Our history
Two friends and a dream
Founded by Martim and his best friend Afonso, Van der Waal started as a personal project. It was initially intended as a solution for Martim's new surfboard, rather than a brand or product. Over time, as interest grew among friends and fellow surfers, we started to see it as a potential alternative to surf wax.
How it started
“I broke my board in Carcavelos and ordered a new one. I was so excited with my new board, a yellow retro fish, that I started to explain Afonso an idea that I had some time ago: the wax would get the board all dirty and would hide the whole design, and how cool it would be to have an alternative to that…
Afonso said that he had a material that was able to turn into a grip and that it was transparent. At that point, we started to try the material on my board, just as a personal solution to solve my problem. With the enthusiasm of friends with my board and our solution led us to think that this could be a product. So we started to look at the product from a different side, collecting more professional feedback and making adjustments.
One year later Van der Waal was born.
Watch our First production day
Surfboards with Van der Waal around the globe
Nothing makes us prouder than a board with Van der Waal. In this simple map you can find places where we know that have at least one surf board with our surf grip.
2015 - 2024
Our journey so far
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