Truli Wetsuits Truli-Mi 2017
Reviews / Ladies Wetsuits
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At A Glance
Over recent years we have noticed the number of women’s specific watersports, and namely kitesurfing, products on the market increasing – which is awesome! Some these are rider-owned brands, run by women who couldn’t find what they were looking for readily available and they took matters into their own hands.
This same scenario goes for Truli wetsuits and founder Mia Toose. An avid scuba diver, kitesurfer, swimmer and all-round water babe, Mia came up with the concept and design behind Truli Wetsuits.
The Truli-Mi is the signature suit of what is planned to become a complete range; it\'s a sleeveless shorty with a smooth skin-core and full-length front zip.
The first thing that strikes you about the suit, before you’ve even put it on, is the soft fleece lining. Often a shorty will be made from a much thinner neoprene designed to keep the chill off during the summer months, or late evening sessions in tropical climates. The Truli-Mi seems to be aiming for something more, and despite being sleeveless is made from 3.5mm neoprene with this teddy bear style soft lining. I was a little unsure as to where this would lead – too warm or not warm enough, would it know it’s place?!
On The Water
I needn’t have worried. As the fleece lining hints, the suit is incredibly toasty! With the smooth skin core repelling any wind-chill factor, and the substantial neoprene doing exactly as it was intended, I felt warmer than when wearing a full-sleeve 2mm neoprene thermal top or suit, yet had the added benefit of my arms being free to move without any restriction.
“As the fleece lining hints, the suit is incredibly toasty!”
The front zip is ideal for easy on-off, and also should you find yourself getting too hot you can unzip slightly and cool off. When riding, and more specifically crashing, we found water drainage to be excellent (no annoying water balloon pockets thankfully!) and the suit stayed firmly in place.
Build quality is good, and the suit feels robust, it should certainly see you through a few seasons – just be careful of catching your nails or anything sharp on the smooth skin section as it’s more prone to damage than regular weave neoprene.
There are four colour options in the range, and the styling is simple with a feminine touch. If you have an environmental conscience you’ll be pleased to know the suit is made from natural rubber too, rather than the synthetic variety which is produced using petroleum.
As with all wetsuits, it’s a good idea to check out the size chart thoroughly when selecting a suit to ensure a good fit. While neoprene has a certain degree of stretch, you don’t want to feel restricted or too snug. The benefit of it being a sleeveless shorty is that you shouldn’t have any issues with leg length or gaping sleeves!
Overall we were very impressed with the Truli-Mi suit. It was overwhelmingly warm, had good build quality, gave great freedom of movement and looked flattering too. If you’re looking for a wetsuit that will cross over nicely to other watersports, then this is certainly worth considering. The free arms and warm torso design lend itself well to ocean and lake swimming and scuba diving.
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By Mary Booth
Mary has been kitesurfing since 2006, she became and instructor in 2007 and travelled the world teaching the sport that she loves! She joined the IKSURFMAG team in 2008 and has been testing ladies kitesurfing equipment and writing articles from a woman's perspective ever since!
