Why do wetsuits have zippers up the back vs up the front which would make them easier to put on?
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They don’t all have zippers up the back, they have to place the zipper in different locations based on the activity. You’ll see [this](https://www.wholesalemarine.com/barefoot-international-short-sleeve-neoprene-wetsuits-closeout/) style has the zipper on the front, since the person using this wetsuit will spend more time on their back than on their stomach. Whereas a diver’s wetsuit can put the zipper on the back because it will be covered by scuba gear, so it reduces the chance the zipper will come undone.
You’ll also find that full length sleeve wetsuits have the zipper in the back where as short sleeves or no sleeved wetsuits will generally have the zipper in the front. This get’s to ease of access. Putting a full sleeve on with a front zipper is very hard because it doesn’t flex or slide across your skin like a normal button up shirt, you need to really have flexible shoulders to put the sleeves on as you are reaching back to then pull the top of the wet suit forward, rather than a rear zipper entry which you can just stick your arms forward to put the sleeves on. Short sleeves or no sleeved wetsuits don’t suffer from this difficultly so the zipper placement can be more dictated by the activity rather than just putting the gear on.
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