Our Mission Statement is to ensure our products:
- Keep you warmer for longer
- Are built by surfers for surfers
Our products are never factory standard. We take great care in design, build and test, ensuring your leisure time is carefree.
Our brands are Our Brands, we never source off the peg. Every product is designed, built and priced with integrity.
Our Company Story
TWF was started in 1969 by an adventurous team who wanted surface, dive and ski suits for the new active water sports market. They set up a factory in Cornwall, UK, designing, manufacturing and wholesaling to the trade.
1970’s – Seal Marine and Sailboarding
By the middle of 1970 we had made our first 500 wetsuits. These were the original Seal Marine Brand, cut sewn and finished by hand. 1977 saw sailboarding becoming more popular across Europe and the Americas. Seal Marine led the way in the latest technology and were able to develop the specialist products and meet demands. By 1980 70% of all production was exported.
1980’s Hang Ten, Sola and Surfing
During the 1980’s, we held the UK and European licence for the Californian style Hang Ten brand. We expanded further with a clothing range and Hang Ten was a great success on the High Street. Started in 1985, our Sola brand made great strides manufacturing surf wetsuits for a budding sport. One of the original British wetsuit brands, most surfers and windsurfers from the 80’s & 90’s would tell you that their first wetsuit was a Sola wetsuit. Towards the end of this decade we had become very experienced in making many own label wetsuits, rash vests and accessories.
1990’s – TWF, Bodyboarding and Kids’ Wetsuits
The 1990’s saw the explosion of surfing and bodyboarding and in particular the family leisure market. TWF saw a great need for wetsuits, specifically for children, and became the first to offer a full-size range tailored to fit all ages from 1 to 15. Meanwhile, Sola concentrated on developing and manufacturing highly technical suits aimed at the surfing market.
2000’s – Wetsuits for Everyone
Throughout the 2000’s, wetsuits became more mainstream and we established a stronger retail network with many beach shops, online retailers and multinationals. As demand grew, we transitioned production to China, which enabled us to be far more flexible and expand our product ranges. We continue to work very closely with our Chinese partners.
2010’s – Brand Culture
In our 5th decade we relocated our fantastic team to our bigger brighter HQ. Our in-house design team grew and evolved giving us scope to create more unique, technical products. The TWF and Sola brands grew in market awareness enabling us to become a household name for the water sports and leisure industry. We introduced a monitoring program to uphold our standards and ethics covering all aspects of production from lab testing to factory inspections.
In 2019 we celebrated our 50th year!
2020’s – Excited About the Future
Despite the challenging start we continue to adapt and evolve. The team trial the newest technology and designs right here in the Cornish Surf. Our products are never factory standard, we never source off the peg, our brands are Our Brands and everyone takes great pride in the smallest details to ensure leisure and family time is carefree.
We have focused on replacing all packaging to recycled and sustainable materials. We have limited our use of plastics and drastically reduced company waste. We provide care and storage advice on our products and marketing to maximise product life and performance.
We are excited about the future and look forward to expanding our product range and growing our business by exploring new markets both at home and abroad.
