Who Makes The BEST CLOTHING FOR DIVING?

[Tom Smedley]

The best clothing for diving - ?? - You were wearing it when you were born!

 

[chammyz]

If you like WARMTH, DRYNESS and COMFORT
If you care about the environment
If you like function
Then Chammyz is the ONLY thing to wear after a dive or any water sports activities!
400+ dive shops can't be wrong!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I wear Payless tennis shoes that I buy when they're on sale. I usually get a new pair every two or three years. Under my TruWest dive parka I wear shorts and whichever dive T-shirt I happened to grab that morning. I spend about $250 a year for fills and about $50 every other year on clothing. I don't care what anyone thinks of me out of the water.

 

[NudeDiver]

I don't think there is much specific about "dive clothing" that's not true of "outdoor clothing" in general.

High quality. Heavy duty. Lots of pockets. Lots of places to "hang" things. Warm/waterproof if appropriate for the type of item, etc.

To that end, we already have places to get that stuff. Either REI or the Army/Navy store in this town. Any "dive clothing" place trying to compete with these two would surely fail due to higher prices and/or lack of inventory.

 

[Monkey_Gland]

As you all patently know nothing about fine tailoring, I'll reiterate. A gentlemen whilst diving wears tweed. As with any sporting pursuit, tweed is the only substance durable, fashionable and stylish enough to count. Plus fours and a deer stalker. Or a pith helmet and safari suit for the tropics.

Actually - You won't get me out of my adidas shell toes, North Face Apex zippy and G-star jeans. Sort of practical yet street - ye get me....

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

When it comes to chilly surface intervals, my best purchase was a boat coat from DIVE GEAR. It is a windbreaker and fleece lined so you can wear it while still in your wetsuit. When I have travelled, people topside have worn it while I was doing a dive to stay warm. When I get home I just toss it in the wash. It has definitely been a lifesaver on long boat rides! I bought two coats at a dive show that had them half off that way I can take care of my dive buddy too. It has been the easiest way to stay warm and still be able to move about comfortably. http://www.divegearusa.com/fleecedenim.html

Carolyn:shark2:

 

[IceIce]

I wear my oldest and most comfortable T-shirt and most comfortable light short.
Each worth less that 5 or ten bucks.

Wrap a towel if I'm cold.

 

[vladimir]

I'm both quite vain and intensely ego driven.

I also dive dry.

I live in SoCal.

I wear Speedo brand trunks (best fitting trunks on the planet) and either a Nike or REI branded tank. NO COTTON. This is my base layer. Trunks in either Red, Black or Cobalt. Tanks in either black, gray, or canary - depending on the trunks and my mood.

Footwear has been Reefs flips. Just moved to Ocean Minded and will never go back. The HUGE leap Reefs are over Rainbows, Ocean Minded flips are over Reefs. Color is tanned leather. Sometimes I'll show up on the boat in my Merrills so I'm not schlepping tremendous loads in only my flip flops. Much better on the feet.

Over the base I wear REI-branded medium weight (expedition weight is too much) long undies in black.

DUI 300 Polartech over the REI's and then the DS.

After dive, I pull off the DUI Polartech, pull off the REI undies and I'm back in trunks, a tank and I'll toss on a camp shirt (Solomon or Columbia) color depending on trunks and tank. If Its cool I'll throw over either Nike, Adidas or Northface pull over running pants (black, gray or, well black.) If its really cool, I'll pull over a hoodie and beenie and don the Uggs. If its super cold and windy or raining, I roll in the finest dive parka on the planet: Truwest.

Bottom line: I look good at all times. Its SoCal. Its how we roll.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edit

I started thinking about this a little more.

There are three basic types of divers.

1) Those who dive. I mean, really dive (the 150+ a year crowd. I've done about 260 to 270 a year for the last several years now) We're cheap, resourceful bastards.

2) Those who dive a bit (the 50+ a year crowd. Often Vacation divers, resorts, travel, etc.) The money demo

3) Those that talk about diving (the 1 to 49 dives a year crowd. The dive by affiliation group.) This is the internet demo. The people on SB, ScubaToys, etc. The vast, VAST majority of divers are in group three.


Most of the "dive clothing" (the screen-printed toothy T's and mermaid T's and stuff with strong diving icons) is sold to group number 3, as the affiliation with diving is important to this group. They don't dive much but need to be close to diving. That's all good. Circumstances change, and sometimes these group 3 people go start diving more than twice a month and move into group 2.

Your more upscale embroidered wear and destination clothing is sold to group number 2, as they associate diving with their travels to Bonaire, PNG, Fiji and all that rot. They don't dive a lot more than group 3, but they spend a lot more than group 3. These are the 45+ crowd. Live aboards, resorts, destination diving.

The divers in group number 1 wear functional outerwear. These are the frequent local divers. Divers in group #1 are generally not caught dead in "dive rags" because they are not comfortable, are for the most part plus sized (those of us in group #1 mix in a salad and are in the gym often), are cotton, don't last, are not practical when wet and honestly we really don't care about associating with diving as much as we care about associating with an active, fit, outdoor lifestyle. We're the 1% of divers out there. We're not instructors piling on the dive counts - we're the weekend multiple dives-in-a-day AND the mid-week night divers. We don't find time to dive, we make time to dive. We've sacrificed a lot so there is enough time to get in the water often. Diving is more than an affiliation or an annual vacation. Our dive gear doesn't get put away. It rarely comes out of the truck. I wear clothes that work in a 40 degree temperature swing (high 40's in the Am when I start my dive day and in the 80's when I'm done with my 3rd or 4th dive.) I layer. I need stuff that can get salty and wet, packs small, can take washing after washing and just shake it off and work for me. Highly functional, technical clothing like this isn't sold in dive stores.

There is currently no divewear for group #1. We have adapted mountaineering gear, running gear, climbing gear and clothing from other serious, active pursuits to meet our needs.

BTW - love your site. Striking images. LiveBooks? I'm looking to launch mine before summer, and I'll likely use them as well.

You're a SoCal (Venice.... I'm in MDR), you're a pro and you travel so I know you get what I'm saying. ExOfficio, Royal Robbins, Nike, etc. Thats the stuff Group #1 wears. I highly recommend serving group #2 or group #3 with your clothing line. Its a crowded marketplace, but it would be much harder to get group #1 to move to anything "dive" related than it would to get groups #2 or #3 to move from their stale cotton sharkey, frog or dive flag T's to a more practical, functional, upscale, technical dive wear.

Good topic. Come to the SoCal Scuba Show with us. By the 7 minute mark you'll be able to tell who's in group #1, #2 or #3 simply by their body type and what they're wearing.

---
Ken

I'm sure you look great at all times, and it's great that you eat salad and hit the gym. Very SoCal, I guess, but we have gyms on the east coast too. I guess the big difference between the coasts is that in New York it would be hard to take style pointers from a middle-aged white guy who's still saying, "it's how we roll" without a trace of irony. Even a year ago. (And there's no other "demo" still using that tired idiom.)

 

[Gen San Chris]

Usually to cool of we get in the water at 84 degrees F which is our usual all year round temperature so being cold does not usually come into it! I usually wear shorts and t shirt all year round with artificial Crocs on the feet so going diving does not make any difference to me! If you need more clothing than that than that then its too cold anyway!

 

[vladimir]

If you like WARMTH, DRYNESS and COMFORT
If you care about the environment
If you like function
Then Chammyz is the ONLY thing to wear after a dive or any water sports activities!
400+ dive shops can't be wrong!

You resurrected a year-old thread for this pathetic spam? You need to re-think your marketing approach.