Subverting Surf-Wear Norms, Melbourne Label Fants Makes Eye-Catching Natural Rubber Wetsuits for Kids

John Pace’s definition of surf (and beach) wear is anything but narrow.

“I don’t reckon that what you wear at the beach needs to be inspired by a frangipani flower [or] that wetsuits need to be black,” he tells Broadsheet.

As a dad to two beach-loving kids, Pace created Fants to expand their surf-wear possibilities – and those of other Aussie children. His eye-catching natural rubber wetsuits are just for littlies, featuring artist-designed prints in bold colours.

Without a frangipani in sight, his completely neoprene-free wetsuits are designed to inspire young imaginations and shield vulnerable skin from the sun.

“A black or blank wetsuit seemed a waste when there was an opportunity to use it as a canvas to create something joyful,” says Pace. “I’ve always felt weird about how, when I go to the beach, my only choice is to slip into an aesthetic that has nothing to do with who I am, where I come from, or how the beach fits into my life as a city dweller. So, I thought I’d start changing that by changing the options my kids have.

One design is an unusual melding of “mutant Australian animals” and farfalle (bow-tie pasta); another, by illustrator Benedikt Luft, was inspired by sea foam; and there’s an out-of-this-world “galactic garden” design by Seoul-based illustrator Bang Sangho.

All Fants wetsuits are made with natural rubber from sustainably managed plantations certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Most other wetsuits are made from neoprene, which is notoriously unsustainable – it’s made of petrochemicals and doesn’t biodegrade.

So, once the littlie in your life has outgrown their Fants suit, you can return it to reduce your waste footprint – and receive up to a 50 per cent discount on a new one in the next size up. “We realised kids outgrow wetsuits faster than wetsuits wear out, so we encourage customers to recycle their old wettie, then we sell it on a second-hand section of the website so another kid can enjoy it,” says Pace. “The idea is to reduce waste by keeping each wetsuit in circulation as long as possible.”

Pace began by catering to four- to 10-year-olds, because he thought that by 12, children might gravitate to safer designs by big brand names to blend into the crowd. “But I was wrong,” he says. “After getting lots of requests for larger sizes, this season we made size 12 wetsuits, and it looks like they are going to be the first to sell out.”

And as for the name of the company, which Pace has run out of his family shed in Coburg since he began in 2020, he has his nine-year-old son Arlo to thank. “Arlo jumped in the bath one day when he was five and said, ‘I feel fants!’” he says. “When asked him what that meant he said, ‘Just when you feel good and comfy.’”

Fants wetsuits are $199.95.

fants.com.au