Australian swim brand bond-eye has developed a 26-piece swimwear collection using MAXXAM wool crinkle, a wool-blend fabric made from Australian Merino wool, in collaboration with MAXXAM and Woolmark. The fabric, described as a world first, was developed with a specialist knitting mill in Italy. It is designed to bring Merino’s natural elasticity, recovery, moisture management and temperature regulation to swimwear, a category that has relied almost entirely on fossil-derived synthetics.
The collection was led by bond-eye and builds on its decade-long partnership with MAXXAM founder Rosemary Moore, who pioneered the original crinkle fabric more than 40 years ago. Woolmark joined the project to provide sourcing, technical expertise and performance testing. The three partners explored how Merino wool could be reinterpreted for swimwear.
“Innovation has always been at the heart of bond-eye. Working with Woolmark and its technical team, 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 an important step towards our ambition to reduce our reliance on conventional synthetic fibers by exploring high-performance natural and renewable alternatives,” said bond-eye founder and CEO Steve Philpott.
MAXXAM wool crinkle combines Australian Merino wool with bond-eye’s signature stretch crinkle construction. The fabric is made of 45% Australian Merino wool, 45% TENCEL and 10% elastane, which provides the stretch and recovery required in swimwear. Nylon and polyester are not used in the composition. According to the company, TENCEL adds softness and is produced through a closed-loop, wood-derived process.
The fabric is knitted as a tube with four-way stretch and recovery, allowing it to stretch across different body sizes. As a result, the garments are largely unsized and fit from extra small to large.
Woolmark carried out testing on the fabric, including colorfastness to chlorinated water and to seawater. According to the company, the fabric was created to meet the demands of swimwear while retaining the tactile and aesthetic qualities associated with natural fibers. For bond-eye, the project extends its fabrication and manufacturing expertise into a new material category.
“I have always been passionate about exploring how crinkle and seamless technology can work with natural fibers, so developing MAXXAM wool crinkle has been an incredibly exciting project and, in many ways, feels like coming full circle. This has been a genuine collaboration from the outset. Working with bond-eye and with the introductions and support of Woolmark, I was able to work closely with a specialist knitting mill in Italy to develop the fabric over the course of almost two years. 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,” said Rosemary Moore, inventor of MAXXAM and founder of MAXXAM Textiles.
The plain knit wool-blend fabrics are used in a beach-lifestyle capsule with layering pieces that can adapt from swimming to training to meeting friends for drinks without a change of clothes. Wool cover-up pieces layer over the swimwear to complete the range.
“What’s special about this collection is that it’s one of the first swimwear collections to feature wool as a key fiber,” said bond-eye designer Mim Goode. “It’s exciting to use wool because of its natural elasticity and recovery, as well as its moisture-wicking and temperature-regulating properties – we wanted to explore how those qualities could translate into swimwear. We also wanted the collection to reflect the way people live today, so the pieces move between swim, athleisure and beach-to-bar without asking anyone to compromise.”
The collaboration marks an evolution in bond-eye’s design and manufacturing, in MAXXAM’s fabric development, and in Woolmark’s work to expand the commercial potential of Australian Merino wool beyond its traditional applications.
“The challenge was not simply to introduce wool into swimwear, but to develop a fabrication that could meet the category’s technical demands without compromising the qualities that make Merino wool distinctive,” said Woolmark managing director Bryan Fry. “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 pathway for Australian wool.”
