This is a glimpse of the future. Photo: Patagonia
Since moving to California from New York, I’ve made quite a few lifestyle changes. (I’ve even written about them on The Inertia.) Among them is being more, well, environmentally conscious — I suppose being surrounded by the sun-drenched hippy children of Malibu will do that to you. I’ve always recycled and made the more obvious Earth-friendly decisions when opportunities present themselves, but now I’m making purchasing decisions based on research that goes beyond simply looking at what’s in front of me. I’m learning that if I forgo convenience for 24 to 48 hours, I’m able to purchase products that fulfill my needs while fulfilling the Earth’s needs as well. And that makes me feel good.
I have also learned that if you’re a surfer in Southern California, you’re well acquainted with your wetsuits. There might be a month or two when boardshorts will do, but for the most part it’s all about that neoprene. The only thing is that this appreciation for wetsuits feels counterintuitive — you see, there is a problem with neoprene: it’s not exactly good for the environment. In fact, it’s really, really bad for it. Why is it this bad? Similar to gasoline and, for that matter, most synthetic chemicals, the origins for the building blocks of chloroprene (which produces neoprene through a process called polymerization) are extracted from the Earth via drilling. Drilling isn’t good for the environment. But that isn’t all. Later on, at the refinery, components of this recently extracted crude oil are broken down and separated to make different organic compounds, including butadiene, one of the aforementioned building blocks of chloroporene. This produces wastewater containing pollutants which are released into streams and other bodies of water. This also isn’t good for the environment.
With this in mind, when Patagonia started making wetsuits back in 2006, they wanted to stitch theirs together from a material that was less bad. Much less. There was talk of limestone, but the process involving limestone wasn’t that much better. They then came across guayule, a shrub that, similarly to agave, grows naturally in the desert. Rather, they came across Yulex, a company making “biorubber” derived from guayule sourced from the Chihuahuan Desert in Yuma, Arizona. These plants thrive in low-water, low-nutrient environments and are processed without toxic chemicals, serving as a fully-functioning latex substitute. However, despite being a fully-functioning latex substitute, it wasn’t a complete neoprene substitute — at least not yet; therefore, through this partnership with Yulex, they developed a 60/40 blend (60% guayule, 40% neoprene) that was an enormous step towards the disassociation of surf and neoprene.
The final product? The R2 and R3 Yulex/Nexkin wetsuits.
At Agenda back in July, we stumbled across the new-fangled make and felt like it was definitely one of the radder concepts at the show. But what would it be like in person? Or rather, on person? A couple weeks ago, I learned first hand — it is awesome. True to form, the R2 fit like the Patagonia suits I have worn before it: near perfectly. It fit snug in the way that doesn’t leave a doubt in your mind that it is doing its job of covering and protecting your body without inhibiting your movements and affecting your mobility. Additionally, the external stitching and internal taping was seamless, both in design and in feel. And the Nekskin windproof coating raises the R2 (55 to 60º F) and R3 (48 to 55º F) above its pay-grade, keeping you warm in even colder water than the temperatures the styles are designated. The best part? The smell — there is a woods-y scent about it, like pine.
Lastly, don’t go thinking Patagonia is hoarding their innovative design. In an effort to truly transform the space, the company made the biorubber available to the rest of the surf industry, encouraging them to adopt the new material. Talk about walking the walk.
Not sure about being the best weed, but it’s one of the better wetsuits — that’s for damn sure. Photo: Dan LeMaitre
To learn more about Yulex, visit Patagonia.com. And check out the R2 and R3 styles at their online shop where they start at $529.
