THE FRIDAY INTERVIEW – ROSEMARY MOORE

This week Underlines talks to Rosemary Moore (aka Textile Guru) about her long career in fashion and fabric (inventor of the original 4 way stretch and crinkle fabric MAXXAM®, one of the most unique fabrics ever created). More than 4 decades later, we see how her original crinkle fabric is as relevant today as when she patented it in 1983.  Rosemary Moore has always been a woman ahead of her time and a woman of many passions – fabric and fashion, the future of British fabric manufacturing, biodegradability and garden design!

So how did your passion for fabric come about?

Well I was brought up in the Midlands and was an early starter in regard to sewing and fabric with my mother – I liked working with my hands and even in my teenage years I was very focussed on achieving and creating something really original. I started looking at textile experimentation … for me where there is fabric innovation, fashion will follow.

At my time at the Royal College of Art I became more and more absorbed with texture and how to create texture via yarn. I had a placement at the Courtaulds group and was able to work in their R & D unit and this really opened my eyes. Their facilities were wonderful and they liked what I was trying to achieve on jersey technology. However their own patented invention for 3D flat bed knitting made me realise its amazing potential for creating totally integral items and inspired me latter into creating a seamless trainer in the early 90s.

So what exactly is MAXXAM®?

MAXXAM® fabric is a nylon and elastane fabric composition (finished tubular) that is multi-purpose, adaptable and can fit many sizes at once. I managed to copyright and patent the the single jersey crinkle fabric before taking part in Texprint fabric show.

It was the garment, not just a fabric

And how did it take off in the 1980’s?

Well I had the good fortune to meet the designer Liza Bruce, whose designs were about minimalist body shaping and she originally ‘adopted’ the fabric for ready-to-wear (swimwear followed after) and was instrumental really in its success. The 1980’s was the decade of body-con clothing and MAXXAM® provided exactly the right solution. It seemed that overnight everyone was wearing it. It was the garment, not just the fabric! From the famous to the girl next door (Julia Roberts was wearing it in Pretty Woman). The fabric was taken up various fashion names such as Katherine Hamnett, Brian Rochford, Janice Wainwright, and Speedo. It was further developed by adding a double knit jersey jacquard and a cord produced by Chatsworth Knitting , other licensees Heathcoats (Australia)Fabritex in the USA.

When I developed MAXXAM® I did not realise at the time how advanced the idea was – even more relevant now with the cost savings it offers in low waste and low-cost manufacturing with one size fitting all and the introduction of recycled fibres.

The fabric was licensed worldwide and at the time we made it in the USA, Australia and the UK under licence…it was such an unusual idea to come to the market with the potential to fit small (UK size 8) up to 16-18 women’s sizes.

 

 

At that time there was still a healthy textile manufacturing base in the UK and I was lucky to be able to work with my own RD unit in the research and development centre of Du Pont  at the time. I could work with their new yarns and try them out with British manufacturers. Crinkle is a very specialist fabric. And in the late 1980’s I was asked to develop some items under the ‘Lycra Power’ theme creating fabrics with varying Lycra weights and differing levels of compression – I was delighted as I had been a serious gymnast in my teens and was very conscious of the proprioceptive effect of fabric tensions on the body that effected both mentally and physically.

And your own career in fashion design?

By 1987 I had designed and launched my first collection of womenswear, using MAXXAM® fabrics, producing body-conscious separates that crossed the boundaries of swimwear, streetwear, dance and sportswear.

At this time I won an international design competition – The Fashion Foundation Award (judged by Issey Miyake and Comme de Garçons). Garments in MAXXAM® fabrics from the Masquerade exhibition of knitwear designs which toured Japan and are now on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

 

There was not enough funding to support a brand in the UK so I took a leap in the dark and moved to Japan to develop my textile ranges and clothing licenses! It offered me the chance to work with the latest equipment and yarns. It was a risk as it wasn’t easy running my own business from a distance and by then the recession had hit in the UK. I was able to develop my ‘I Spy’ range of fabrics  (with Nitto Boseki) and my Rosemary Moore RTW which was launched at Tokyo Fashion Week and also had success in the UK with stockists such as Dickins & Jones and Liberty). I even had Rosemary Moore stores in Japan!

Moving to Japan … offered me the chance to work with the latest equipment and yarns”

So when did the fabric become aligned to swimwear?

As I mentioned it was originally championed for ready-to-wear body-con clothing but in the 1990’s the shift moved to swimwear. As an inventor, I was always thinking of new ideas and seeing if I could make them happen – like the Stowaway fold-up clothing which I designed and patented. The range included swimwear, day and evening wear – long sundresses, T-shirts, racer back tops and leggings which all folded up into their own integral pocket for easy packing.

It was a really novel idea and was taken up rapidly by lots of stores in the UK including House of Fraser, Fenwick and Selfridges.

And the swimwear brands you work with?

Of course we had a long-term collaboration with Hunza which ended some time ago and the company is not using the MAXXAM® original crinkle fabric. However I have delightful new collaborations with Australian brand, Bond-Eye, and the online only brand, YOUSWIM.

Steve Philpott who is the founder of Bond-Eye, fashions his entire collections under the Bond-Eye swimwear label in the crinkle stretch fabric providing un-sized swimwear that has gained popularity with women everywhere including celebrities such as Lady Gaga, the Kardashian family and Rita Ora, to name just a few. Simultaneously he is looking at developments with the fabrics in his Artesands brand which is designed for fuller figures.”

Steve has been a constant enthusiast of both Rosemary and her MAXXAM® fabrics and commented to Underlines & The Swimwear Yearbook:

We have recreated something very special together with our collaboration and have developed a wonderful, creative, enjoyable partnership and friendship in the process with Rosemary and her husband Barry. Innovation and sustainability are at the core of our collaboration and married with very high quality yarns, innovative knitting and some strong marketing, we have been able to create a space of our own in the premium end of the market. It’s been a wild ride and we have some very exciting developments in the pipeline.”

Rosemary is also interested in start-ups and new brands to the market: “YOUSWIM is a British based company with whom I worked very closely when they were setting up their business. They offer size inclusive bikinis and swimsuits that are totally made in the UK from start to finish.

Swimwear of course is the most popular end use at the moment but the sheer versatility of the fabric means there are infinite end uses. In 2020, I set up a children’s brand with my daughter Iona (MooreMaxxam) offering styles for all ages of children in the original MAXXAM® fabric and a recycled version of the same fabric.

And you are happy to work with these partners for now?

The business of creating fashion and fabric innovation has never been about the money – it is my passion. And as all raw materials are manufactured, dyed and processed in the UK, I am at the moment dependent on one manufacturer in the Midlands (and a dyer in the North of England). The future of manufacturing in the UK is always playing on my mind in so much as where do we go from here and how long will the suppliers around us survive? We want to protect what we have created.

But it is gratifying that MAXXAM® fabrics are as relevant today as they were in the early 1980’s – worn by an entirely different generation and of course by a generation whose mothers worn it back in the day!

We want to protect what we have created”

 And your working week?

This might not sound very exciting! I’m usually very focused day to day between speaking to my knitting factory or dyeing factory monitoring production schedules and being my usual inscrutable self, constantly checking textile quality and shade submissions to the annoyance of my dyer! In my experience, since the 1990’s the UK has lost it sense of what quality control means especially after M&S went offshore. This caused a major collapse with so many sewing factories, dyers, knitters and weavers falling by the wayside. From having a vast workforce and tight quality control we are now left with a very weak infrastructure which has been even further compromised by Brexit and high energy prices.

But back to my working week! I rush to Kew Gardens for daily stress recovery when I can and often actually go there to work as you feel close to nature. We also manage daily our own sewing factory which is small volume as well as another factory which handles the YOUSWIM production which we have helped to fully factor since they started.

At weekends my work doesn’t always stop on a Friday and often my days run into nights as I am in touch with overseas customers. Yes the days are always full on!

No intention of slowing down?

There are still so many challenges! With the popularity of the original crinkle fabric returning 10 years ago and its rapid take-up in the swimwear market I am looking for ways to develop a concept which could actually be completely compostable or become a type of soil improver. With the elastane content it can be tricky as everything else can break down except this component. So a lot of research is going on at the moment.

We live and work in Kew and I know I am lucky to enjoy greenery and nature on my doorstep. In fact due to my passion for nature (and garden design) during COVID I completed three courses online and in person on Construction/Planting Design and Garden Design with the London College of Garden Design with amazing tutors. I wanted to complete studies that I actually started in 2000 (I carried out landscapes in Somerset for 9 years) and we also have a 7 and a half acre site in Cornwall where we are restoring both the home and the woodland.

My passion for nature and my studies has help me build knowledge in which I bring these interests together in research for creating textiles, new bio yarns which can break down quickly in soil and not end up in landfill (biodegradable). I want my textiles to have the best credentials possible and my branded partners are enthusiastic about this prospect too.

 And time outside of work?

That is still not high on my agenda unfortunately but I do hope it will be soon. I love exploring islands and ancient cultures or spending time by the sea which is my big passion. Now we have place by the sea…it’s in a valley in Cornwall which we happened to find during lockdown which I had been searching for since I was a child: it’s very hidden away and very peaceful. Restoring the land is key and both my husband who partners me in the MAXXAM® business and is focused on sustainability and alternative energy and my daughter who studied at Eden for a MSc in land and ecological restoration are very concerned to find ways to restore the earth for generations to come. But I cannot see me stopping working with fabrics any time soon – that is a lifetime passion.”

Pamela Scott

 

Archive images kindly supplied by Rosemary Moore