The guy who invented the first wetsuits, Jack O’Neill is celebrating his surf brand O’Neill with a book. The book is titled Its always sunny on the inside and celebrates O’Neill’s 60th anniversary. Readers will journey through Jacks passion for neoprene, and the legendary invention called the wetsuit he created for surfers across the globe.
“Surfing has been forever evolving since the creation of the wetsuit. Kids now are doing things I would never imagine,” says Jack. The book will serve as the kick off to O’Neill’s 60th anniversary.
Some of the most respected surfers including Tom Curren, Jordy Smith help shape the story of “Jack O’Neill and the company ONeill.
The book is written by Drew Kampion and published by Chronicle Books. Also some of the profits from the sales of the book are going to Jack’s own non-profit environmental education program, O’Neill Sea Odyssey.
In 1952, Jack O’Neill opened the doors to the world’s first surf shop offering wetsuits, surfboards, surf wax, travel bags, and more. Originally located in his garage, the successful O’Neill shop was relocated from his home, to San Francisco where the business began to boom, to finally Santa Cruz simply because according to Jack, “it had the best waves in California.” The O’Neill Surf Shop is still located at 41st Avenue in Santa Cruz, California.

Although Jack O’Neill has been numerously named the original surf industry innovator and entrepreneur, he does not remotely consider himself a businessman at all. “I’m just a surfer who wanted to build something that would allow me to surf longer,” says O’Neill. “By having the surf shop and inventing the wetsuit, it was my job to test out my products. I loved my job. My job was to surf.”