Dane Reynolds To Continue Love Affair With Buell Wetsuits

Two years ago this week, Dane Reynolds released his Subdivision collection with Buell. It was a reminder that Dane has an otherworldly talent for artisanal, low-fi branding.

A brand that I had forever associated with fluoro grommets suddenly felt like it leveled up. The Buell suits looked sleek, cool, and my friends who rip had great things to say about them.

Not to mention, uniform neoprene thickness just makes sense. 

I now have one, and it currently sits stinkily in the trunk of my car. I love it (though I still don’t always remember to wash it). You can read our review of the suit here.

This week, Buell is announcing that Dane has signed a 5-year extension with them. They get to stay leveled up, and we get more Dane suits.

To celebrate the supremely scrawled signature, they’re doing a giveaway. All you’ve gotta do is enter your email here, and you’ll be in the running to receive the loot below. Winner announced May 31st, 2023.

We’re pretty excited about the continued partnership, and it sounds like Dane is too.

“I like Ryan [Buell] and Bud [Freitas], I’ve enjoyed working with them over the past few years and I like their wetsuits,” Dane told us. “Honestly, there was no urgency to re-sign — until suddenly there was. We just wanted to lock it in long term because we’re stoked on what we’re  building. It’s a cool small company, so I know what I’m getting into. They’ve been growing and, at this point in my career, I’m stoked to have any security. It’s cool that they wanted to invest that much more into me, and I got some ideas for new suits that they’re psyched on.”

Offered in both back-zip and front-zip — hooded and without — the suits just feel like something Dane would wear. If Dylan Rieder made me want to cuff my pants, Dane Reynolds makes me want to wear a back-zip. Sleek, with small logos, the suits are priced starting at an absurdly reasonable $289.95.

And Dane has some new ideas for the next round.

“I want to do more smoothie, with new logos,” he said. “Branding’s kinda got me psyched. I guess with all ideas, you come to a creative arc at some point, and you either get newer, better ideas or not. I feel like I have newer, better ideas for where to take the line of wetsuits.

I like Bud because he’s just a little wetsuit mob boss. Just no bullshit, straight to the point, doesn’t beat around the bush. As an owner of a small business myself, I appreciate his work ethic and his dedication. He’s just a straight shooter.”

As for how he balances Ch11, Former, and his other pursuits?

“I have smart, experienced people that are doing what I used to do with Former. I spend a lot more time on Chapter 11. Both are definitely labors of love — my nonprofits. Former is in a good position and I’ve been seeing it around a lot more, it seems to be having a good response. I really appreciate the team that we’ve assembled. We’ve got a really tight-knit, small crew. Everybody wears lots of hats and manages the business effectively.

Chapter 11 is honestly inspired by how my wife does stuff — just hustling things with little storylines in your own life. So many people come into our Ventura shop and they’re like, “What the hell? You have a shop? I love your videos. What the heck? I did not know you had a shop.” We’ve been there for like six months, so it always cool to get recognition.”