The company was founded by Jack O'Neill in 1952 in San Francisco. Starting from garage sales, his business differed from others in that, in addition to surfboards, he began creating and selling wetsuits, which is how surfing really began to boom.
O'Neill, the inventors of the wetsuit...
In 1923, the O'Neill family's second child and first boy was born in Los Angeles, CA. on the world. Until the end of the Great Depression in 1934, this American boy's easy-going life didn't take much leaps and bounds.
the first day Jack O'Neill tried bodyboarding was like a rebirth and he found it his true passion. After trying various jobs a few years later and starting a few businesses, he opened the very first surf shop in San Francisco in 1952 and made history with it.
7 years later the shop moved to Santa Cruz, one of the most iconic surf spots in the world.