Business Suits

Photos by Adj Brown

Elsie Pinniger makes Neon Wetsuits in a studio overlooking the sea on the southwest coast of England. We wanted to know more, so we asked.

Why the name NEON?

Well, there’s no exciting story−sorry! My friend Nina and I had a little surf and were just sitting in the van chatting about the suits. This was about seven years ago, and I was only making them for me and a couple of friends. Anyway, I was trying to think of a name and everything just sounded stupid. We were just coming up with random stuff. I said, “Neon.” I like four-letter words, and it has nice aesthetics−like the ‘n’ at both ends. So yeah I was like, “Ok, ‘Neon’ it is!”

What’s the hardest part of making an awesome wetsuit?

It’s not hard to actually think about design and function. I just think it’s a hard market for the bigger companies that need to sell a million! It’s hard to please everyone and to stick to your guns with what you want to produce. At the end of the day, I wanted a functional suit that is great to surf in and feel good in… Am I there yet?

What voice do you think is missing in women’s surf apparel?

If you’d asked me that when I first started designing my own suits, I’d have said “Everything!” But things have changed heaps in the last couple of years, and there is so much more choice now. Women’s surfing is still in a bit of a weird place, but things have changed and smaller brands are flourishing and able to make the things women actually want and need. I think the biggest gap in what women need now is in boards. There aren’t many women shaping and getting a good understanding of what women are after. I guess it was the same with wetsuits, etc. The women’s side has always been seen as such a small part of the market, but those times have changed and it looks like everyone has noticed how neglected it was.

Would you ever make thicker cold-water suits?

Never say never, but not for the foreseeable future. I’ve got loads to still do with the Neon Wetsuits customized range, so keeping it simple and getting it right and keeping it fun is priority for now. Living in the U.K., we wear cold-water suits for a big chunk of the year, so it’s definitely something I know about.

neonwetsuits.com

Back to Earth

“It's when I'm weary of considerations, And life is too much like a pathless wood / Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs broken across it, and one eye is weeping from a twig's having lashed across it open. / I'd like to get away from earth awhile,” -Robert Frost, Birches

Sometimes you just need to get out of town. We all feels like that sometimes, but instead of sitting around and writing about it, we (you know, us) get into trains, vans, and beers and go somewhere to get away from earth a bit to be wild and free. This is exactly what I needed last weekend after long weeks of too many screens and too few sun-burns, so I called up everyone I knew who would be ready for an adventure and we hopped on trains, chucked boards in vans, and got ready for the Coors mountains to turn blue. We went in search of the proper latitude and longitude for waves, dirt, and trees and found it near a train station a few hours north of town.  

We spent the next 3,200 minutes surfing fun uncrowded waves, drinking fine American made ales (coors light), high-fiving, exploring, jumping off things, growing beards, smoking cigareeets, discussing the merits of Rick Ross’ new album, and being the most not bummed.  

When our time in the sun ran out we all knew it and no one tried to fight it because as much as we hate to admit it, Robert Frost is so right on when he ends Birches by pleading,

“May no fate willfully misunderstand me and half grant what I wish and snatch me away not to return. Earth's the right place for love. I don't know where it's likely to go better.”

The ground was hard as shit and we smelled bad and this was certainly nowhere near the right place for love.  It was time to head back to Earth, to take showers and try to talk to girls again.

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Story & Photos by Drew Ligget

Happyness is Camping... where you're not suppossed to!

I plopped another log on the fire.

Sparks rose up into the dark sky and became stars.
My five-year-old son, Camper, slept in the driftwood fort
we built earlier in the day.

Camper dreamt about the Star Wars comic books he fell asleep listening to. Alien rebels in a galaxy far, far away fighting for independence and a thing called “the force.”
Hard to relate.

I puffed my pipe, chugged a tall can of Olympia and waited.

There he came fumbling & giggling out of the forest, David “Dickbird” Neevel. The most adventurous man I know. Once Dickbird found out we were camping illegally at Short Sands, he rode his motorcycle lightly packed with surf and camp gear to bask in the glory of the cove with us.

It was Saturday night. It wasn't raining, nobody was there, the sky was totally clear, the air was warm, and the fucking milky way was cranked up to full blast! We shot roman candles into the sky and watched the fireballs go out in the waves we’d surf in the morning. We had the loudest, fullest laughs anyone in the whole galaxy had that night. We were laughing with life the way birds sing with the wind.

In the morning the State Park Ranger woke us up. The Ranger said we had to leave or he’d ticket us. He asked, “Why did you camp here? It’s illegal.” We looked at each other silently laughing before the truth came out of Dickbird. “We didn't have anywhere better to stay.”

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Story by Justin “Scrappers” Morrison
Photos by David "Dickbird" Neevel

Freinds Keep Us Wild

Here's a little secret you already know: Friends Keep Us Wild.

Friendship might even be the greatest adventure in the whole world.

Take a look at this video by a group of French friends roaming around Canada in a school bus. It's so beautiful you might even cry!

Directed, edited and shot by Léo Schrepel

Starring Benoit Sappe, Manu Fauque, Lucas Donadei and Timothée Payan

More amazing stories and views on bimfuck.tumblr.com