Elasto: Designed To Be Forgotten

How Elasto came to life, with Rip Curl’s General Manager of Wetsuits, Mick Ray.

We’ve just launched our most advanced performance wetsuit yet, the Elasto. A wetsuit so stretchy, lightweight and quick-drying you’ll forget it’s on.
At its core are three key performance features:

Limitless Stretch

The combination of our Elastomax Jersey, lightweight Infinity Foam and unique One-Piece Boomerang Panel work together to deliver ultimate stretch and performance.

Ultra Lightweight

New Infinity Foam through the upper body reduces weight and water retention to create our lightest wetsuit ever.

Quick-Dry Lining

Made from 100% recycled materials, the new E-Dry Thermal Lining actively drains water away from the surface, making it touch-dry in under 30 minutes in typical conditions.

But a wetsuit this good doesn’t happen overnight. The Elasto draws on decades of testing, refining and chasing that next one per cent. It’s the kind of relentless pursuit that comes from people who live and breathe surfing.

Mick Ray is one of those people. Growing up surfing Torquay’s cold water, he understood the difference between a good wetsuit and a bad one from a very young age. After years leading wetsuit development at Rip Curl, Mick knows every detail, from foam density and seam placement to patterns and entry systems.

To understand where the Elasto came from, what makes it different and where wetsuits are headed next, we went straight to Mick.

Mick, what were the key things you wanted to focus on improving for surfers with the Elasto?

The ultimate goal is always to make a wetsuit that feels as unrestricted and free as possible. Ideally, like you're not wearing one at all.

That's where the tagline "Designed to Be Forgotten" came from. It's about getting as close as we possibly can to a suit you just don't notice when you're paddling and surfing. And I reckon this is the closest we've come.

Wetsuits are already pretty great. How do you keep finding areas to improve?

It's getting harder to find that perfect balance between lighter, stretchier materials and durability. We've been doing a lot of work with our material suppliers to get that balance right.

Sparrow, our Pattern Designer for over 50 years, and Jay, our Senior Wetsuit Designer, also spent a heap of time refining the pattern together, particularly the one-piece boomerang panel across the back and shoulders, along with the profiled arms and legs. The idea was to make sure the design of the suit worked with the materials to deliver that feeling of completely unrestricted stretch.

Let's talk tech. What's the coolest thing about the new Elasto?

Definitely the combination of the lightweight Infinity Foam and the crazy stretch of the Elastomax Jersey. Together, they're pretty epic.

The new E-Dry lining is touch-dry in 30 minutes. How is it different to Rip Curl's Flashbomb lining?

Our Flashbomb lining is without doubt our warmest internal lining, but because it's a thicker plush material, it tends to be heavier, especially when wet.

For a lot of surfers in temperate areas like NSW and WA, the Flashbomb can be too warm, so they’ll often go for an E-Bomb instead. The downside is that the E-Bomb lining can stay wet for ages.

That’s where the E-Dry lining is such a big improvement. It dries pretty much as fast as the Flashbomb lining, but it’s a much lower-profile material.

So you get the stretch and lightness you want in a high-performance suit, with the added bonus of quick drying. It’s really the best of both worlds.

What’s your favourite thing about the suit that surfers might not notice when they first pick it up?

I’d have to say the quick-drying aspect. Anyone who picks up the suit will immediately notice how light and stretchy it is, but the quick-drying is something you don't really appreciate until you've owned one and surfed in it a few times.

Putting on a wet wetty sucks, and I think crew who haven't experienced just how quickly these linings dry are going to be pretty stoked.

Rip Curl launched the original Elasto back in 1995. What was the discussion behind resurrecting that idea and how is it different this time around?

The original Elasto was revolutionary. It was the first time super-stretch neoprene had been used throughout an entire wetsuit. Before that, the accepted thinking was that you couldn't use it in the body of a suit because of concerns around blowouts, durability and cost.

Elasto completely changed what people thought was possible in a wetsuit at the time. It eventually evolved into the E-Bomb, which has been around for a couple of decades now.

We've been working on some pretty exciting material innovations, and they were too good to just roll into another version of the E-Bomb. So we figured it was the perfect time to bring back the Elasto. This new suit is a pretty big step forward, just like the original was back in 1995.

Finally, is there anything else cooking in the wetsuit lab you're excited about that you're able to discuss? What does the future of wetsuits look like? 

For me, one of the most exciting things happening in wetsuit development is the move away from petroleum-based neoprene towards bio-based foams that have less impact on the environment.

We're already using OCENA bio-based foam in over 50% of our wetsuit range, including in the lower body of the new Elasto. As the technology and supply chain continue to improve over the next few years, our aim is to get that to 100%.

Discover the new Elasto and experience its limitless stretch.