Does High Tide make suits with self-donning zippers?
We do not. In our opinion, one of the disadvantages of neoprene is that it is not a good material to use for self-donning suits. To design a suit for an across-the-front zipper, one must add about 8 to 9 inches to the torso length of the suit to allow one shoulder of the suit to be pulled up and over the diver’s head as he gets into it. In shell suits, this extra torso material can be easily folded at the waist and held in place with straps for a (relatively) smooth fit. Neoprene does not fold, but gathers in a tube around the midsection, making the diver look like he is wearing a tire around his stomach. While we have made some experimental suits that featured a self-donning zipper, we were not happy with the results and now just concentrate on back zip suits. We understand that a few people do dive alone and may require a self-donning zipper and for those people we recommend DUI or USIA shell suits as examples of well proven technology and design. For the rest of you, we recommend a
