Veia and Florence Marine X: 2026 Fall Arrivals

November 2026 · Urban Surf NW · Surf · Accessories

Ten new things turned up at the end of October and every one of them traces back to the same guy. Seven from Veia, three from Florence Marine X, and one of them is literally both brands at once.

Neither of these is new to us. We've had Veia on the wall since October 2024 and Florence Marine X since January, so this isn't an introduction. It's new models, new builds and a couple of things that fill actual gaps in what we had. Here's all of it, what each piece is for, and where I'd put your money.

Is a surfer a good business owner?

John John Florence has two businesses and they do completely different jobs.

Veia is the hardware. Pads, leashes, board bags. It was founded in 2022 by Florence alongside Jon Pyzel and Dan McNamara, who runs Pyzel Surfboards, which is to say three people who have spent their working lives inside the surfboard business. SURFER calls it a "small, rider-owned surf accessories company," and Veia's own about page is unusually blunt about what they're trying to avoid: "Overbuilding leads to extra weight, bulk and worst of all things that can break." The line that runs across every Pro product page is "More isn't better.. better is better." Everything they make carries a lifetime warranty.

Florence Marine X is the apparel, and it came first. Florence announced it in August 2020, a few months after walking away from the last two years of an eight-year Hurley deal, and the first product shipped in May 2021. The X is for Marine Exploration. It's a partnership with Kandui Holdings, which is Bob Hurley's company, and Florence put it this way at the time: "I am excited to announce Florence Marine X, an apparel brand I am proud to launch alongside Bob Hurley, who has been an inspiration to me over the years, along with longtime friends and industry leaders." Their about page treats the North Shore as the test lab and runs the phrase "tested – but proven," which tells you roughly how they'd like to be read.

The reason to write about them together this week is that one of the pads we just got is a collaboration between the two of them. Veia calls the VEIA x Florence run "a limited series in collaboration with Florence Marine X to develop the now ubiquitous 'Florence Camo' throughout our high quality VEIA leashes & traction pads." So the print on the pad came out of the apparel company, which is about as literal as a collaboration between your own two brands gets.

The traction pads, and the one idea behind them

Four pads landed. Two Pro, two Explorer, and the split between those two tiers is the thing worth understanding before you pick one, because it's not a quality ladder.

Every Veia surf pad shares a base: 3mm thick, a 27.5mm kick at roughly 45 degrees, diamond grip, three pieces so you set your own spacing. What changes between tiers is the arch and the foam.

The Pro pads run what Veia calls the PowerPocket, which is their one properly proprietary idea. Their own explanation of it is that the pocket is the space between the tail block and the arch where your back foot locks in, and that they got there by taking 6mm out of the arch bar and moving the bar forward, leaving a 74mm gap behind it. Florence calls it his best pad yet and says that once you feel it you won't forget it. Veia also credits it in the turn that won him the 2024 title at San Clemente, which is their claim rather than anyone else's, but the measurement is real and you can feel it with your hand in the shop.

The Explorer pads don't have it. They run a plain low arch and a softer foam. Plenty of people prefer it that way.

VEIA x Florence JJF Round Tail Pro Pad

$60 · Florence Camo or Night / Night Camo

This is the co-branded one, and there's something odd about it that I only found by reading the spec blocks side by side. The Florence edition lists a 7mm arch bar. The plain JJF Pro pad lists 11mm. Same PowerPocket geometry, same Eco-EVA, same 27.5mm kick, same 3mm base, but a noticeably lower bar underfoot. It's consistent across every Florence-edition SKU Veia lists, so it isn't a typo on one page, and as far as I can tell Veia has never said a word about it in their marketing. They sell it as the camo. I'd treat the lower arch as the actual reason to want it.

The round tail template was drawn around Florence's Pyzel Ghost, which is a nice closing of the loop given Jon Pyzel co-founded the company. It suits round and pin tails and narrower squashes.

See the VEIA x Florence JJF Round Tail Pro Pad →

JJF Squash Tail Remixed Pro

$60 · Night / Night Camo or Florence Camo / Night

Same Pro build on a squash template, designed around Florence's Pyzel Red Tiger and Shadow. "Remixed" is a colorblock treatment rather than a different pad, so instead of one print across all three pieces you get Florence Camo and Night mixed between them. If your board has a standard squash, a thumb or a wide swallow, this is the one that'll sit right on the tail.

See the JJF Squash Tail Remixed Pro →

Explorer 3 Piece Round Tail Pad

$50 · Squadron / Bone or Caramel / Night

The forgiving one. A low 7mm arch with no PowerPocket, and SuperSoft EVA instead of the Pro's Eco-EVA. Veia keeps crediting the low-arch Explorer shape to Victor Bernardo's preference. The tail block is cut parallel so it sits cleanly on a narrow tail rather than hanging over the rails. You lose the venting and weight-reduction cutouts the Pro pads get, which is most of the ten dollars.

See the Explorer 3 Piece Round Tail Pad →

Explorer Flat Pad

$50 · Night or Caramel

No arch at all, two pieces, and still the full 27.5mm kick. Veia's pitch is "the sensitivity of no arch underfoot without sacrificing grip," and Veia says Caity Simmers, who won the 2024 world title and signed to them the following spring, uses this one on her Borst boards. Worth saying plainly because it trips people up: this is a tail pad with a flat deck, not a front pad. Veia's front pad is a separate product and we don't stock it.

If you've never got on with a big arch bar, or you're putting it on a twin or a fish where you move your back foot around, this is the pick.

See the Explorer Flat Pad →

The pads side by side

Kick height is 27.5mm and base thickness is 3mm on all four. The ten dollars buys you the arch bar and the foam, not a bigger kick.

One honest note on the Pro foam before you commit. Mason Bryant, reviewing the Florence Round Tail pad on Veia's own site, gave it four stars and wrote: "I love the traction pattern; it sticks to your feet. I'm not a big fan of how hard the foam is its very, very stiff foam that doesn't feel too good on the knees and has no give on the feet when pushing on it." He also said the quality is "unmatched" and that it hasn't worn at all after daily use. That lines up exactly with the Eco-EVA versus SuperSoft split on the spec sheet, and it's the clearest buying advice in this whole post: if you knee-paddle or you like a plush deck, go Explorer.

The leash: JJF Pro 8'

$55 · Squadron

We already had the 7'. The 8' is the one that fills a gap, and the extra foot is the least of it.

It's the only leash in the standard JJF Pro range with a full 8mm cord. The 7' steps down to 7.5mm, and so does every leash in the Explorer line. On top of that you get a 50mm duralite neoprene-lined cuff, a 28mm low-profile rail saver, and dual bearing swivels rather than the plain swivels further down the range. For a mid-length, a bigger step-up or anything you're taking somewhere with real push behind it, that extra half millimeter of cord is the point of the thing.

The best thing anyone's said about these came from Eddie Donnellan in San Francisco, writing about the 6' on Veia's site: "The Veia leashes are so solid. Never had an issue with any of them, and have somehow never had one break! Living and surfing at Ocean Beach, SF this is unheard of!" Ocean Beach is about as close a comparison as you'll find to Westport on a day with some size in it.

For balance, Cleanline's 2026 leash roundup picks the cheaper Veia Explorer Comp as its Veia entry and leaves the JJF Pro in honorable mentions. Their listed complaints are "less known brand," "only two colorways" and the size range, which is a knock on the catalog rather than the leash. Worth knowing that an outside shop still treats Veia as the challenger.

See the JJF Pro 8' Leash →

The bags, and a name that fools everybody

Start with the name, because I got it wrong too. The 2 in Explorer 2 means two boards. It is not a second generation. Veia's own copy says it's built to "safely transport your favorite 2 board quiver anywhere, anytime," and there was never a first Explorer travel bag to revise. Until now the Explorer line was day bags only. This is the first travel-rated bag in it.

Explorer 2 Shortboard Travel Bag

$270 (6'0) / $280 (7'0) · Squadron

The padding is asymmetric on purpose: 10mm on the top and sides, 20mm on the bottom, so the thick layer is the one facing the belt and the tarmac. Two boards, one padded separation panel between them, 600D Explorer fabric, and an internal heat shield to keep the sun off a dark deck in a hot car.

The detail I'd actually point at is the shape. Veia cuts rocker into the bag so the nose and tail aren't being pressed flat against a straight seam, and the claim isn't only Veia's. Cleanline's own 2026 travel bag guide, writing about a different Veia model, credits the "unique rockered shape that reduces pressure points on board nose." When a competing shop volunteers that about your product it's worth more than a bullet point.

The compression straps are tunneled through the bag with neoprene covers on the buckles, so there's no hardware sitting against your deck. You also get Multiband grab points and tie-down loops, 360-degree grab handles, a neoprene main handle, a removable padded shoulder strap and a 6" carabiner hookup. The 6'0 takes a board up to 6'2" and 23" wide, so a fuller groveler or a fish goes in without a fight. Veia doesn't publish a weight; Cleanline's spec table puts it at 7.25 lbs empty in the 6'0 and 8.75 lbs in the 7'0.

Two things Veia doesn't claim, so I won't either: there's no airline or checked-baggage rating anywhere in their copy, and they don't name a zipper brand on this bag the way they do on the day bags. The honest version is 20mm of foam under your board, compression straps and a separation panel, which is a lot of bag for the money.

See the Explorer 2 Shortboard Travel Bag →

Explorer Mid Length Day Bag

$180 (7'0) / $190 (7'6) · Squadron

Different job entirely. 6.5mm of padding top and bottom and a 3 lb carry weight, against seven to nine pounds for the travel bag. That's the number that decides whether you actually take the bag to the beach or leave it in the garage.

Single board, YKK coiled zippers, a zippered slot for your center fin, nylon nose protection and an internal heat shield. The detail mid-length owners will care about is the expanding tail gusset, which means your side bites can stay in. It's 23" wide, and we have the 7'0 and the 7'6.

Veia frames the day bags as bike commutes, the back of a truck, leaving a board on the beach, keeping boards clean between trips. That's about right. It is not a travel bag and Veia doesn't pretend otherwise.

See the Explorer Mid Length Day Bag →

Day bag or travel bag

The one real complaint I found about any Veia bag is worth repeating with its label attached. Stephen Wouw in Amsterdam, reviewing the much larger JJF 4 Board Travel Bag on Veia's site, wanted the compression straps placed wider and added at the nose and tail, and wrote that "the shoulder strap isn't as comfortable to be honest," while conceding that "not much can ever be comfortable carrying 4 boards." That's a different, bigger bag than the Explorer 2. I'm including it because the two share the same tunneled-strap and removable-shoulder-strap system, so it's the component I'd check first.

Beyond that, there's genuinely not much to go on. There are no forum threads, no YouTube reviews and no magazine write-ups of either of these bags, and the brand's own pages carry a single review apiece. I'd rather say that than imply a consensus exists.

Florence Marine X, and what Airtex actually is

Three pieces came in from the apparel side, and two of them are genuinely useful here in November rather than being summer stock that showed up late.

First, the fabric, because it's on half their catalog and the name doesn't tell you anything. Airtex is a perforated knit. Florence Marine X claims over a million micro-perforations in it, and the holes are the whole technology: air moves through the panel instead of around it, so it breathes and dries faster than a solid knit of the same weight. One thing to know is that Airtex isn't a single recipe. The fiber content changes by garment, so it's a construction, not a material.

1.5mm FlatLock Wetsuit Jacket

$159 · Black, S to XL

It's a zipless pullover in 100% Yamamoto foam rubber, which is the Japanese limestone-derived foam you normally see on premium fullsuits and freediving suits rather than on a $159 top. Low collar, flatlock seams that sit flush so they don't chafe, and a boardshort tie at the waist that you thread your trunk drawcord through.

The Inertia's wetsuit-jacket roundup, tested by Will Sileo and Michael Bishop, named it their Most Flexible Wetsuit Jacket and called it "downright ridiculously stretchy and flexible," crediting the Yamamoto rubber plus a lining they measured at 20% elastane. They also rated getting in and out of it as easy, which is what a zipless top should buy you.

Their complaints are just as specific, and I'd take them seriously: "No waist-cinch, roomy cut (runs large)," and in the body of the review, that the sleeve cuffs "occasionally flushed and rolled up" and the waist "didn't stay put all that well." That's a direct contradiction of Florence Marine X's own line that the boardshort tie "locks down the jacket in heavy water." Both are on the record. Size down, which is also what the brand recommends.

Now the part that matters most for Seattle. This is not a November suit on its own. Florence Marine X describes it as designed for tropical water sessions. evo's thickness chart puts 0.5 to 2mm tops at 65 to 75 degree water, and Cleanline's guide doesn't even go below 2mm. Puget Sound averages around 51 degrees in November, which is 4/3 territory on every chart I can find, so a 1.5mm flatlock top is roughly fourteen degrees below where it works as the only neoprene on your torso. Flatlock is also a water-permeable seam by design, which is exactly why it's the warm-water seam.

Buy it as a layer. Over a 4/3 or a 5/4 it's wind protection on a cold paddle out and on the drive home. Under a loose top it's a real difference on a flat-water SUP or foil session. On its own it's an August and September piece here, and a brilliant thing to pack for anywhere warm.

See the 1.5mm FlatLock Wetsuit Jacket →

Airtex Balaclava Long Sleeve Hooded Shirt

$89 · Light Heather Grey, M to XL

This is the one I didn't expect to like for a PNW shop and now do. It's a 50/50 recycled polyester and polyester Airtex knit rated up to UPF 50+, with a HeiQ Pure antimicrobial treatment and OEKO-TEX certification, and a form-fitting balaclava hood that Florence Marine X says is built to layer under a helmet.

Most hooded rashguards give you a loose hood that fills with water and sits on your shoulders. A balaclava cut is a different object. For a winging or foiling session in a cold northerly, a boat ride out to a launch, or anything where you're wearing a helmet, face and neck coverage is the thing you're missing, and a beanie doesn't do it. It happens to also be an excellent sun layer for a trip.

It's a sun and wind layer and not a thermal one, which is worth being clear about: it's polyester, there's no insulation in it. Florence Marine X says it "fits true to size, but a tad smaller than a T-shirt," so size up if you want it loose. A medium measures 15" across the chest with a 28.25" front length. I couldn't find a single independent review of this shirt anywhere, so everything above is brand spec plus our own read of it.

See the Airtex Balaclava Hooded Shirt →

All-Purpose Cordura Short

$95 · Navy, S to XXL

64% Cordura, 26% nylon 66, 10% spandex, four-way stretch, 17.5" outseam on a 7" inseam. Cordura is a pack and workwear nylon rather than a trunk fabric, and at nearly two thirds of the blend that's an abrasion-first choice. The spandex is what keeps it wearable.

Elastic waist with a Cordloc drawcord, two slash pockets, a welted back pocket with a reverse-coil zip, a key cord loop and a yellow utility loop. The DWR finish is C0, so fluorocarbon-free, which is a checkable spec rather than a vague gesture at sustainability.

It's a hybrid walk and utility short rather than a boardshort: no fly, elastic waist, zip pocket. The Inertia tested Florence Marine X's elastic-waist shorts and found them "less secure in heavy surf than fixed waistbands," and the same testers reckon the brand's shorts run about half an inch large, where Florence Marine X says true to size. If you want their actual trunk, that's the $99 Cordura Airtex boardshort, which those same testers gave their best overall pick. This one is for launch days, SUP, the boat, the dog, and dinner afterwards.

See the All-Purpose Cordura Short →

The whole lot, side by side

Our Take

If you surf a shortboard and you're replacing a pad: the VEIA x Florence Round Tail Pro at $60. The lower 7mm arch and the PowerPocket are a real geometry rather than a graphic, and it's the only pad in the range Veia lists at that arch height.

If you knee-paddle or you've always found arch bars aggressive: the Explorer 3 Piece at $50, or the Flat Pad if you want nothing under your arch. SuperSoft EVA instead of the Pro's firmer Eco-EVA.

If you're flying somewhere this winter: the Explorer 2 at $270. Two boards, 20mm under the bottom, and a rockered cut that a competing shop went out of its way to praise.

The Bad: the Pro foam is firm enough that a four-star reviewer on Veia's own site called it hard on the knees, and the Explorer pads sell for a couple of dollars less at other shops, so don't buy those here on price. The 1.5mm jacket is the one to be careful with: it's a tropical-water piece, and in Puget Sound in November it is a layer and nothing more.

Come have a look

Pads are one of the few things that are genuinely better bought in person, because arch height is a thing your foot decides, not a number you read. All four are on the floor at the shop along with the leash, both bags and the Florence Marine X pieces. Put your hand in the PowerPocket, then put it on an Explorer, and you'll know inside ten seconds which one you want.

Come see them at the shop →

(206) 545-9463 · 2100 N. Northlake Way, Seattle