Let me begin with an explanation what a wetsuit actually is. It is a protection suit used in sports like swimming, surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, scuba diving, triathlon and others. All water sport activities can benefit from using a wetsuit. It function is to keep you warm and protect you from cold water.

How does a wetsuit work?

Wetsuit catches a thin layer of water (wetsuit should be snug) between your skin and the neoprene. You warm this water with your body heat and it acts as insulation, together with neoprene itself. Neoprene contains lots of air bubbles and air is one of the best insulators out there.

Wetsuits are less effective in deep water; this is one of the reasons that dives use thicker wetsuits.

What Is A Wetsuit Made Of?

Manufacturers generally use neoprene to make wetsuits. Neoprene is a synthetic rubber fabric with little pockets of gaseous nitrogen. Several pieces of this stretchable material are attached together to form a body hugging garment that those who love water sports cannot do without. The cuffs, leg and neck openings are sealed in such a way that the egress of water is prevented.

When you are buying your wetsuits you must also consider wetsuit thickness. Thicker wetsuit is warmer but less comfortable and vice versa. Usually wetsuits are from 2 to 6 millimeters thick. Then there are also some other materials that can be added to the wetsuit to make it warmer.

The type of stitches is also very important when it comes to wetsuit productions. Normal stitches mean holes in your wetsuits and cold water flushing in. So at the moment the best seams are made using a blindstitch technique and additionally sealed using liquid taping.

As far as the structure of a wetsuit goes, wetsuits usually come with zippers. These are often located at the back of the suit, and sometimes on the chest or shoulders of the garment. There are some wetsuits that have come into the market recently ” these are so stretchable that the user can put it on using only the neck opening.

Some wetsuits can also be customized and adapted to the conditions in the water ” sleeves and legs can be removed. But the top of the line wetsuits do not have this since this means less warmth and worse performance of the wetsuit.

Wetsuit Types

There are many different wetsuit models, depending on the water temperature they are meant for. You can buy a shorty, spring suit, full wetsuit, steamer, winter wetsuit etc… Apart from that the most important thing is the right fit. If the wetsuit is too big cold water will flush in and you will feel cold.

Wetsuit should also be tight around the neck, wrists and ankles so that water can not come in. Just not to tight, make sure that you can breathe and move comfortably. If you get a good wetsuit and if it fits you right you can surf, swim, dive etc at some really low temperatures.

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