01
Ocean Technology™
Musto's own seal of approval: five decades of ocean knowledge, more real-world testing than any other brand, and nearly thirty years of pioneering membranes with GORE-TEX.
Keith Musto won Olympic silver for Britain at the 1964 Tokyo Games, sailing in nothing more than a Guernsey sweater and flannel trousers — and came home convinced that sailors deserved better. The clothing he engineered in response, developed with the same rigour he'd brought to competitive sailing, became Musto: a brand built by an athlete who understood exactly what performance apparel had to do under real pressure.
It later carried that same technical thinking into shooting and equestrian wear, but the instinct hasn't changed since 1964 — protect people properly, whatever the weather throws at them. That technical foundation now extends across sailing, shooting and equestrian wear, worn by competitive sailors and country-sports professionals who need gear engineered, not just styled, for real conditions.
As the world's leading sailing brand, Musto has built the same reputation on land — today it's one of Britain's foremost names in technical clothing for country and outdoor pursuits.
“We sailed in Guernsey sweaters and old flannel trousers for years. You got wet and you accepted it. We realised that this was a problem that needed to be solved.”
— Keith Musto, Olympic silver medallist, Tokyo 1964
Heritage & proving ground
An Olympic sailor who decided wet was not acceptable.
- 1964
- Olympic silver, Tokyo
- 3hr
- Drysuit survival time at 5°C
- 30K
- BR2 waterproof rating
- 60+
- Years engineering protection
The voyage so far
From a wartime hut in Essex to the Southern Ocean.
1964
Silver in Tokyo
Too light and too short for the Flying Dutchman, Keith Musto and crew Tony Morgan train every day — Christmas included — and take Olympic silver in Guernsey sweaters and old flannel trousers.
1965
A hut in Essex
An old WWII prisoner-of-war hut becomes the first workshop. Keith starts out making sails as Musto & Hyde, teaching himself garment manufacturing as he goes.
1970s
The three-layer system
Musto spreads the idea of thin layers — base, mid and shell — by word of mouth for years before the outdoor world catches on. Today it is the standard everywhere.
1980
Musto is born
Keith splits from Musto & Hyde to focus entirely on technical clothing, and the brand quickly becomes the kit worn and endorsed by the world's most celebrated sailors.
1981
Proven in the Southern Ocean
Cornelis van Rietschoten puts the layering system to the test on his way to winning the Whitbread Round the World Race — the toughest proving ground there is.
1990
The life-saving drysuit
After tragedies in the Whitbread, race managers ask Musto to extend survival time in freezing water from 15 minutes to two hours. In 1992 Skip Novak tests the prototype by swimming in Antarctica.
1994
HPX and GORE-TEX
A partnership with W.L. Gore produces an extra-tough GORE-TEX Pro membrane built for ocean sailing — the core of the HPX range, still the world's leading ocean kit.
Beyond sailing
Into the countryside
Keith notices he is the only dry spectator watching his daughter ride — in his sailing kit. The same fabric thinking moves into equestrian and shooting wear.
Today
Ocean Technology
Drysuits now give up to three hours of survival time at 5°C, and Musto kit protects Vendée Globe skippers, Ocean Race crews and Clipper Race sailors around the planet.
What the brand is built on
The standards behind every stitch.
- 01
Our people
A community of athletes, sportspeople and weekend adventurers. Olympians, royalty and record breakers have all worn Musto — and all of them feed back into the kit.
- 02
Designed to last
Customers regularly report twenty-plus-year-old garments still performing. That durability is why many Musto pieces carry a guarantee for the lifetime of the garment.
- 03
Specialist fabrics
Musto works with the world's best fabric mills — and co-develops with them, as it did with W.L. Gore — to engineer materials that exist nowhere else.
- 04
Technical innovation
Products are tested to the extreme in the world's most hostile environments and in the lab, from Antarctic swims to biometric trials in temperature-controlled chambers.
Technologies
Dry on deck, warm on the night watch.
Weather protection
02
GORE-TEX Pro
The three-layer fabric at the heart of HPX and MPX, with a 100% recycled polyamide outer and Micro Grid Backer — bluesign® approved, fully waterproof, still breathable under pressure.
03
BR2 Performance
A 30,000mm waterproof rating with fully taped seams and a PFC-free long-lasting water repellent finish — built for mid-length offshore passages.
04
Photoluminescent
Reflectors developed for the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race that absorb daylight and glow through the night watch, when sailing can otherwise feel blind.
Warmth & durability
01
FlexLite Vapour
Breathable 1mm ventiprene neoprene made from post-consumer recycled content — the first sailing apparel on the market to use aqua-based glue.
02
FlexLite Alumin 3
A 3mm four-layer neoprene with an Alumin thermal backer that returns body heat, giving the warmth of a far thicker wetsuit with super-stretch freedom.
03
CORDURA® & Kevlar®
Abrasion, tear and scuff resistance where kit takes the most punishment. Kevlar® — five times stronger than steel by weight — reinforces the highest-wear panels.
04
Schoeller® Keprotec®
A super-tough Swiss fabric combined with CORDURA® and Kevlar® for an abrasion-proof, tear and temperature-resistant surface, alongside four-way stretch WB-400 softshell.
Ambassadors, teams & partnerships
The people the kit is built with.
Proving ground
Vendée Globe & the Southern Ocean
Eleven #TeamMusto ambassadors lined up for the 2024 Vendée Globe out of forty entrants.
08 on the roster
- 01
Charlie Dalin
Vendée Globe 2024 winner
- 02
Samantha Davies
Initiatives-Cœur
- 03
Boris Herrmann
Malizia — Seaexplorer
- 04
Jérémie Beyou
Charal
- 05
Clarisse Crémer
L'Occitane en Provence
- 06
Armel Le Cléac'h
IMOCA, MPX Impact
- 07
Violette Dorange
Devenir
- 08
Justine Mettraux
Teamwork — Team SNEF
Sustainability
Protecting the ocean and the countryside.
Product life
Built to last, built to repair
Engineering products that can last a lifetime is the heart of the brand — supported by a repair service that keeps garments in use rather than in landfill.
Materials
Recycled & certified materials
A target of at least 50% recycled synthetics, products labelled above 50% recycled content, organic cotton and bluesign® approved fabrics.
Chemistry
PFC-free water repellency
Phasing out PFC-based DWR treatments across the range, alongside solution-dyed fabrics that use dramatically less water and energy.
Climate & packaging
Ocean & countryside first
The two arenas the brand is built on. Musto is setting an interim greenhouse gas reduction target for 2030 and has replaced all virgin packaging plastic with recycled.