Billabong launches ‘Upcycler’ wetsuits

Billabong unveiled on Wednesday its most sustainable range of wetsuits to date with the release of the ‘Upcycler’ collection.

The Upcycler collection combines discarded post-consumer textiles for jerseys and wetsuit liners and post-consumer discarded wetsuits, and transforms them into raw materials to create the internal rubber. 

Moreover, Billabong has made a shift from synthetic to natural rubber, using FSC-certified rubber sourced from the Hevea brasiliensis tree. These steps collectively position the Upcycler wetsuits as the most sustainable in the market.

“At Billabong, we design, build and repair all of our products to be as durable and long-lasting as possible,” said Scott Boot, global director of wetsuits at Liberated Brands, the brand’s core operating partner across North America. 

“Unfortunately, products eventually do reach a point where they can no longer fulfill their duty but innovative solutions like upcycling old clothing and wetsuits eliminates the need for new/virgin petroleum fossil fuel derived materials and prevents them from entering landfills.”

Traditionally, wetsuits have relied heavily on neoprene, a material derived from the polymerization of chloroprene, containing about 25% carbon black—a petroleum by-product. Billabong’s collaboration with Bolder Industries, based in Boulder, Colorado, processes old neoprene, extracting a recycled form of carbon black known as Bolder Black, significantly reducing the environmental impact.