Yulex® Wetsuits
Thank you for choosing neoprene-free.
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We care what you wear

not who.
 

“Easy” and “necessary” rarely align. Fourteen years ago, we looked at our wetsuits and pledged to make them without neoprene—the universal and most harmful ingredient, at the time. We teamed up with Yulex, and after four-and-a-half years of R & D, in 2012, we released our first neoprene-free wetsuit. We also shared Yulex® biorubber with the wetsuit industry at large, hoping it would spread beyond Patagonia and into the wetsuits of every major player in surf.

At first, adoption of the material was slow. But within the last three years, we’ve seen Yulex® natural rubber* make its way into the wetsuits of Billabong, needessentials, Seea, Finisterre, SRFACE and more—because finding less harmful ways to make the products we need, to do the things we love, is more important now than ever before.

Let’s get together and wean off ’prene. We don’t care who makes your Yulex® wetsuit—if you’re not wearing neoprene, we’re thankful.

*85% Yulex natural rubber/15% synthetic rubber by polymer content. The natural rubber is from sources that are Forest Stewardship Council® certified by the Rainforest Alliance.

10 Years of Yulex® Wetsuits

Rich Richards

After 4.5 years of R&D in partnership with Yulex® we developed a plant-based rubber from guayule—a renewable non-food crop that used no pesticides and required very little water and a less toxic manufacturing process than traditional neoprene.

Fred Pompermayer

We made this proprietary, game-changing biorubber available to the rest of the surf industry. Because when volumes go up, prices go down; and when more surfers can choose less harmful suits, we all win.

Switching to rubber tapped from hevea trees reduced the CO₂ emissions from one wetsuit by up to 80%. To make sure we weren’t contributing to deforestation, we partnered with the Forest Stewardship Council® to ensure that our hevea rubber was sourced only from plantations that preserve biodiversity and ecological integrity.

Our entire wetsuit line is Fair Trade Certified™ meaning workers earn a premium for their labor. Our Yulex® suits evolved in comfort and stretch—surpassing our previous standards of performance while manufacturing suits in an environmentally responsible way. Yulex® wetsuits now feature solution-dyed linings to reduce water usage along with water-based Aqua-A™ glue that’s free of harmful VOCs.

Yulex® natural rubber* is a major player in surf, having made its way into the wetsuit selections of Billabong, needessentials, Seea, Finisterre, SRFACE and many more—because finding less harmful ways to make the products we need to do the things we love is more important now than it has ever been before.

Fred Pompermayer, akiyoko | iStock

The Lineup

Our Wetsuit Warranty

Unique in the surf industry, we stand behind everything we make—including our wetsuits. However, wetsuits require care if they’re going to perform and wear as intended throughout their expected lifetime. See our wetsuit warranty form for further details.

Tim Davis