history behind o neill

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history behind o neill

the history behind o’neil

O’Neill is a huge name in the world of surfing and beach wear. The brand O’Neill was founded by a man called Jack O’Neill, so need to explain where the name originated from! Jack O’Neill was born in 1923 in Colorado. Due to his passion for surfing and body boarding he moved to California where he was working as a fisherman. O’Neill first became popular and famous from their wet suit designs. Basically Jack got sick and tired off being freezing cold surfing in the cold waters of California in the winter time and on colder days, so he designed a wetsuit that would keep him warm. Jack came across a material on the floor of a plane and thought it would be good to make his wetsuit out of; it is widely used today for wetsuits and vests, called neoprene.

In 1952 he opened his first Surf shop in San Francisco, and in 1959 he moved and his Surf shop to Santa Cruz, which is where he is more famous for living. In the late 60’s surfing and surf wear boomed and so did the brand O’Neill, he opened up his first warehouse and started manufacturing wetsuits and it grew and grew into the international company and name that it is known as today. O’Neill started out as solely selling and specializing in wet suits but now they offer huge ranges of board shorts, surf boards, and other surfing apparel.

Jack is commonly featured in O’Neill’s adverts! If you ever come across an old man in the O’Neill adverts, white hair, an eye patch, that’s Jack O’Neill! He lost his eye in a surfing accident years ago and so now wears a patch.

What are O’Neill Boardshorts like?

O’Neill board shorts are one of the most popular; they are up there along with RipCurl and Quicksilver. They have a great design so they are really easy to wear on the beach, light and fast drying, perfect for surfing and hanging out in the sun all day. Due to their popularity there is a mass choice of designs as well, all varying in colourful designs and bright prints such as the twilight freak blue board short, and the O’Neill Stripe Flower style. They look great and they feel great, perfect.