Mako is coming to Ireland After racing triathlons for 10 years and having tried and tested I don’t know how many wetsuits from all the major brands, I realised that the only way to find a product that would completely satisfy me would to be to create it myself !
I knew what I wanted but I couldn’t find it among what was on the market : too tight here, too large elsewhere, too fragile, not supple enough So an idea seeded itself in my head and slowly germinated until I decided to jump into the deep end !
My objective was to create something completely new. To do that I had to go off the beaten track and try not to be influenced by the products that were already available.
Thats why I didnt use any existing patterns, I wanted to create my wetsuit from A to Z .
To do that I asked as many triathletes who were willing to help as possible to fill out a sizing chart which I then used to make my first prototypes.
The arrival of the first « prototype » was an important step forwards… The project was coming together little by little…
Thanks to the network of friends in triathlon that I had built up over my years of racing, I was able to have this first try tested by a wide panel of people, from beginners to international athletes. The prototype then underwent numerous modifications following the feedback from the athletes and from what I could see once the wetsuit was in action !
During a test with Carole Péon I met Jessica Harrison. We immediately hit it off and our first conversations about the project were very interesting. We have the same vision but with very different, and complementary, skills, which is invaluable for the long-term development of the product and Mako brand.
After over a year of field testing and fine-tuning I started selling my first Mako wetsuits at the beginning of 2009.
Since then Jessica has joined me working on the project, especially on the graphic and design side of things.
The Mako brand continues to grow and our goal is to continually evolve our products and create new ones. With always the same will to start from scratch and rethink the product to obtain the best possible result and give complete satifaction to the user, whether hes a beginner or an international athlete.
Catalogue available here :
Jérémie Chapon
Founder of Mako