Offering a true taste of nature’s best, globally renowned art and design-led brand Haydenshapes unveils its first 100% Merino wool ready-to-wear collection, exploring surf and contemporary fashion across multiple categories.
Working directly with its founder and leading Australian designer Hayden Cox, the global partnership sees the release of an 11-piece 100% Merino wool men’s fashion capsule as part of the Haydenshapes Season 2 ready-to-wear collection titled ‘Post-surf / New Wave’.
Australian multidisciplinary designer Hayden Cox is no stranger to pushing boundaries with materiality and design innovation. He launched his eponymous performance surfboard company at the young age of 15, which went onto become one of today’s world-leading brands in performance surf. In 2012 he revolutionised the surfboard industry with his award-winning patented parabolic carbon fibre rail technology, FutureFlex, which is said to have paved way for modern surfboard innovation worldwide.
Fast forward 10 years and Hayden's design ethos continues to be led by his unique application of materiality, blended with contemporary design and construction. Hayden’s global partnership with The Woolmark Company deep dives into the innovative use of Merino wool within surf and contemporary fashion across multiple categories.
Haydenshapes x Woolmark ‘Post Surf / New Wave’ collection
The Haydenshapes x Woolmark 11-piece 100% Merino wool men’s collection includes tailored shirting, pants and shorts, outerwear, T-shirt, crew neck knitted sweater and accessories. Selected garments feature upcycled bio-resin buttons and hardware made with repurposed wool and surfboard manufacturing waste. crafted by hand at Haydenshapes Mona Vale, Sydney Australia.
Sourcing Merino wool fabrics and yarns from AW Hainsworth, ABMT Textiles and Xinao, the Woolmark-certified collection, aptly titled 'Post Surf / New Wave', offers Haydenshapes a technical and environmentally friendly solution.
"Investing in pieces that you keep and wear throughout your lifetime that are durable and not married to a particular season is a key part of sustainability and slows the rate of consumption."
"The concept of Merino wool as a leading fabric story within our Season 2 RTW collection was to play on my nostalgic connection to staple wool pieces that I’ve had throughout my lifetime - some that have been passed down through generations," explains Cox.
"For me, investing in pieces that you keep and wear throughout your lifetime that are durable and not married to a particular season is a key part of sustainability and slows the rate of consumption. Hainsworth wool is an iconic fabric used in the British military uniform which we favoured for its structure and feel when applied to our contemporary shape and silhouettes."
Merino wool performs like no other
Unlike traditional synthetic fibres, science shows that wool fibres are 100% biodegradable in both land and marine environments and so do not contribute to microplastic pollution. Merino wool also offers superior thermal insulation, keeping the wearer cool when it’s hot and warm when it’s not as it reacts to changes in body temperature. Learn more about the innate performance benefits of Merino wool.
In a bid to combat the rising tide of microplastics, choosing to work with Australian Merino wool was a natural choice for Haydenshapes, which has sustainability embedded in its brand DNA. The world’s original performance and eco fibre, Merino wool fibres are also 100% natural, renewable and recyclable.
"Designing with a greater consideration of sustainability is a goal of mine and looking at how we construct and manufacture products or reuse the waste material from the process can have a great impact,” says Cox. “The Merino fashion pieces are only the start of some really exciting developments that’s been taking place behind the scenes with The Woolmark Company, which we will continue launch over the next 12 months."
