By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
ssoldan@mihomepaper.com
Paris —This weekend, Peyton Newell’s wet suit designs will be surfing the waves in Tahiti.
During the 2024 Paris Olympics, surfing competitions will be held in Teahupo’o, which is a village on the southeastern coast of the island of Tahiti, which is part of French Polynesia, France.
Sixteen surfers are sponsored by various brands within the Boardriders company, and the designs were done by Newell, a 2016 Brandon High School graduate.
“Everyone that’s in the Olympics performing for surfs, they are sponsored by all of our brands,” said Newell. “Our brands specifically are Billabong, Quiksilver, Roxy, RVCA and Volcom. We have about 16 sponsored riders and we were responsible to dress them and give them the equipment to succeed.”
Newell is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, which is located in Los Angeles. There she studied business management with an emphasis in product development and international design.
“My third year program was international, that was where we were pretty hands on,” she said. “We worked for brands like Nike, JC Penny, toured their factories, and created the first Herbalife apparel line. I just realized that I preferred both the creative side as well as the business side, which is how I landed in product development.”
During college, Newell interned at Roxy, and took a full time job upon graduation. She was laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was offered her role again in 2022.
“I moved back, and life really came full circle for me,” she said. “I got promoted recently to head designer in February.”
Living in California, Newell has experienced a lot of surfing culture, which led her to the design aspect.
“I love high-end fashion, but I’m like two miles from the beach,” she said. “Everyone is in flip flops and board shorts. I think just wanting to learn about a culture I’ve never been part of, it’s very different from Michigan. That’s what led me to take an internship with them.”
This is the second time Newell has overseen an Olympic sponsorship, though the last time it was only for production. This time, she had a hand in designing and producing all of the uniforms.
“There are a lot of rules and regulations from the International Surfing Association and the Olympics itself, as well as each country,” she said. “It made sense to build the color pallet based on the country’s flag, so USA is red, white and blue, but we went with blue and white. Because the Olympics are in Paris, the French riders we had to go with blue and red. There’s not as much creativity as you would think, it’s pretty limited.”
She said one of the main challenges was logo placement, as there are rules as to where logos can be, and surfers usually face a certain way depending on their dominant side, or which foot they put forward.
“They also wear a jersey with a number on the back, and the name, so that covers a majority of the wet suit,” she said. “So logo placement on the collar becomes a key factor. You’re only allowed two logos per garment, and they have to be so far apart. There’s one on the neck, and one on the hip with their leading foot forward.”
All of the surfers received three wet suits and one impact vest. The wet suits had a variety of coverage, which provides protection from the cold, and the impact vest are to avoid injury from harsh waves or the coral reef. There is a big difference between wet suits and swim suits.
“That would be the foam, the neoprene,” she said. “We can proudly say we use natural rubber, so it’s better for the environment. And then the other difference is the thermal properties in the inner jersey, the liner. Within that, each wet suit has a different thickness depending on temperature. Tahiti is very hot, so most of the athletes preferred between one and two millimeters. We did a lot of spring suits, so they had their arms free to paddle.”
Her advice to others is to continue following your dreams.
“Take a leap,” she said. “Leave your home town, even just for a year, and try something new, but always be grateful to where you come from.”