O'Neill is one of the most popular surf boards, surf wear and equipment brands across the world. It is noted for its wetsuits, swimsuits and clothing for both men and women. Where did O'Neill originate from? Who thought of it?

Back in the day, surfing was limited to areas that were reasonably warm. This was because of the lack of appropriate clothing - imagine swimming in freezing waters in nothing but your swim trunks or swim suits. This meant that swimming in colder climates was limited to short bursts of time, or to very few individuals who could withstand the harsh cold conditions. Frustration by these limitations led to the invention of wetsuits. Jack O'Neill, a surfer in San Francisco who constantly had to battle with swimming in cold water, dedicated his life to inventing ways to keep surfers warm.

In the early 1950's, recently unemployed Jack O'Neill set up a surf shop in his garage, which was close to the beach. He made surf boards out of balsa to earn a living, while he experimented with vests and other material that would help keep a surfer warm in cold waters. After various unsuccessful attempts, with lots of trial and error and immense dedication and determination, he finally came up with a solution. First he experimented with poly vinyl chloride (PVC), which is a good insulating material. However, it was difficult to work with and so, he had to move onto another material. His next option was plastic foam, which was also lacking in functionality. Finally, he used neoprene.

Neoprene is a synthetic rubber that has excellent insulating features, and is also flexible and buoyant. Its key feature is that it is able to maintain flexibility over a wide temperature range. Jack O'Neill discovered that using neoprene was perfect for the swimming vests and started to produce a few. When the vests started to sell, Jack decided that it was time to go into the wetsuit business. And thus, the neoprene wetsuit was born.

Jack O'Neill soon moved his surf shop down the coast from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. To this date, this is where their surfing division headquarters are still located. He made many improvements to the wetsuits over the years - adding nylon backing to help get into the suit and so on. Also, the surf shop began to branch out to making clothing, and their clothing division headquarters are now located in Irvine, California.