We had considered how we could familiarise people with watersports since the establishment of Zeak.

Customizing a wetsuit is not convenient if you want to surf right now because of the lengthy production process. A high-performance wetsuit is too expensive for beginners to start with.

What if we solve the problems? Possibly, everyone can enjoy watersports as a casual and easy sport. It is the basic idea for a start-up of ZEAK.

We believe that watersports have become more familiar and bring joy to many more people through the ZEAK.

Z represents ZEAK. The circle illustrates “earth” and “Japan(Japanese flag)”, and the line across Z indicates water flow from mountains to the ocean.

The logo embodies our approach and hopes: Everybody enjoys it safely and comfortably in lakes, rivers, and the sea by promoting watersports gear!

The roots of ZEAK are the founder, Asada’s experiences from his early years.

Asada, myself, started to surf in 1987, over 30 years ago.
It was summer. I was 15 years old. The season was swelteringly hot, I still remember.

Against almost all of my will, my friends dragged me into the ocean. I got on my bike, holding a rental surfboard under my arm, and followed them. On arrival, I got into the sea despite not knowing how to surf. I tried to imitate my friends. The 15-year-old, who did not have any proper kit, surfed in shorts that he used at a school club.

After about one hour passed, I found my abdomen and nipple in pain. My surfboard had rubbed my parts. Aching. I looked around others. Adult surfers were wearing gear like a T-shirt. Later, my friends told me that it is called “rash-guard”.

I went to a surf shop to buy a rash guard some other day.
However, it was too expensive for the 15-year-old, so I decided to put up with the pain.

Summer was over. It was too cold to surf in my shorts in late September. That said, I was desperate to surf regardless of the weather. So, I revisited the shop.

The older male staff in the shop was kind to the young boy, 15 years old, and taught me: “You need a wetsuit for the coming seasons.”

Unfortunately, it was out of reach as the price was 70,000 yen-80,000 yen. So, I asked my friend’s acquaintance to sell his second-hand( a full-length winter wetsuit) at around 30,000 yen. I finally forked out on that, although I patiently saved my allowance for many years. My significant income came only during the New year’s period.

I got a new winter wetsuit, but it was too hot in October and November, to the point that I sweated. However, I somehow survived using the technique of getting seawater into the suit with a fully open zipper. Then, I cottoned on “surfers need to change the wetsuit according to the season.”

I was utterly into surfing so much that I did sunrise surfing on new year’s day. I rode the waves feverishly to relish a beautiful sunrise with elation filled with my entire body. It’s hot, not cold, despite an early morning in January. I was excited with an incredible feeling, “Surfing is the best!” At that moment, I decided on my new year’s resolution: “I will surf a lot! Ride good waves!” I enjoyed comfortable surfing thanks to the winter suit from January to March.

In April and May, the sea temperature rises likewise the ambient temperature. My winter wetsuit made me feel disruptively hot. I wanted a seagull type wetsuit (half-length sleeves and full-length legs), but it cost 50,000 yen-60,000 yen. I wanted it badly, although I was broke. My flaring desire led me to take the last resort. I boldly cut out both sleeves of my winter wetsuit to make a seagull type wetsuit. The suit that I invested my entire money in was a treasure for me, but necessity has no law.

During June and July, both sea and ambient temperatures go up further. Even the seagull type makes me hot. Then, I chopped off a part of the legs below the knees instead of buying a spring-type suit that cost 40,000 yen-50,000 yen. My spring suit (half-sleeves and half-legs) was done!

August marked the first anniversary since I began surfing. Summer arrived again, but I had still used “those shorts” because my hand-made suit was too hot.

During September and October, it became chilly. The customized wetsuit, the one I cut off by myself (lol), made a comeback!

However, in November, I found that the spring wetsuit reached the limit. It was too late. The portions I removed cannot come back.

By then, I was 16 years old. I was desperate to continue surfing whatever happened. I was determined to earn money and started a part-time job. My financial goal was 80,000 yen for a new winter wetsuit. I had to work six days weekly for 5-6 hours per day. Subsequently, it took one month to accomplish the goal.

December. I purchased a brand-new winter wetsuit with my part-time job savings. I felt a particular flush of emotion to see and touch it. “I can do surfing and admiring the first sunrise of a new year, again.

Since then, I have been surfing for 20 years. Even though time has passed and I have become older, my feeling toward surfing is still that of a 15-year-old. That experience in my youth is the origin of our brand, ZEAK.

I hope that everybody enjoys water sports safely and comfortably!

March 2007
Kazushige Asada

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a global target adopted by the United Nations in September 2015, providing a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity to actualize a sustainable society.



“Do what we can now, even a little thing.”
ZEAK contributes to helping tackle the SDGs, undertaking a CSR initiative.

“Do what we can now, even a little thing.” What can we do now? There are many things where you can help. Even if it is a little thing, what if many people do it? It ends up with a significant force.
We do what we can do right now without procrastination.

1. Reuse wetsuits
We recycle disused wetsuits by turning them into new items, such as key cases, drink holders or powder compact cases.

2. Greener materials
We have endeavoured to develop and change our materials to create greener products.

3. Remove non-natural items
We make a rule to pick up a single non-natural item, such as plastic products, when leaving water fields.