Nikwax Wetsuit Refresher Might Be the Most Sustainable Wetsuit Move You Can Make

Wetsuit manufacturers are doing incredible things with neoprene-free materials these days. Which is fantastic, because neoprene is really great at keeping you warm and really bad when it comes to being environmentally friendly. It’s made from petrochemicals and it’s hazardous to human health and the environment to produce (just watch The Big Sea to learn more there). Plus, even besides neoprene, the glues and solvents used in wetsuit production are toxic too (you might not want to inhale too deeply when you’re running your hands through all that soft, new rubber in the wetsuit section of your fave surf shop.) We should definitely use a whole lot less of it.

But, making new wetsuits, even if they’re more green than traditional suits are, is still resource intensive. The ingredient materials in even the most sustainably minded wetsuit require energy to make, energy to transport to a factory, the wetsuits have to be shipped to a store, there’s a ton of unnecessary packaging involved in pretty much every step of the process, and on and on.

Maybe the best thing you can do, both for the planet and your wallet, is to make the suit you already have last longer . A lot longer. We treat wetsuits (and most surf gear, really) as essentially disposable. If you surf everyday, and you like the most cutting edge, lightweight, superhero suits, you probably buy a new one every year. That’s frankly absurd, when you consider how much these things cost.

Which brings me to the Nikwax Wetsuit Refresher . I’ve long been a proponent of washing your wetsuits, but have been relatively agnostic about what you use to clean the things. For the most part, thorough freshwater rinsing is half the battle. But even those of us who are militant about rinsing our suits still sweat in them, pee in them, get our body oils all over them—not to mention the salt and grime from the ocean and parking lots and the living scum on the bottom of our wetsuit bins. Water on its own can’t get that kinda funk out.

If you know outdoor gear, you probably know Nikwax. They make cleaners for technical outdoor apparel, shoe cleaners and waxes, and waterproof refreshers. Most of their products are water-based, rather than solvent-based, and are safe to use in your washing machine at home. I love their down and wool cleaners, so I figured I’d try their new Wetsuit Refresher.

Using it is as simple as you’d imagine. A couple capfuls go into a few gallons of water. They suggest 3.5 ounces of the cleaner in five gallons of water, and that’s about what I used. I purposely didn’t wash a suit after the last time I surfed in it and left it in my garage for two weeks as a good challenge for the Nikwax. You know, for proper festering.

I filled up a big plastic bin with the water, poured in the cleaner, dropped in the wetsuit and got to agitatin.’ The bottle suggested I wear gloves, so I did. I got in there and scrubbed up the suit, inside and out and left it to sit in the cleaner/water mixture for five minutes.

After, I hauled it out, noted how brown and filthy the water was, and rinsed the suit completely, again, inside and out.

I was amazed at the results.

Make your wetsuit happy, pickup a bottle of Nikwax here .

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