About O Neill Store

Sometime around 1952, Jack opened the first Surf Shop in a garage across the Great Highway. He shaped a few balsa surfboards and sold accessories like paraffin wax and a few vests he started gluing together from neoprene. When the vests started selling, Jack decided to go into the wetsuit business. His friends laughed. They asked him what he planned to do for business after the handful of surfers in the area had bought one. Jack said he\'d cross that bridge when he got to it. The Surf Shop became a local gathering place, and the number of surfers began to grow. O\'Neill flew in talented surfer shapers like Phil Edwards to make boards, and wetsuit sales climbed. Jack developed designs for a shorty and a long john, and eventually a long sleeved beaver tail jacket. Soon surfers were riding more waves, and riding them better, in large measure because they could now enjoy longer sessions in cold water, thanks to Jack\'s neoprene suits. As Jack improved his wetsuits new styles, features, accessories, etc., surfers\' territories expanded. Northern California became a year round surf zone. Guys were surfing New Hampshire and Rhode Island in January. Explorations and transplants opened up Oregon, Washington, and Canada. Meanwhile, divers, waterskiers, snow skiers, and then windsurfers were wearing wetsuits. As business boomed, O\'Neill relocated to 41st Avenue, where there was plenty of room for a large manufacturing facility, and he put all six kids to work: Mike helped dad design