New Freediving Wetsuits from Diving Sports + Oceaner: A West Coast Collaboration
Diving Sports has teamed up with legendary Canadian wetsuit maker Oceaner to develop a new line of freediving wetsuits, created with direct input from Diving Sports founder and lead freediving instructor, Achraf Oueslati.
Made just 30 minutes from our Vancouver shop, the suits were developed through a hands-on design process with Oceaner’s manufacturing team in Burnaby. “Working with Oceaner has been amazing. They're only 30 minutes from the shop, which makes it so easy to collaborate.” Every feature was tested, refined, and adjusted until we landed on a wetsuit that truly reflects the needs of the freediving community and BC ocean conditions.
Local Legends of Local Waters
Oceaner has been part of the West Coast dive scene since 1975. The company started with charters along the BC coast before shifting into retail and, eventually, wetsuit manufacturing in the early ’80s. Since 2005, they’ve been producing high-quality freediving suits, with a growing focus on custom work.
“Oceaner was started in 1975. We began with dive charters up and down the BC coast—from Seattle to Alaska. We started manufacturing wetsuits in 1983 and we’ve been doing it ever since,” says Oceaner’s founder, Gary Crevier. “We make wetsuits, drysuits, and freediving suits. We’ve been making freediving suits since 2005—that’s now one of our biggest categories.”
Their suits are also trusted far beyond recreational diving. “We also manufacture suits for the Canadian military, and we do a lot of movie work. Our biggest contract was Avatar—we made all the suits for Avatar 2 and 3. Pretty much every major film that shoots locally and needs an actor in the water—we’re making the suit.”
Designed by Freedivers, for Freedivers (and Spearfishers)
For our first run of Diving Sports wetsuits, we’ve launched two versions: Rockfish, a black camouflage design, and Kelp, a military green camo version. Both are built with 7mm Yamamoto #45 neoprene, one of the highest-grade materials available.
Yamamoto neoprene is renowned for being incredibly soft and stretchy, while offering excellent thermal insulation. Most freediving wetsuits don’t use this level of neoprene—but we wanted the performance to match the vision.
The suits include thoughtful design updates shaped by years of local freediving and spearfishing experience.
The knees are reinforced with SuperTex for extra durability. There’s a side pocket so you don’t have to hide your car key under a rock. We’ve also replaced plastic snaps in the crotch with a comfortable Velcro closure, and smoothskin seals at the wrists, ankles, and hood make for better insulation and durability.
“One big design improvement: most brands put a double layer of neoprene inside the chest pad, which can cause your speargun to slip when loading. We’ve used an external chest pad—it’s thicker, anti-slip, and much more reliable,” says Ach.
Why Custom is Better
“Off-the-rack suits are fine for about 80% of people, but for that other 20%, custom is the only real option,” says Ach, who has high praise for the build quality at Oceaner.
“Most people have to wait 2 or 3 months for a custom wetsuit—here it takes just 2 weeks. You can see the quality—if there’s a defect, they fix it on the spot. That kind of attention to detail makes a big difference.”
For a suit that’s designed locally, built with premium materials, and made specifically for freediving and spearfishing in our local waters, drop by Diving Sports and try one for yourself!
Also a big thank you to local divers @PNWsamson and @aquatic_monkey who demoed the new wetsuits for us! You can watch a great behind-the-scenes video here:
