YoungSurf founder Naomi Young becomes the Princess of Wetsuits

In July 2019, Naomi Young was surfing Uluwatu, the Balinese reef break first made world famous by the iconic Morning of the Earth surf film her father Nat featured so prominently in, and despite having one of the best surfs of her life, the pelting sun was frying her skin to a crisp. “The waves were too good to go in,” Naomi explains. “But I was getting scorched, trying to do whatever possible to pull my rashie up over my head to cover my neck, as well as bite the ends of the sleeves, create a hole for my thumb to assist in stretching the sleeves over my hands to protect them from the sun.”

This fateful session would prove the catalyst for YoungSurf in the not-too-distant future. At this stage, she was flying high, a Qantas air hostess, as she had been for 27 years prior, and was unaware a global pandemic would soon ground airplanes completely and bring airlines to the brink. “Thanks to Covid, I was offered a redundancy,” says Naomi. “It was that seed capital which could then underpin my complete commitment to the YoungSurf business.”

While the world grappled with Covid, Naomi steadfastly built up her business from scratch, fast becoming the leader in the niche but burgeoning market of manufacturing surf wetsuits designed specifically for women.

“We make the world’s most beautiful wetsuits,” says Naomi matter-of-factly, and she’s right. The YoungSurf wetsuits are defined by rich floral colours, engaging patterns and textures, unlike anything on the market. As well as beauty, the wetsuit designs are tailor made to protect the body’s most vulnerable areas from sun damage.

“Our high necklines protect the back of a surfer’s neck and were also specially designed to ensure no irritation occurs around the neck. And the stretched sleeves to cover the back of the hands up to the fingers are the only wetsuits available which ensure the part of your body most likely to get skin cancer is indeed protected, while being super functional for paddling and getting to your feet too.”

Having a superb product is a crucial piece of the puzzle, but Naomi’s energy and commitment to ensure the commercial success of her YoungSurf business is off the charts. “For me, the challenges of succeeding with a startup business can only be overcome with self-belief, determination, and getting a great product in front of as many people as I can.”

Naomi’s self-belief to back herself with her own capital, her determination to provide a product for women that both looks amazing, but also has superior function, market, and her non-stop travel to surf events and gatherings, wherever surfers might be, to showcase her wetsuits and win new customers, all this hard work is paying off, her first range of wetsuits almost sold out already and she’s busily planning a new range and a huge 2023 of beautiful wetsuit making ahead.