Wetsuit and Divesuit Design

Wetsuit and divesuit design collection

Wetsuits are clothing, usually made of foamed neoprene, worn by surfers, divers, windsurfers, canoes, and others involved in water sports and other activities inside or on water, mainly providing thermal insulation, but also buoyancy and protection from abrasion, ultraviolet exposure and stings from marine organisms. The nature of insulation depends on gas bubbles inside the material, which reduces its ability to heat. The bubble also gives a low density wetsuit, providing buoyancy in water.

The difference between a wetsuit and dry clothes is that wetsuits allow water to enter a suit, while dry clothes are designed to prevent the water from entering, thus keeping the underwear dry and maintaining the effectiveness of their insulation. Wetsuits can provide adequate protection in warm waters that are quite cold. Dry suits are usually more expensive and more complicated to use but can be used where protection from low temperatures or contaminated water is needed.

Hugh Bradner, a physicist from the University of California, Berkeley, discovered modern wetsuits in 1952. Wetsuits were available in the mid-1950s and evolved as relatively fragile foaming neoprene that was first supported, and then flanked, with thin sheets from harder materials such as nylon or Lycra / Spandex. Improvements in the way the connections in the wetsuit are made by gluing, glue and silence, help the clothes remain waterproof and reduce flushing, replacing the water trapped between the jacket and body with cold water from the outside. [1] A further increase in the seal on the neck, wrist, ankle and zipper produces a suit known as "semi-dry".

Different types of wetsuits are made for different uses and for different temperatures. [2] Settings range from thin (2 mm or less) "shorties", only covering the torso, to full 8 mm semi dry, usually equipped with neoprene shoes, gloves and a veil.