What is the common thing between an international earplug brand and a Foil festival in Brittany, SurfEars ? A certain taste for saltwater, wind and waves for sure!
The company
Founded in 2011 by designer Christian Dittrich, SurfEars was born out of its founder’s painful personal experience during a surf trip when a severe ear infection and the onset of an exostosis temporarily deterred him from returning to the water. Determined to design earplugs that protect ears while preserving hearing, he surrounded himself with engineers and water sports enthusiasts to develop an innovative solution. Today, Surf Ears protects more than 500,000 users worldwide.
The product
The brand’s flagship product is the SurfEars 4.0 earplugs. They are designed for surfers, swimmers, divers, kayakers, and all water sports enthusiasts in general. They are earplugs with a ventilated acoustic membrane, designed to block out water, cold wind, sand, chlorine, and bacteria, while allowing ambient sound to pass through. The goal is to prevent infections and exostosis without compromising wave perception, conversations, or safety signals.
The innovation
The SurfEars 4.0 stands out from other earplugs with several innovations: a reinforced core and acoustic grid for greater durability, modularity with several tip sizes and a finless version to adapt to small ear canals and hoods/caps, and the use of recycled plastics from the oceans (91% of the core) as well as recycled silicone for the storage case.
Surf Ears x Crozon Foil Festival : free earchecks for all!
Since the event’s launch in 2024, Surf Ears has supported the Crozon Foil Festival as a major partner. The SurfEars crew will come in force this Ocotber to participate and offer free earchecks for all at several moments during the event (14-19th of October 2025).
For Anders Landin, SurfEars’s Chief Commercial Officer : “Crozon Foil Festival represents numerous touch points with SurfEars and our vision to protect water sports athletes around the world. At SurfEars we love innovation and to be part of a fast growing discipline that evolves every single week. From personal experiences we can also see SurfEars being as natural to wear as a PFD to protect from ear related issues like Surfers Ear, Ear infections and perforated eardrums. For us it´s also a great motivation to meet and see the best riders and get feedback on how to further develop SurfEars and give us inspirations on new products to discover. We did also appreciate the “personal” feeling of the festival and the opportunity it gives us to raise awareness around how water affects your ears.”
