Haydenshapes Offers Contemporary Design in Wetsuit Launch

Aug 14, 2023

Hayden Cox has always had an eye for good design and technical materials.

His talents have taken him from surfboard shaping to ready-to-wear to interior design and now, finally, to wetsuits with the category’s launch last week.

“I started shaping boards when I was 15. I designed and manufactured my first wetsuit when I was 19,” Cox said. “I feel like I’ve always loved designing different things. I’ve always looked at different products and reimagined what they’d look to be if they were a Haydenshapes product. We’re turning 25 years old this year and it’s a big milestone, and also cool to see the evolution of the brand and build upon the story that we have within performance surfboards.”

While Cox’s first wetsuit was designed more than 20 years ago, he’s only just now arrived at a wetsuit collection he’s pleased with releasing to the market.

The collection, named Haydenshapes Rubber by Dion Lee, is the culmination of a two-and-a-half-year project. The pieces use Yamamoto limestone rubber instead of a petroleum-based product, with mix and match pieces that avoid simply placing logos on rubber. The 18-piece collection retails from $250 to $690 and is sold at SSENSE, Dion Lee stores and online, and Haydenshapes’ online store, among other retailers.

Silhouettes include a women’s corset-style bodysuit, cropped tops, shorts, and pants. Men’s consists of its own mix and match functionality with full suits, a long john-style suit, tops, and boardshorts.

Cox and Australian designer Dion Lee have known each other for about five years, but Haydenshapes Rubber marks the first collaboration between the two.

A second wetsuit drop is expected as early as the end of this year, with the final rounds of research and development happening now on a four-way stretch fabric that’s been in development for the past 18 months. The material, which consists of about 90% merino wool, is being developed in partnership with The Woolmark Co. and will be used as the internal lining for the wetsuits.

The men’s Gill Jacket from the Haydenshapes wetsuit collection. Photo courtesy of Haydenshapes.

This week’s wetsuit launch follows Haydenshapes’ entrance into fashion with last year’s launch of a ready-to-wear collection.

Now about a year into that release, Cox said there’s still plenty to learn and test.

The amount of design work and sampling that goes into what Cox called even the simplest of garments was a learning curve.

“That consideration was probably slightly less from the start, but I’m used to that through custom surfboard design,” he said. “I’m used to making a board prototype, refining it, getting feedback, and then developing the next one and the next one.”

Understanding the fashion calendar has been another educational experience.

“At the end of the day, product comes first and it’s about designing interesting, unique products that bring value to the customer,” Cox said. “Then it’s about, ‘OK, where are we going to sell this and how are we going to sell it?’”

Elsewhere, Cox has gotten into interior design, with a four-piece furniture collection made from surfboard resin. There’s also the resin installation Cox did in collaboration with architecture and interior design firm Akin Atelier in the entrance of the Art Gallery of the Sydney Modern building in New South Wales that opened late last year.

The expanding mediums in which Cox continues to design in begs the question of whether he would consider placing all of it – the boards, the wetsuits, the home products, and fashion – under the roof of a single Haydenshapes store.

It’s possible, he said. However, it remains to be seen what market it would go into and what type of real estate. In other words, lots of details that still have to be worked out.

“Definitely, I feel like at some point in the future that would make total sense,” Cox said. “I feel like we’re still exploring a fair bit of design language and how these categories interact with each other at this point and we’re looking to build each of those categories through our distinct retail network.”

From the Haydenshapes women’s wetsuit collection. Photo courtesy of Haydenshapes.

The wetsuit launch comes at a choppy time for many businesses and, in particular, for the U.S., which is Haydenshapes’ largest market.

The brand, which is distributed in more than 500 doors globally, has grown over the past five years and it’s expected to do so again this year. That’s in large part due to some re-tooling in the wholesale business.

“Overall, the market is down,” Cox said. “That’s the word that we hear from our retailers. They definitely have experienced a drop off in consumer demand, and times like this really shine a light on internal business processes, service levels, and the product you’re putting forward.”

Haydenshapes had a worldwide distribution agreement with Global Surf Industries for about eight years before inking a deal in 2019 with Surf Technicians.

A little over a year ago, the company concluded its deal with Surf Technicians and has been working ever since to bolster its retail relationships by handling distribution in-house.

“We’ve been building and rebuilding some of our retail partnerships. That’s been our main goal,” Cox said. “(GSI and Surf Technicians) were great partnerships to build the brand internationally, but it came to a point where I wanted to steer the brand.”

Last April the company tapped Steve Ward to serve as general manager of sales for North America. Steve brought with him several years of industry experience, including as GM of O’Neill and national sales manager for footwear and apparel at Oakley.

Cox recalled that Haydenshapes launched its patented FutureFlex board technology in 2007, just ahead of the global financial crisis, but still managed growth throughout the downturn, which he said served as a reminder that success is possible even in difficult operating environments.

“They were challenging times and there was a lot of uncertainty, but the way I grew was to try and improve every part of the business that we could affect and improve upon,” Cox said. “Times like this, I don’t see as challenging. The economy bounces you around. Us being in business 25 years, you’ve got to enjoy it all and do your best in what you’re working on.”

Kari Hamanaka can be reached at [email protected].

For more looks from the wetsuit collection:

Photo courtesy of Haydenshapes.

Photo courtesy of Haydenshapes.

Photo courtesy of Haydenshapes.

Photo courtesy of Haydenshapes.

Photo courtesy of Haydenshapes.

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