O’NEILL WETSUITS S/S 2025 PREVIEW

Retail Buyers Guide: Wetsuits S/S 2025 Retail Buyers Guide
Brand: O'Neill
Interviewee: Brand Marketing

There has never been so many participants out there in the water, however the retailers wetsuit hangers still display some 2023 SKUs: How was the 2024 market and order levels?
Although slow to start with retailers emphasising caution when it comes to placing pre-orders, the re-order business with us has been above the norm and much better than expected. Having said that there is still huge amounts of wetsuit inventory out there from nearly every brand and this will still take several seasons to get through until warehouses and stores are clean and return to the traditional preorder timelines.

The production life cycle of a wetsuit is 2 to 3 years generally. Beyond mere carry overs, how should we extend that life cycle of the product, avoiding aggressive discounts and bettering the environmental impact?
At O’Neill we are always looking for new and emerging technologies or substitutes we can implement into our products whether that will benefit performance or lessen the environmental impact of a wetsuit. Whenever we make a change or introduce a new style or redesign we make it for a functional purpose that will benefit the end consumer.

The 3/2 fullsuit is the piece de resistance of the spring-summer range, what are the latest developments within your collection (men, women, youth)?
In 2025 we are revisiting our heritage O’Riginal silhouettes with some super cool retro pieces using updated modern materials and fabrics in RG8 (O’Neill’s natural rubber neoprene alternative) and regular limestone neo. We have redesigned our popular entry level GBS chest zip Epic to go 100% double lined and introduced a gooey 3/2 thickness in our RG8 O’Riginal style for men and women. We have fresh colors in our TechnoButter ultra high performance, award winning, Hyperfreak and Hyperfreak Fire series across, men’s women’s and youth.

Among the various summer silhouettes (springsuit, short/leg fullsuit, long/short john, jacket) which are bestselling (men, women, youth)? And what do you offer in these segements?
We are fortunate to be able to offer something in every type of silhouette for everyone and with SUP and recreational waterports being super popular many of our modular styles such as jackets, pants and johns have been doing good numbers. Not forgetting our ever-expanding women’s and girls Bahia printed collection where you will find a spring suit in every length depending on your preference.

Which neoprene options did you use for SS25?
We use both regular limestone based neoprene and natural rubber

Unlike the trend in winter wetsuit, does the backzip entry system still account for big numbers in 2025? Backzip is still massive for the summer recreational water user for easy in/out purposes and where it’s not a necessity to keep water ingress to a minimum. However in winter the back zip suits are still predominantly more common around the entry level GBS styles and although we have O’Neill’s patented Zen-Zip closure it’s still doing significantly less units than our chest zip styles.

Tell us about your colours and graphics, Do you favor gender-neutral colors/prints or sundry graphics?
At O’Neill we tend to offer brighter colours in every gender in the entry level and flatlock summer styles than in our higher end technical products where small injections of color or popping graphics or inks are much more popular.

Key Products:

O’Riginal RG8 Full:
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 for the planet and ocean. These RG8 styles feature 90% or more recycled fibers within the liner fabrics paired with an FSC-certified natural rubber foam core. This Timeless O’Riginals style leads the evolution of sustainable wetsuit technology in our range.

Original RG8 Full Suit

Epic Chest Zip Full:
The Epic Chest Zip is now fully double lined for increased durability and performance. It has many of the same great features as our high-end wetsuits, including double seal neck closure, LSD (lumbar seamless design).

New_Epic_Chest Zip_Full

Hyperfreak Chest Zip and Zipless:
Our Hyperfreak wetsuits are constructed with our super light TB3 and TB3X neoprene. This advanced technology provides amazing warmth and flex for all-round comfort and freedom of movement. These fully sealed wetsuits are available with a chest zip or completely zipless.

WMS_Hyperfreak_Chest_Zip