For 50 years Gul has been at the forefront of watersports technical development and remains the largest UK based performance Apparel Company. Since the beginning in 1967, the philosophy has been simple-to-make the best product possible and support you at every level.
It was in the early sixties that Dennis Cross, a man with a passion for surfing, decided that enough was enough. Although he loved surfing, the waters of the Atlantic were too cold, especially in winter! He, therefore, set about designing the first purpose built wetsuit for surfers. Dennis began designing and making the first wetsuit, this first model consisted of two pieces, a jacket with a beaver tail and separate trousers. This first wetsuit is rumored to have been made in the back of his split screen camper at Fistral Beach in Newquay, Cornwall. From this humble beginning, the Gul brand was born.
By the early 70’s, Gul had created the ground breaking one-piece wetsuit, which was named ‘The Steamer’ due to the steam that came from your wetsuit when removing it on cold days! The term ‘Steamer’ is still used to this day to describe a full-length wetsuit.