Noserider Surf Review – Ethical, elegant surfwear that stays on
Noserider Surf are an ethical women’s surf brand out of Bali. We put thier suits through the paces and conclude: Elegant and effective.
You might have noticed that we don’t do product reviews all that often these days.
It’s just that the internet seems chock-full of this-is-lovely-buy-it sorta’ content.
Plus, most surf gear has been reviewed to Timbuktu and back again by Youtubers who we think do a pretty darn good job at conveying the basics of wetsuits or boards or whatever else.
But, every now and then, something comes along that has the power to seduce us out from our self-imposed hiatus on the reviews front.
And so it was with the Noserider Surf Club, an independent swimwear, sweatwear and lifestyle brand based on the jungle-covered Isle of the Gods.
The promise of testing a couple of their bespoke surf bikinis was too tempting. For one, the winter was ending here in Europe and spring was just springing; high time to put Balinese beachwear through its paces.
Also, Noserider’s focus on functional, ethical female surf wear really stood out in an industry so often dominated by male voices and gear designed with the guys in mind.
We got our best female team members on it. Here are few thoughts from our people.
Alice’s summary: Eye-catching bikinis I can ACTUALLY move in
Everyone always told me that surfing in warm water was WAAAY better than surfing with a thick-as-bread wetsuit on your back. I believed them, mainly because as a native of chilly Welsh water, I guess I wanted to feel that I was doing things in hard mode.
Fast forward 15 years and countless trips to Sri Lanka, Indo, the Maldives and more and I’ll say this: Surfing in warm water is definitely better (what did you expect I’d say!?). But it does have its own challenges.
For women, one is what to wear.
Noserider fits and feels like it comes from someone who understands that issue by putting the elasticated parts of the bikini in the right place… that’s high-waisted on the bottoms and fixed on the top and bottom of the uppers to ensure there’s never a slip to be heard of.
It sounds like it should be easy to get this stuff right but there are gazillions of bikinis out there that aren’t very good at simply staying on.
Then there’s the looks. Noserider’s surf bikinis tick lots of boxes for me. I love the monochrome looks – gone are the days of Roxy-inspired floral patterns. Keep them for the bargain bins. These pieces are artfully done out in a single colour and look beautiful in an understated way.
If I had a Sri Lankan rupee for every time I’ve cursed a tie-up bottom or a
Asia’s summary: Stylish, simple, sustainable
Simplicity is queen here. Nailing a bikini that’s truly functional for female surfers is all about stripping it down to the basics and going from there.
Too many strings, stretchy bits of elastic, or hooks and clips in the wrong place – it’s a recipe for things to get irritating – even painful – fast.
Plus, female surfers have another enemy: Things coming loose.
The challenge is to achieve seemingly opposite goals of getting something that’s not OTT on straps and whatnot but still stays firm to your body when you cross step, trim, compress, cobra, and pop up.
It’s no easy feat, which is why we have a lot of love for the Noserider range. Designer Emma Bukowski has struck a fine balance here; her pieces look great, fit well, and – crucially – hardly shift a jot when faced with all the movements that active surfing demands.
It’s certainly one of the better pieces of surf-swimwear I’ve tried out in the last decade, and I’ve tried a whole lot!
Here’s a little more on the brand…
Noserider’s ethical focus
The ethics of surfwear companies are very important these days. Eco wetsuits are now basically the norm and we can’t even think of a major brand that doesn’t have one in their range. Swimwear is no different and Noserider are well ahead of the game.
They make use of a new-fangled, regenerated type of Nylon known as ECONYL ® (read more here). It’s essentially recycled, repurposed Nylon that would otherwise be polluting the oceans or the environment. That’s coupled with a highly durable elastic to create the stretch you need for tight-fitting surf gear.
And, here’s the kicker: All Noserider suits are double lined. You can feel it when you put them on; the backs are just as tough as the front.
The upshot? These pieces are at least twice as durable as fast-fashion pieces and have added benefits because of it (most notably, they come with naturally high SPF ratings of 50!)
The Noserider Surf Club & Bali
One of the things that really drew us to sampling the Noserider brand was the fact that it is very rooted in the community where it was founded.
Truth is, Bali has given the world a million start-out surfwear brands. What make this different is the overall focus on giving back to the community, representing Balinese women, and ethical manufacturing.
It was comforting wearing something that we knew had been handcrafted in Bali. Not just that, all Noserider stuff is crafted by a female-owned manufacturer within a short distance of their shop, empowering people and cutting carbon output in the process.
Talk about going the extra mile!
The looks: Graceful is the MO
Look, Noserider stuff isn’t all glitz and glam. It’s not built for the poolside in Vegas or the deck of a luxury yacht.
This is for active women who are drawn to the sea and all the action it brings.
Because each piece is double-lined with that eco material we spoke about above, you’re likely to find that it’s thicker than what you’re used to from a tropical set.
In that sense, it’s the opposite of skimpy and small. The finished look is plush, rich, and – above all – graceful.
We only tried out the bikini sets here, but there are also full-body suits, retro suits, and longsleeve suits. To be honest, the whole lot looks like it channels that effortless grace that we experienced in our pieces.
Oh yea, and then there’s the colour choices. Muted Greek-sky blues, zingy purples, and dusky sage green all combine here, leaving us in no doubt there’s something for every type of character.
Noserider surf wear is available for order online now. Better yet, drop into thier shop in Canggu, Bali.
