Glide skin neoprene is a type of single lined neoprene. and it is similar to smooth skin neoprene, but it's a little bit more slippery as it has another coating on the surface of the neoprene. So that it is often used on chest and back panels of surfing wetsuits to be against windchill. This can let you last longer time for surfing.

Different wetsuits are made of kinds of neoprene for different situations. Therefore, neoprene material suppliers often provide varies of neoprene surfaces. There are some common surfaces to be used usually.

1. Smooth skin, its surface is so smooth, so that it can reduce the friction resistance from wind or water. Therefore, it is often for surfing wetsuit, freediving wetsuit, triathlon wetsuit.

2. Cell skin, its surface is with many small holes that can keep warm better if the neoprene is closed to our body so much and the flexibility is perfect. Therefore, it is often for spearfishing wetsuit.

3. Shark skin, its surface is full of reinforced dots. then the strength is so perfect. Therefore, it is often for some wetsuits needed to reinforce.

4. Cross Mesh Skin, its surface is with checkered reinforcement, then the strength is so perfect but less than shark skin. Therefore, it is often for some wetsuits needed to reinforce.

Yamamoto BRS neoprene is a combination material consist of SCS, ultra thin limestone CR, titanium-a, jersey. And its thickness is only 0.3-0.5 mm. This special material is usually used in making triathlon wetsuits, as Ultra-thin neoprene has good heat-retention properties than normal swimsuits

Yamamoto SCS neoprene is an additional process coating above smooth skin surface made by Yamamoto company, the full name of SCS is called “Super Composite Skin”. This special material is usually used in making triathlon wetsuits or some surfing wetsuits, as it will reduce the friction during putting on and taking off (wetsuits) and alleviate water resistance.

Yamamoto SCS Material Composition

Triathlon Wetsuits

Surfing Wetsuits

Spandex cloth is another flexible material used to make wetsuits and is often used as a replacement for nylon. Spandex is especially popular in the seams of wetsuits. Wetsuits made entirely of spandex do exist, but only in warmer climates because it doesn't hold heat anywhere like neoprene.

Nylon cloth is commonly found in the lining of most popular wetsuits. It is an extremely durable material that helps protect weaker wetsuit materials from damage and holds wetsuit parts together. The main disadvantage of using nylon is reduced flexibility if the neoprene is so perfect, which makes wetsuits more restrictive.

Jersey cloth is a very soft material, suitable for sensitive skin, which is why it is often used to make the inner lining of wetsuits. A jersey is sometimes used on the outside of a wetsuit, usually a wetsuit with a camouflage pattern. Jersey liners can also be reinforced with other materials, including titanium.

Yulex natural rubber is made from guayule plant by Yulex Corporation and it is FSC® certified. It is produced by trees that absorb carbon throughout their life span. Switching to hevea reduces the CO₂ emissions from one wetsuit by up to 80%.

In 2012, it was used into diving suit by Patagonia for the first time. but until now, it is also not to expand to all over the world as other wetsuit manufacturers can not buy Yulex material.

Yulex is a good neoprene alternative for surfers, but not so much for divers because Yulex isn't very pressure resistant and the pressure of water will shorten its lifespan considerably. Therefore, it can be said that the material improvement of diving wetsuits is much more difficult than surfing wetsuits or triathlon wetsuits, which is why diving wetsuits are counted separately in industry statistics.

Dope dyeing for wetsuit laminated fabric is a dyeing technique used to dye synthetic fibers such as acrylic, nylon and polyester. In dope dyeing, pigments are added to a liquid polymer solution prior to extrusion of the synthetic fibers. method. Traditional fiber dyeing entails applying color to the fiber surface without coloring it.

In dope dyeing, colored pigments become part of the fiber, which improves color fastness and reduces color deviation compared to traditional dyed fibers.

Compared with traditional dyeing, dope dyeing reduces water consumption by 80%, dye consumption by more than 20%, use of alkaline and other chemical reagents by 80%, and electricity consumption by 7%.

Neoprene will be processed before the wetsuit is made. There are four common processing methods:

Laminating. It is to glue the fabric to the surface of the "neoprene sponge" to increase the surface strength (tear resistance and abrasion resistance), so that the neoprene sponge has the characteristics of the fabric. This is the most conventional machining process. Application: Widely used in the production of various related products, commonly used fabric types are polyester, nylon, spandex, … etc.

Coating. It is to coat the surface of the "neoprene rubber sponge" with polyurethane polymer material to increase the surface strength and smoothness, this is to avoid the accumulation of water and reduce the friction in the water, so that the neoprene sponge will have more colors. Additional titanium can be added to the "coating" to improve thermal performance. Application: Usually used to make high-end products, such as triathlon wetsuit and spearfishing wetsuit etc.

Embossing. It is embossed on the surface of the "neoprene rubber sponge" with different patterns of molds, so the surface will have different patterns to increase the surface strength, anti-slip, and reduce friction in water. It also looks more beautiful. Application: "Embossed Neoprene Fabric" is often used to make products

Perforation. It uses different shapes of molds to punch holes on the "neoprene rubber sponge" to form holes of different shapes and sizes to increase breathability, reduce weight, and enhance the sense of design. There are two methods: "Visible perforation" is lamination of a neoprene sponge with fabric and then perforated, the holes are visible. "Inner perforation" is where the neoprene sponge is perforated and then the fabric is laminated so that the holes are invisible. Application: It is often used to make products that require increased breathability or appearance.

The lining is the insulating layer on the inside of the wetsuit and is mainly used for medium and high-grade wetsuits. The lining material should be stretchy and lightweight, and be water repellent and quick-drying so it doesn't become a heavy, wet fleece after wearing.

 

When it's cold, the thermal lining will keep you warm. However, even though these materials have become lighter and more flexible, they still reduce the flexibility of the wetsuit.
If you do need a wetsuit with a thermal lining, the area covered by each wetsuit will vary. Generally, the more you're willing to pay, the more coverage you'll get. Some wetsuits are not lining at all, such as entry-level or summer suits, but some wetsuits will have full lining (1), some just the legs and torso (2), some may only have a panel on the front (3) to better protect the core area.

In our wetsuit material, are spandex, lycra and elastane all the same?

The material itself is elastane, but different names are used depending on the country and the brand that makes it.

For example, people living in the US usually refer to elastane as spandex, but the rest of the world calls it elastane unless they're referring to a specific brand name. E.g. Lycra is DuPont's product for spandex fibers. Lycra® is a trademark and brand name of DuPont Company. There are other companies that also produce spandex fibers, such as Elastam, Elaspan, Creora or Dorlastan, and so on.

So, no matter what it's called, elastane is still elastane.

Smooth skin neoprene: one side is the cell, the other side is the surface of the sponge sheet, The smooth skin is in the outside and has excellent strength and smoothness, but the stretchy performance is not as good as the neoprene cell. Because of being good at repelling water and the wind.

In general, "Smooth Skin" neoprene is used for core region of the wetsuit to prevent the wind and water from cutting through and it is to manufacture the triathlon wetsuit. However, it is not as durable as the neoprene with nylon line, and it is much more easily to tear and rip when we wearing.

1) science and technology fabric from the essence of breakthrough
triathlon wetsuit technology is mainly manifested in glue and tailoring and edition type, and the content of science and technology mainly comes from the use of materials, almost top of the world triathlon brand invariably chose Japanese Yamamoto company of neoprene as production triathlon wetsuit materials necessary。

2) low resistance performance
the technical coating of Yamamoto SCS makes the resistance coefficient of the material in water 0.021, while the resistance coefficient of the generic brand of neoprene is 4, which is an order of magnitude difference.

3) tensile capacity
the average tensile capacity of the Yamamoto neoprene is 7 times that of the ordinary neoprene stretching ability, which affects the fit and comfort of the players in their clothing buoyancy performance.

4) buoyancy performance
the average buoyancy of Yamamoto neoprene is 30% higher than the average brand. buoyancy can have a big impact on the speed of a player and it floats more smoothly in water, you can swim faster and more effortless.

It was Yamamoto Corporation from Osaka, Japan that first developed neoprene from limestone—and with no oil at all—thanks to an abundance of pure limestone close by in the mountains of Japan (their reserve of limestone is estimated to be sufficient for the next 3,000 years). Yamamoto has set the standard for quality and innovation in the neoprene industry with their advanced manufacturing techniques, leading to the creation of a limestone neoprene that has a completely independent cell structure and multi-directional stretch capacity.

The calcium carbonate, found in the limestone, is used as the base with chloroprene by a process of polymerization to produce limestone based-chloroprene rubber chips.

What are the advantages of limestone neoprene?
Limestone neoprene has a high micro-cell structure. These are independent closed cells (bubbles basically) within the neoprene that are packed together at an extremely high density. Oil-based neoprene has a cell penetration of 60-70%, whereas limestone neoprene has a 94% cell penetration. What this means in simple terms is that limestone neoprene has a lot more air bubbles inside the rubber than other brands (over 30% to be exact), and is way less dense than oil-based neoprene.
Because of this micro-cell structure, limestone neoprene provides several serious distinct advantages to the functionality of wetsuits compared to the traditional oil-based neoprene:

It is impermeable.
It is lighter in weight.
It is warmer.
It is more durable.
It is stretchy.

There are several different grade Neoprene materials for different application: SBR, CR and SCR.

For the difference between the high-end material ( CR ) and the basic material is elasticity. High-end material is softer, more resilient, and fits even better after wearing, and keep the body warmer. Basic materials does not stretch as CR and more fragile.

In addition, the high-end material is more expensive. The price of "CR" + "Super Stretch fabric" 5-6 times that of "SBR" + "Nylon fabric" in general, although their surfaces are similar. Some of rubber companies such as Sheico and Nam Liong developed high-end SCR that has good function. It is not as good as CR but price is low.

The completed chemical name of this material is actually called polychloroprene. DuPont renamed to neoprene when choosing a trade name for the material and the name stuck. Nowadays, all polychloroprene materials are simply referred to be as neoprene.

What is it? It is an elastic synthetic rubber material that has very good insulating properties due to the millions of tiny air bubbles (microcells) inside the material. These cells are filled with air or nitrogen (better insulators). So that they make up the basic insulation of neoprene to keep warm inside. This is why the wetsuits are also made of this material.