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Company type | Private |
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Founded | 1953 |
Founders | Bill and Bob Meistrell |
Headquarters | , U.S.A. |
Key people | Jenna Meistrell, Brand Director Nick Meistrell, Mktg Director Kenna Meistrell, Admin Director Daley Meistrell, Web Director |
Products | Apparel, sporting goods |
Parent | Dive N Surf Corporation [1] |
Website | www |
Body Glove is an American brand of watersports apparel and accessories that was founded in 1953 by twin brothers Bill and Bob Meistrell. The brothers are often credited with inventing the first practical wetsuit in the early 1950s at the back of their Redondo Beach, California surf shop, Dive N' Surf. From those wetsuits, Body Glove branched out into other product categories. They now make wetsuits, swimsuits, clothing, shoes, life vests, sunglasses, wakeboards, paddle boards, towables, backpacks, phone cases and snorkeling equipment.
Body Glove was started by identical twins Bill and Bob Meistrell in Redondo Beach, CA. They were raised in Boonville, Missouri and moved to Manhattan Beach, CA in 1944. They were always interested in the water and even crafted a rudimentary scuba helmet out of an oil can, tar, glass and a bicycle pump so that they could explore a pond on their family farm. When they moved to Manhattan Beach, they fell even more in love with the water. They both were on their high school swim team and became interested in surfing and diving. They became certified Los Angeles County Lifeguards.
Bill and Bob borrowed $1800 from their mother and each bought one third of the local sports shop called Dive N' Surf, owned then by surfboard shaper Hap Jacobs and dive entrepreneur Bev Morgan. Because the water was cold in the winter, they needed to find a way to stay in the water longer. In 1953, Bill Meistrell went to Bedford, Virginia, where he found the insulation used in the back of refrigerators, neoprene, and the first practical wetsuit was born. The Meistrells designed and tailored their own brand of wetsuits. In the beginning, the wetsuits were named the Dive N Surf Thermocline. The Meistrells did not think this was a great name, so they hired a marketing consultant, Duke Boyd. He asked about the characteristics of the suits, and Bill said "They fit like a glove," so Boyd came up with the name Body Glove.
The business has stayed in the Meistrell family for three generations. There are five 2nd-generation Meistrells: Billy, Julie, Robbie, Ronnie and Randy. There are 13 3rd-generation Meistrells, two of whom still work for the company: Nick Meistrell and Jenna Meistrell. The company continues to make products for the active outdoor enthusiast.
The company's pro surfers include:
Past athletes include: Jamie O'Brien, Anthony Walsh, Nate Yeomans, Gabe Kling, Mike Losness, Holly Beck, Bruce Irons.
The company's pro wakeboarders include:
Hermosa Beach is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 U.S. Census. The city is located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area; it is one of the three Beach Cities. Hermosa Beach is bordered by the other two, Manhattan Beach to the north and Redondo Beach to the south and east.
Manhattan Beach is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, on the Pacific coast south of El Segundo, west of Hawthorne and Redondo Beach, and north of Hermosa Beach. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,506.
Redondo Beach is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent beach cities along the southern portion of Santa Monica Bay. The population was 71,576 at the 2020 census, up from 66,748 in 2010.
A wetsuit is a garment worn to provide thermal protection while wet. It is usually made of foamed neoprene, and is worn by surfers, divers, windsurfers, canoeists, and others engaged in water sports and other activities in or on water. Its purpose is to provide thermal insulation and protection from abrasion, ultraviolet exposure, and stings from marine organisms. It also contributes extra buoyancy. The insulation properties of neoprene foam depend mainly on bubbles of gas enclosed within the material, which reduce its ability to conduct heat. The bubbles also give the wetsuit a low density, providing buoyancy in water.
A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types may be worn by men, women, and children. A swimsuit can be described by various names, some of which are used only in particular locations or for particular types of suit, including swimwear, bathing suit, bathing attire, swimming costume, bathing costume, swimming suit, swimmers, swimming togs, bathers, cossie, or swimming trunks, besides others.
A diving suit is a garment or device designed to protect a diver from the underwater environment. A diving suit may also incorporate a breathing gas supply, but in most cases the term applies only to the environmental protective covering worn by the diver. The breathing gas supply is usually referred to separately. There is no generic term for the combination of suit and breathing apparatus alone. It is generally referred to as diving equipment or dive gear along with any other equipment necessary for the dive.
Sea Hunt is an American action adventure television series that aired in syndication from 1958 to 1961 and was popular for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced. It stars Lloyd Bridges as former Navy diver Mike Nelson, and was produced by Ivan Tors.
Rip Curl is an Australian designer, manufacturer, and retailer of surfing sportswear and accompanying products, and a major athletic sponsor. Rip Curl has become one of the largest surfing companies in Australia, Europe, South America, North America and South Africa. Globally, Rip Curl is considered a successful member of the "Big Three", of the surf industry alongside Quiksilver and Billabong.
A rash guard, also known as rash vest or rashie, is an athletic shirt made of spandex and nylon or polyester. The name rash guard reflects the fact that the shirt protects the wearer against rashes caused by abrasion, or by sunburn from extended exposure to the sun, as sun protective clothing.
Open water swimming is a swimming discipline which takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, lakes, and rivers. Competitive open water swimming is governed by the International Swimming Federation, World Aquatics, except when it is part of multi-sport events, which are governed by the World Triathlon.
Hurley is an American company that sells clothes and accessories marketed towards surfing and swimming. Established in 1979 as a distributor for Billabong clothing in the United States, Hurley was sold to Nike, Inc. in 2002 for an undisclosed price and then to Bluestar Alliance LLC in 2019 for an undisclosed price.
O'Neill is originally a Californian surf wear and surfboard brand started in 1952 by Jack O'Neill. It moved down the coast from San Francisco to Santa Cruz by the end of the decade. The company logo symbolizes a breaking surf wave. "O'NEILL" and the "Wave logo" are trademarks registered worldwide.
Surf fishing is land-based game fishing while standing on the shoreline or wading into the surf zone. A general term, surf fishing may or may not include casting a lure or bait, and refers to all types of shore fishing – from sandy and rocky beaches, rock jetties, or even fishing piers. The terms surfcasting or beachcasting refer more specifically to surf fishing from the beach by casting into the surf at or near the shoreline. With few exceptions, surf fishing is done in saltwater. The most common misconception about surf fishing is the idea that one must cast as far out as possible in order to reach the fish. At beaches on the west coast of the United States, and in fact, at most beaches around the world, you only really need to get your bait into knee-deep water. This is referred to as surf fishing the "skinny".
Orca is an international company of New Zealand origins dedicated to designing, producing, and selling sporting goods products for water sports such as triathlon, open water, surfing, freediving, and swimrun.
Hugh Bradner was an American physicist at the University of California who is credited with inventing the neoprene wetsuit, which helped to revolutionize scuba diving and surfing.
A swim brief or racing brief is any briefs-style male swimsuit such as those worn in competitive swimming, diving and water polo. The popularity of the Australian Speedo brand racing brief has led to the use of its name in many countries around the world to refer to any racing brief, regardless of the maker. Occasionally, the speedo genericized trademark is applied to square cut swimsuits, but in general the generic term is used in reference to swimming briefs. Swim briefs are also referred to as competition briefs, swimming trunks, bathers, togs, racer bathers, posing briefs, racing briefs, and colloquially in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom as budgie smugglers.
El Segundo High School, or ESHS, is a four-year public high school located in El Segundo, California. It is the only secondary school incorporated by El Segundo Unified School District.
Surf Diva is recognized internationally as Southern California’s original all-women's surf school.
Robert "Bob" Meistrell was an American businessman, philanthropist, surfer, and diver. Along with his twin brother Bill and business partner Bev Morgan, Meistrell helped develop and market the first commercial neoprene wetsuit. This evolved into the Body Glove surf brand, which by 2013 was a $200 million annual enterprise and a leader in the field.
The Lunada Bay Boys or simply the Bay Boys, are a surfer gang in Palos Verdes Estates, California, known for their aggressive localism. In 2016, Newsweek called the Lunada Bay Boys "America's most notorious surf gang". The group's territorialism of the Lunada Bay public beach has caused controversy in the legal and surfing worlds. Although the Bay Boys are now often considered a gang, the group had non-violent beginnings in the 1960s as a self-described surfing "family" or fraternity.