Our History
Two friends
& a dream
From success to errors and issues, we have been learning since day one. Challenging the surf industry standards, we have developed three different versions of our surf grip so far.
Two friends
2015
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.
2016
First Production Day
Watch the video of our first production day , Afonso and I in a basement full of cockroaches.
Long story short
What began in 2015 as a personal experiment with shapes and materials quickly evolved into a pursuit of performance innovation. By 2016, we launched our first product—Performance Series 1.0—and made our first sale, turning passion into purpose.
In 2017, our product caught the attention of the surf community, with features in The Inertia, Surfing Sections, and Surfbunker, among others. The momentum continued with the release of Performance Series 2.0 in 2018, and driven by our commitment to progress we launched the bold and refined r.Evolution Series in 2019, version that we keep running until today.
Recognition came in 2020 with a nod from ISPO Brandnew, affirming our place among the most promising new brands. In 2021, bored in the pandemic, Martim introduced the SmartSticker, expanding our product line with smart functionality.
So far, we have sold over 250,000 hexagons, a milestone that reflects the trust and enthusiasm of our growing community.
Martim Dornellas
A letter from our founder
Van der Waal idea is as simple as it’s grippy, less time maintaining your surf gear, more time to surf. We have all been there: your friends in the water with waves firing and you still scratching old brown wax, end your surf session with a surfboard full of sand and hairs and debris, or that time that you go for a beer after a surf session to find later wax running all over car seats.
Van der Waal surf grip started as a personal solution for my issue - I didn’t want to cover my surfboard design with wax, but thanks to many people our surf grip improved over time and became a product.
And despite being a company now, I still run it from my house, doing experiments in my kitchen and taking care of almost every aspect of it. That’s why sometimes I forget to answer some emails, or if waves hit Lisbon coast probably your order will only be shipped in the afternoon as I will be surfing for the morning.
I truly hope that you find joy surfing, with or without Van der Waal, but I keep a big smile imagining someone surfing the wave of their dreams with Van der Waal under their feet.
Stay salty, Martim
