O’NEILL WETSUITS F/W 2025 PREVIEW

Retail Buyers Guide: Wetsuits F/W 2025 Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: O'Neill
Interviewee: Tom Copsey, Product Manager

In anticipation of Fall-Winter 2025, were the pre-orders/orders for FW24 up to your expectations? Did the retailers eventually clear their hangers from the 2022/23 collections?
We had a positive sell in for F24 with some styles surpassing our expectations. Our customers have been selling through our products fairly consistently and we’re seeing a solid amount of replenishment orders but they have been showing caution when it comes to entry level wetsuits where many brands and stores still seem to be fairly heavy with inventory.

And what about the summer sales of your SS24 ranges?
A very slow start to the summer across Europe didn’t help with reorders and retailer confidence but once the seasonal holidays got underway and the weather turned up the sales increased so in the end a solid finish.

What is your strategy for FW25? What is the ratio between carryovers and new SKUs? Prices are on the rise?
It has been 3 years since the introduction of TB4 so time to redesign our Hyperfreak Fire and update fabrics in our Psycho Tech series of suits. Also updates to our natural rubber suit series and entry level chest zip Epic. Prices will go up as we’ve held them artificially low to help retailers clear stock but with redesigns and increased freight costs the rise is coming.

Fall-winter wetsuits used to target the core surfers, with a priority on performance over price. Is that still true or the increased participation [of newbies] lead to new purchase habits, may be more price oriented?
At O’Neill we strive to make the best performing wetsuits and sometimes new technology costs money. However over time this turns into trickle down tech that ends up benefiting everyone even the people new to surfing who just want a wetsuit that is designed around a specific price point.

Yulex, classic limestone, oyster shell foam or good ol’ neoprene: which one(s) did you implement for FW25?
Something for everyone is what we like to offer and this means foams from difference sources. We are working with Yulex natural rubber, limestone neoprene, that incorporates oyster shells and Ocena natural rubber. They all have their own unique benefits and drawbacks but all contribute to making a whole complete product range.

Linings make a huge difference in cold water. Any innovation in that field for 2025?
Yes they do, they can carry a lot of it. At O’Neill we choose internal Firewall linings that have a low profile to the pile of the fabric to ensure minimal water absorption. In our TB4 we add a graphene coating to the fibers of our linings to aid heat retention and for F25 we are upping this content with a full redesign that has shown in tests it’s warmer and dries almost twice as quickly as the previous version.

Beyond the gender specific fit, is your women wetsuit collection any different from the men’s?
Apart from a summer series based on printed fabrics we have found that women prefer to have the same name and tech as the men.

A good after sales service is sought-after nowadays, with the capacity to warranty, repair and/or recycle wetsuits. What do you have to offer on that matter?
‘Repair instead of replace’ has always been part of O’Neill Wetsuits since the early days of using our factory in San Fransisco to today’s global network of O’Neill approved repair locations. O’Neill has many regional recycling initiatives from carbon black recycling to yoga mats to a remanufacturing facility where completely unusable old suits can find a new life in a new product.

How are you helping retailers to sell more suits? (ordering terms, demos, product training, instore and online assets, etc.)
Always instore product training, demos where possible. Improving our instore presents with new digital display tools available in early 2025

Key Products:

Psycho Tech:
The Psycho Tech is built for the absolute harshest conditions and allows the user to surf for hours on end. It focuses on ultimate warmth and durability with high-performance materials and water-tight double-sealed stitchless seams. The FW25 Psycho Tech series has been constructed with an updated version of our TB4 neoprene. It offers more strength, stretch, heat retention and faster drying times!

Psycho Tech

Hyperfreak Fire:
The Hyperfreak Fire provides the ideal happy medium between high-performance stretch and toasty comfort. The FW25 Hyperfreak Fire series has been constructed with an updated version of our TB4 neoprene. It offers more strength, stretch, heat retention and faster drying times!

Hyperfreak Fire

O’Riginal RG8:
The next generation of the O’Neill RG8 legacy, launched in 2010, ‘Regenerate’ stands for high-performance stretch and quality made with our most sustainable materials. FluidFlex Firewall and UltraFlex liners with recycled fibers pair with an FSC-certified natural rubber foam core.

O’Riginal RG8