Our founder, James Lock
Zone3 started with one athlete and one problem in the water. Twenty years on, James still works on the kit.
The athlete
James Lock was a national-level swimmer and runner before triathlon took over. He came through a triathlon scholarship at Loughborough University, graduated with a first class engineering degree, and in 2006 became World Aquathlon and World Biathle Champion.
He went on to race professionally at the highest level for over five years, and was regularly first out of the water on the European circuit.
Even at that level, he could still lose time to a simple, obvious problem: getting out of a wetsuit quickly when it's wet, you're tired and full of adrenaline, and the clock is running. It affected everyone racing, and nobody had done anything about it.
The first products
James started Zone3 in 2006 on a hot desk in the Loughborough University business centre. The first product, in 2007, was a pair of neoprene buoyancy shorts that lift the hips into a flatter, more streamlined position. Nobody was making them at the time. The Originals still carry that name today and have been redeveloped over the years, and buoyancy shorts are now made across the sport.
The wetsuits took three years of drawings, sampling and testing in top-flight racing. In 2009 the Aspire launched with the Speed Cuff, a Zone3-first design that made wetsuit removal faster in transition and was later adopted across the sport. The Vanquish arrived alongside it and made its name in the water, beating the Brownlees out of the swim.
Zone3 today
James built Zone3 the way he raced: surround yourself with the best, have a clear vision and always strive for more. Highly evolved versions of the Aspire and Vanquish still sit at the top of our range, and he still works on product development today with athletes at every level.
The same thinking runs through the rest of our story. Zone3 was the first triathlon brand to use Yulex plant-based natural rubber, developed B-Prene with Yamamoto in 2023, and became employee-owned in 2024.
