Australian swimwear brand, bond-eye, has partnered with long-term collaborator MAXXAM® and Woolmark to develop the world-first MAXXAM® Wool Crinkle, a wool-blend swim fabric built to bring Australian Merino’s natural performance properties into premium swimwear.
The 26-piece collection is the product of a three way collaboration on how Merino wool – a fibre with proven natural elasticity and recovery, moisture management and temperature regulation – could be reinterpreted for a category that has relied almost entirely on fossil-derived synthetics.
Innovation has always been at the heart of bond-eye. Working with Woolmark and its technical team, and Rosemary, the original inventor of our tubular crinkle fabric and an exceptional knitting mill in Italy has allowed us to completely rethink our signature Crinkle. Bringing Australian Merino wool into swimwear takes the fabric into an entirely new space and represents and important step towards our ambition to reduce our reliance on conventional synthetic fibres by exploring high-performance natural and renewable alternatives.”
Bond-eye founder and CEO, Steve Philpott
The fabric is 45% Australian Merino woold and 45% TENCEL™ with just 10% elastane retained to deliver the sretch and recovering swimwear requires (eliminating nylon and polyester from the composition entirely). The wool-blend fabric is knitted as a tube with 4-way stretch and recovery and the ability to stretch across different body sizes, so garments are largely unsized.
I have always been passionate about exploring how crinkle and seamless technology can work with natural fibres, so developing MAXXAM® Wool Crinkle has been an incredibly exciting project and in many ways, feels like coming full circle.
There were many different trials along the way as we experimented with yarns, blends, dyeing and finishing before arriving at the Merino wool and TENCEL™ combination we have today.”
Rosemary Moore, inventor of MAXXAM® and founder of MAXXAM® Textiles
The challenge was not simply to introduce wool into swimwear, but to develop a fabrication that could meet the category’s techical demands without compromising the qualities that make Merino wool so distinctive. Wool Crinkle brings together give, recovery and sculpting support with the softness, breathability and material character of Merino wool. It demonstrates the potential to create a new premium proposition for swim and resortwear, while opening a broader commercial patthway for Australian wool.”
Woolmark Managing Director, Bryan Fry
