Your cartClose

Your cart is currently empty.

Login Close

Body Glove Swimwear

Swimwear For Every'Body'

Close

When twin brothers Bob and Bill Meistrell designed their first realistic wetsuit then they co-founded their brand, Body Glove Swimwear, in a Boonville pool in Missouri in 1953.

Since their childhood, water fascinated both the brothers as they have designed their diving helmet by using a tire pump and a vegetable can at the age of 14 years.

According to them, the first sensible wetsuit discovered by them in 1953 has transformed the ways of diving and surfing. It helped in the birth of Body Glove as that wetsuit fits like a glove to the body.

History of Meistrell family

In 1944, the Meistrell family shifted to Manhattan Beach where Bob and Bill loved to live near the ocean. Soon they started using balsa boards for surfing and designed plywood boards filled with foam for the first time. They bought a helmet for diving for$25 during their high-school. Bob and Bill were introduced to an entirely new world while using that helmet and diving into the water.

The twins became lifeguards for full time after graduating from high-school. Soon they joined the army where Bob was sent to Monterey and Bill was transferred to Korea. Bob served for the side of the state. For his services in Korea, Bill won a Bronze Star.

History of the birth of Body Glove

In 1953, Bill was offered to buy Dive N’ Surf, a local dive/marine shop, owned by Bev Morgan and Hap Jacobs. Jacobs wanted to leave that shop. Both the brothers bought one-third of that business by borrowing $1,800 from their mother. They continued as lifeguards as part-time to manage things accordingly.


Bob and Bill wanted to fight with the cold water of California. From bikini fashion to electrically heated flyer suit used at wartime and woolen sweaters they tried a lot of things to keep them dry. In 1953, ultimately they found that the insulating material used on the back of refrigerators, neoprene, can be the right stuff for making their first sensible wetsuit. This idea gave birth to the brand Body Glove’.

0Recently viewed