georged wrote:
Does anyone know anything about Deboer wetsuits?
They've got Frodo selling their wares, so they must be reasonable. And if competition makes Roka wetsuits a little cheaper...
I can chime in on behalf of de
boer wetsuits. I work for de
boer as the athlete manager and handle social media responsibilities. I'll give a little background first, then I can get to the athletes and the price.
de
boer wetsuits is a new premium wetsuit brand. One of the co-founders, Alex de Boer, has been involved in the industry since 1995. He started by distributing Ironman wetsuits, and of late he has run Dare2Tri (which he continues to operate as a separate business).
de
boer has introduced two wetsuits, the Fjord 1.0 and the Floh 1.0. The most striking feature of both wetsuits is the ribbed material you can see through the front of the body and legs. We call this material WhaleSkin, it's a Limestone neoprene, and the ribbed material helps increase buoyancy while decreasing drag. The Fjord 1.0 uses a material called DuraFlex in the arms, which is only 0.3mm thick and provides incredible flexibility, and is almost impossible to rip with your nails. The Floh 1.0 uses UltraFlex in the arms, which is a 1.5mm material, and is still extremely flexible, while providing additional warmth.
We have currently announced Jan Frodeno, Ben Kanute, Matt Russell, Celine Schaerer, Brooke Brown, and Marcos Knight on the team. It was a big deal for us when Jan chose to swim in a de
boer wetsuit. Ben Kanute wore a Fjord 1.0 wetsuit when he won Oceanside earlier this month, we're looking forward to Matt racing in Texas this weekend, and we're very excited about all the athletes we have on the team.
Finally, the price. I've been on Slowtwitch long enough to know this would be a sticking point for many. Both the Fjord 1.0 and the Floh 1.0 are $1499. This is currently the most expensive wetsuit on the market, and it wont be for everyone. With that said, this is a no-compromise product. We didn't cut any corners and considered no detail too small in the development and manufacturing of this wetsuit. Athletes who purchase a de
boer wetsuit will see the attention and care that has gone into the wetsuits. Additionally, at this point we have no intentions to release another wetsuit at a lower price.
If anyone has any questions about de
boer feel free to send questions my way. If you want to email me my email is daniel.clarke(at)deboerwetsuits.com. We are going to have a couple of demo wetsuits in the Woodlands this week, and Playtri Dallas is hosting an event at their store with some demo suits tomorrow (Tuesday) night.