In 2006, when Matuse was created, the surfing wetsuit market was made up of the largest companies who were the grandfathers of the surf industry. When you walked into a surf shop in the early 2000s, there was a selection of entry-level, mid-range and high-end wetsuits. The higher the price, the more bells and whistles you got, including double blind-stitching, seam taping, hollow fiber interfaces, and more flexible rubber. What you didn't get was information on the quality of the rubber in any of the tiers you bought from.
This lack of information about the quality of rubber was the whitespace where Matuse created disruption in the market. We changed the status quo for how people thought about and purchased wetsuits. We introduced the first fully Limestone material wetsuit to the surfing world called Geoprene with Yamamoto Corporation. We picked this superior material to be our flag waver of Ichiban quality. We tied twill rope with little packs of shattered Limestone rock onto our product tags with a fortune cookie that said, ‘these rocks will change your life.’ And they did! This caught people’s eye and humor, as it might have appeared to be an illegal substance—a bit of our brand's trademark irreverence.
We were small and, suddenly, were making the most expensive wetsuits in the world. People took notice, and we educated them. What we did was draw a line in the sand: We let our customers know there is a difference in the types of rubber used, and when you purchased a Matuse suit you were buying Geoprene by Yamamoto. All of our products were made from the same material; there was no guessing. Nobody had ever done this before, and it put us on the map.
Yamamoto is a longtime creator of some of the world's best Limestone materials. Many brands knew this but did not understand how to integrate the materials into their offerings without greatly affecting expected margins. We understood before everyone that there was a growing population of surfers who were becoming more curious about the products they were using, and if you informed them about the added benefits of Yamamoto's Limestone rubber, they would be willing to pay the elevated price for an elevated product experience. (Shop Geoprene)
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We choose Yamamoto because their materials last longer, aka they provide more insulation over time than any other material because of how it is made. There are more Nitrogen cells in our Yamamoto material and we have better distribution of Nitrogen throughout the sheets to provide consistent and equal warmth throughout. If you have a Matuse for over 4 years the suit is almost as warm as the day you bought it. We have seen suits come back from our customers that are over 8 years old, and sometimes over a decade old, still working and keeping you warm. Having products that last longer is important to us at Matuse because we believe longevity is sustainability.
In addition to excellent longevity and warmth, Yamamoto material is also incredibly light in the water due to the combination of rubber and Hydrasilk Nylon. The rubber absorbs little to no water, and we are very critical on the Nylons we use as they must naturally extrude water adsorption without the use of a DWR (durable water repellent) chemical. The most immediate experience our customers notice is how light Yamamoto Geoprene is when getting out of the water and how fast it dries. This is a great feature for the surfer who is in the water daily and does not want to put on a soaking wet wetsuit in the morning from the day before.
Now in our 17th year, we continue to design for longevity and performance with Yamamoto materials and we take this responsibility seriously. For each new product we create, we continually follow its evolution and interactions, how it succeeds or fails, and move forward with this information to improve the suit's performance without sacrificing durability. In the end, we want to create connections with our products, and this is done through time. The longer you have it, the more you’ll love it. Much #lovematuse
