Leo Le Blanc
Photo: Clementine Cazauran
Photo: Clementine Cazauran
Léo Le Blanc makes custom made wetsuits by hand under Leo Wetsuits.
He also surfs and lives in France so he is automatically cooler than you or us. A little story about Leo - we first heard of the man through mutual friends, followed each other on the gram and admired him from afar for what he was doing with those handmade wetties. Last year when one of our editors needed a place to crash in LA, Leo kindly reached out and offered to put us in touch with a friend of his without yet meeting or vetting us against being a serial killer. If that doesn’t tell you how nice Leo is, we don’t know what will. A sweetheart, a darling and a proud member of the Class of 2024 Bright Young Things!
Who are you?
My name is Leo Le Blanc, I’m twenty five years old and I’m from France.
What do you do?
I’m a wetsuit craftsman. I make custom wetsuits under my own brand called LeoWetsuits. I’m like the guy you go to if you need a tailored suit for big fancy parties but for wetsuits.
How long have you been doing that?
I taught myself so I spent about a year learning how to make them. I’ve been making wetsuits for about three years now.
Where is home for you?
My true hometown is Guérande in French Britanny but I’ve been living in Biarritz, on the southwest coast of France for six years and it does feel more like home to me.
Photos: Clementine Cazauran, JoAnna Edmison, Hugo Pelpel.
If you weren’t surfing or making wetsuits, what would you be doing?
I would probably be a nerd haha. I’ve always been very interested in new technologies, software and new engineering systems and I love to learn about them. I stopped golfing right about the moment I started surfing and skateboarding, so I think I would be golfing way more cause right now I play maybe two or three times a year.
What do you think about the current state of surfing?
Oh… I think my vision of surfing isn’t very bright. I think that the real essence of surfing which for me is having fun, and sharing it with your friends and people is still out there somewhere but it’s unfortunate how often I encounter bad vibes and people eyeing up what kind of gear you have instead of just surfing.
Although now I love that surfing is embracing urban vibes, art, and music, moving beyond its long-standing association with palm trees and paradise beaches. There are many cool brands and people emerging from cities, such as Saturday’s NYC, New Amsterdam, Fairly Normal in Lisbon, and creatives like Noah Collins from LA, who are making some crazy clothes.
What do you do outside of surfing and how does that thing influence or affect your craft?
I have kind of stopped lately but I used to take a lot of pictures with my camera and I think it helped me to develop an eye for details and beautiful things in everything. I like to capture the details, curves, lines or asymmetries and symmetries in different things which I think helped to draw lines on clothes like I do.
“Although now I love that surfing is embracing urban vibes, art, and music, moving beyond its long-standing association with palm trees and paradise beaches. ”
The best/worst thing about the surf industry?
I’ll answer this with a two for one and say that the wave pools are probably both hahah. Sounds so much fun but at the same time not so great for our beautiful earth.
Biggest lesson you’ve learnt in life so far?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned so far is to enjoy the process and live in the moment because nothing lasts forever. Every experience is useful to build yourself, good and bad, and have fun during the journey, not just in the final result or destination.
Something anyone can do today to make the world a better place?
Be kind to other people.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome so far in your industry?
Being a one-man company making wetsuits and trying to build a brand around it is my everyday challenge haha. The biggest challenge is competing with other brands who make their wetsuits by the thousands for super low costs. The tailoring service I offer, my designs, the type of neoprene and the fact that my wetsuits are made in France still allow me to compete but it’s a real challenge.
What is something people might not know about you?
It’s a hard struggle for me to find shoes that fit me well.
What do you think is the biggest issue young people are facing today?
Zapping through life and not realising it. Constantly skimming through life without truly experiencing it. I believe social media is one of the worst things that has happened to young people. Many young people struggle to enjoy the present moment without feeling the need to capture it or plan for the next one. It’s also challenging to focus on one thing because of the overwhelming amount of information and endless distractions, coupled with people constantly showcasing seemingly ‘better’ lives. This, I think, is the most difficult issue. For example, I just lost my train of thought because I got distracted by an Instagram reel of a dancing dog.
Photo: Zacharie Hoffmann
How many wetsuits do you own?
I have three wetsuits that I use. But actually, I own way more wetsuits than this because I still have all of the first wetsuits I made and a few prototypes.
What is your favourite thing about France?
Definitely the food! I miss it when I’m away. I would also say the fact that it’s so easy to go all around Europe, you can always find cheap flights to go places.
What do you do for fun when the surf is shit?
I hang out with my girlfriend or at my workshop with friends. I share my space with Pierre Kulundzic and Tom Morat from Finish Line, so we often end up playing ultimate frisbee and soccer in front of the studio. Sometimes I go to Spain or in Les Landes with friends.
What brands do you look at for inspiration?
I don’t think that I use brands as an inspiration for my wetsuits but the brands that I love for me include a few young brands from different kinds of sports like the golfing brand MetalWood from LA, the running brand Kuta Distance L.ab from Sweden or RaveSkateboards from France.