HOW IT WORKS
The Making of a Wetsuit
Inside TYR’s 5-step process to design and build a wetsuit
1. Shape the suit.
Tyr started the design process with a focus group of triathletes who told the designers how the suit should feel in the water and how it should alter the swimmer’s stroke. Tyr strove to design anatomically correct panels that follow contours of typical male and female physiques to minimize restriction, and they used a mannequin with malleable dimensions to ensure the panels wrap smoothly around a swimmer’s body without having seams over the important moveable segments. All three Tyr suits use the same panel patterns to ensure proper fit at every level.
on the panel 2.Decide characteristics.
The three major characteristics of each individual wetsuit panel are insulation, buoyancy and stretch. According to Tyr’s wetsuit designer Jared Berger, “A thinner suit will stretch more in key areas (such as the shoulders) but might not be buoyant enough to lift the legs of a lower-level swimmer,” so Tyr matches the materials used in its suits to meet the needs of different types of swimmers. Its high-end suits, aimed at experienced swimmers, are designed primarily for flexibility in the upper body and buoyancy in the lower body. To achieve these characteristics,
Tyr builds the upper body of its flagship suit, the Category 1, with 1.5-millimeter thick neoprene panels. Its entry-level suit, the Category 5, uses thicker material throughout the torso, which is both more buoyant and less flexible than the Category 1.
3.Make the neoprene.
Wetsuit neoprene begins as polychloroprene powder. The Yamamoto Corporation, which makes Tyr’s neoprene, adds a proprietary mix of ingredients to the powder in order to fine-tune the material’s elasticity, color, buoyancy and several other properties. This mixture is made into a doughy substance and, with the help of pressure and heat, squished into sheets of neoprene. Yamamoto applies a coating to the neoprene used for the Category 3 and Category 5 suits to reduce the friction between the suit and the water.
4. Assemble the suit.
Panels shaped to match body contours
Flexible panels for free arm movement Thin neoprene for flexibility
Tyr assembles the neoprene panels using both glue and thread to ensure a connection that is both strong and watertight. Tyr uses a proprietary bonding process to attach its compression panels, and the company is tight-lipped about this method. The cloth inner liner is glued onto the neoprene and sewn in place with flatlock stitching that reliably holds the suit together without compromising flexibility.
5. Undergo testing.
Seams are bonded and stitched together
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Thick neoprene for buoyancy
Instead of quantitatively measuring a suit’s speed, Tyr designed the Hurricane suits with the philosophy that a comfortable suit is a fast suit, and it relied heavily on its sponsored athletes to refine the designs. Andy Potts swam in early versions of the Hurricane wetsuits and provided feedback about how to tweak the suit to maximize comfort and the swim experience. When he first swam in a prototype suit with Tyr’s free-moving back panel he gave his seal of approval by telling the designers, “You guys finally figured it out.” They stuck with that design. // AARON HERSH