O'Neill

Brand Overview

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Brand History

O'Neill was founed in the 1950s by Jack O'Neill, the San Francisco native recognized as the inventor of the wetsuit. An avid surfer and bodyboarder, O'Neill formed his business between sessions at San Francisco's Ocean Beach, on the Pacific side of the San Francisco peninsula, a favorite and local spot where he was a regular surfer and bodysurfer.

O'Neill's first surf shop was opened in the '50s in a garage on San Francisco's Great Highway, which runs along Ocean Beach. Based upon the concept of WWII frogmen suits, which O'Neill began to collect from army and navy surplus stores in San Francisco at the time, a vision of what would become the wetsuit began to form. In this garage he sold his first wetsuits, which were basic vests he made from gluing together pieces of closed cell foam.

After experimenting with a variety of materials, O'Neill began to work with neoprene, which he found it to be a good insulator, strong and buoyant. He soon developed designs for the short john, long john, spring suits, long-sleeved-beaver-tailed jacket and full suit wetsuits. The original names O'Neill gave his suits would come to be industry standards, and his concept of the surf shop--a space where surfing accessories, in addition to boards, could be sold--was a first. O'Neill was later able to trademark the name "Surf Shop."

O'Neill has since made inroads into the surfing lifestyle apparel space and is increasingly recognized as a significant apparel brand.

Recent Collections

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External Links

O'Neill Home Page O'Neill Logos

Category

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