Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Horacek.
Hi Angela, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve been surfing since the ’90s, and Mamala Surf really came out of my own frustration with women’s wetsuits. I was always looking for a suit that was warm enough for cold water but still flexible and comfortable to paddle in, and I felt like women were often an afterthought when it came to choices and performance wetsuits.
Eventually I thought, why not make the wetsuit I actually want to wear?
I started Mamala Surf in 2021, knowing absolutely nothing about manufacturing wetsuits or starting a surf brand, so there was definitely a learning curve. I spent a lot of time researching materials, talking to manufacturers, measuring women, developing patterns and testing prototypes with women surfers. I wanted the fit to be designed around women from the beginning, rather than adapting a men’s wetsuit.
We ended up using premium Yamamoto 40 limestone neoprene and really focusing on warmth, flexibility, comfort and fit. We launched Mamala a couple of years later with a small line of women’s cold-water wetsuits and have grown from there.
Today we offer everything from our hooded 5/4/3 down to our 2/2mm full suit and Long Jane. We’re still a small independent company, which I actually love because I’m very involved in everything we do. One of the most rewarding parts has been seeing women surf in our suits, from everyday surfers to some incredibly accomplished competitive surfers, and hearing that they finally found a wetsuit they love wearing.
It’s been quite an adventure.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely hasn’t always been a smooth road! One of the biggest challenges early on was finding the right factory. Our first production run just wasn’t up to the standard I wanted for Mamala, so we made the difficult decision not to sell those wetsuits. Instead, we donated them to nonprofits that work with women surfers. It was an expensive lesson for a small company, but ultimately the right decision and led to us finding a factory that we absolutely love.
Another challenge has simply been getting our name out there. We’re a small independent brand competing with some very large, established surf companies with much bigger marketing budgets, so we’ve had to find creative ways to introduce women to Mamala. We’ve worked with women surfers, contests, surf retreats and nonprofits, and a lot of our growth has come through word of mouth and women recommending our wetsuits to other women.
And then there’s social media. Meta alone could probably be its own interview question. 😂
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Mamala Surf is a women-owned company specializing exclusively in women’s cold-water wetsuits. Everything we do is focused on enhancing a woman’s cold-water surfing experience through warmth, comfort, flexibility and fit.
I think what sets us apart is that we make wetsuits for women only, and we’re not trying to be everything to everyone. We can put all of our attention into creating the best-performing women’s wetsuits we possibly can. I truly believe we make one of the best overall-performing wetsuits on the market, and the feedback we receive from women wearing our suits continues to reinforce that.
But Mamala has always been about more than wetsuits. We want to be known as a company that supports women surfers and women’s surfing. I’m incredibly proud of the quality of the suits we’ve created, but equally proud of the relationships we’ve built with women surfers around the world. Seeing women choose Mamala, recommend us to their friends and genuinely love surfing in our suits is probably the best validation we could ask for.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
When I started out, I had no idea how much I didn’t know or how much I would need to learn. In some ways, I think that inexperience was a blessing because if I had known everything that was involved, I might have been completely overwhelmed. Developing a wetsuit I loved turned out to be the easy part!
My advice would be to just jump in. You’re going to make mistakes, but I’ve learned to look at them as learning experiences rather than failures. Some of the things that felt like the biggest setbacks at the time actually pushed us in a better direction.
You don’t have to know everything before you start. You just have to be willing to figure things out as you go.
Pricing:
- 5/4/3mm $574.95
- 4/3mm $499.95
- 3/2mm $374.95
- 2/2mm 389.95
- Long Jane $374.95
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mamalasurf.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mamalasurf/
