Need A New Wetsuit? Good Luck

Covid-19 has thrown supply and demand completely out of whack in industries worldwide. 

Homebuilders can’t find lumber. Automakers are running out of computer chips. Paints, sealants, pet food, even cereal…the list of goods in short supply is at an all time high. 

A few months ago, Jed Smith reported on a surfboard shortage in Australia. Now, something similar is unfolding in the world of neoprene. 

As one surf industry insider told Stab, “It’s hard for us to even get wetsuits to our team right now. Surfboards and wetsuits are the lifeblood of our industry, and they’ve gone through some difficult times. Before the pandemic it was always a struggle with margins. Since the pandemic, you just can’t get them. Everything is sold out. You can’t get boards and you can’t get wetsuits, because everyone is going back out and buying this stuff. It’s great for the industry, but it’s a new challenge for us.”

Why? The problem is two-fold. 

When the pandemic hit, companies initially slashed orders expecting demand to diminish, but in reality the opposite happened: Stimulus-strapped surfers rushed out in droves after lockdown in a wetsuit and board buying frenzy. But, by the time anyone realized what was happening, it was already too late. Ramping up production takes months, and it also requires everything to go right with manufacturing and shipping. Which it rarely does, but especially during a pandemic.

“Obviously demand skyrocketed unexpectedly due to the huge Covid outdoor boom, and once that happened, the supply chain became backed up from top to bottom,” says Brian Kilpatrick, the VP of Marketing at O’Neill. “Ours wasn’t the only industry caught off guard by the Covid boom—many product categories have experienced the same issues, and at this point, many of the delays are being caused by a shortage of shipping vessels due to the increased global demand for products from Asia. But, the wetsuit industry is taking longer to adjust on the supply side simply due to the limited number of manufacturers in our niche industry.”

Look at your favorite wetsuit brand’s website and there’s a good chance they’re either low on stock or sold out of their marquee models. At the very least, it’ll be much more difficult than it’s been in years past to pick up the latest and greatest in rubber. At the absolute worst, it could be hard to get any wetsuit from your preferred brand in a few months.  

According to an anonymous product manager from another major surf brand, “We had to cut our 2021 order to ¼ of the original plan. So, in turn, loads of shops won’t get what they ordered—or they’ll arrive like four months or more late.”

We wanted to see how that affected things at a shop level. 

“If people are fighting for overseas container space to fill with computer chips and building supplies, good luck getting wetsuits in them,” laughs Tory Strange, the owner of The Surf Station in Saint Augustine, Florida. “But the manufacturers are hurting worse than the retailers, because retailers can always go to a domestic supplier that might not be having the same problem. Not every wetsuit comes from overseas. So, we’ll be fine, and expect to have plenty of suits. But, we might not have the same mix of options that we want in our store this year—at least until the bigger brands can get us our orders.”

With that in mind, it might be smart to consider looking around for a new suit now, before the wetsuit shortage is fully realized. 

Either that, or start practicing Wim Hof.