Scuba Wet Suits

A wetsuit is a protective garment used for watersports such as scuba diving, surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing and triathlon. A modern, warm-water wetsuit is mostly made from thin open-cell neoprene, which provides limited thermal protection for activities in cold water, but protects the wearer in warm water from sun exposure. Cold-water wetsuits are built differently, have seams which do not leak, and provide good protection from cold water for up to 60 minutes in shallow water. A wetsuit is usually lined with a nylon fabric to strengthen it and make it easy to put on and take off. Some newer wetsuits, usually marketed as "superflex," contain spandex in addition to neoprene to allow the suit to stretch. This counteracts neoprene's tendency to shrink with age; it also allows for some changes in the wearer's size without making the suit uncomfortable.

Wetsuits help to preserve body heat by trapping a layer of water against the skin; this water is consequently warmed by body heat and acts as an insulator.

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Originally, wetsuits were made only with raw sheets of foam-rubber neoprene that did not have any backing material. A person wearing this type of suit needed to be very careful pulling it on because the raw foam-rubber by itself is both fragile but also sticky against bare skin. Pull a little too hard and the suit is easily torn in half. This was somewhat remedied by thoroughly powdering the suit and the diver's body with talc to help the rubber slide on more easily.

Backing materials first arrived in the form of nylon sheeting applied to one side of the neoprene. This allowed a swimmer to pull on the suit relatively easily since the tough nylon took most of the strain of pulling on the suit, but the suit still had the black sheet rubber exposed on the outside and the nylon was very stiff and rigid, limiting flexibility. A small strip reversed with the rubber against the skin could help provide a sealing surface to keep water out around the neck, wrists, and ankles.

In the early 1960s, the British Dunlop Sports Company brought out its yellow Aquafort neoprene wetsuit, whose high visibility was designed to improve diver safety. However, the line was discontinued after a short while and wetsuits reverted to their black uniformity. The colorful wetsuits we see today first arrived in the 1970s when double-backed neoprene was developed. Now the foam-rubber was sandwiched between two protective fabric outer layers, greatly increasing the tear-resistance of the material. An external layer also meant that now decorative colors, logos, and patterns could be made with panels and strips sewn into various shapes. This growth from bare flat black rubber to full color took off in the 1980s with brilliant fluorescent colors common on many suits.

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