The Original Second Skins

It began with a surfer with a chafed neck who made himself a stretch top to wear under his wet suit. And so the first Second Skin was born. It was 1983 and the Second Skin soon caught on with other members of the local surfing fraternity.

Our surfer went to 37 banks to raise the R10 000 to set up shop and finally struck it lucky. Fifty Second Skins were sent to the World Amateur Surf Championships in Newquay, England and the surfer has never looked back. Today, Second Skins has some 130 employees, many of whom have been with us for over a decade and some since the very beginning. While the Original Second Skin has become an icon, we manufacture a vast range of sports and sun protection wear that we sell both locally and abroad.

We operate from a world class 2500 square metre manufacturing facility in Cape Town, South Africa, not far from the world renowned surf spot where it all began.