting better at it but they're not. It's just a technology arms race and all they care about is being the lightest stretchiest quickest dryingest.
True. The pricing has outrun any qualitative improvements, and the raw material for neoprenes (oil) has dropped a lot as well. It is the demand of a increasing surfing population, and....fashion. Wetsuits are now fashionable. I even saw surfers wearing them in PR last time there. The water is 82*F, for Christ sake!!! Trunks only required.
Not sure why everyone is cryin, I have been pretty damn happy with the quality of my Rip Curl suites. I have Xcel drylock gloves and they have been decent, but I am thinking of switching over to the Rip Curl flashbomb gloves.
I blame Hurley and their stupid two leg stripes. It's like if you're an aspiring (key word...) local pro future burnout you gotta have the two leg stripes and some wild ass color.
