Marysia Dobrzanska Reeves founded MARYSIA, the luxury womenswear brand, in 2009.

The Polish-born, former ballerina and longtime surfer spent most of her time wearing leotards and wetsuits. It wasn’t until she began to explore her interest in fashion that she discovered she could translate her early uniforms into a fresh, modern swim and effortless beachwear collection.

Made from premium Italian fabrics, the swimwear is cut by hand in a couture factory. While her scalloped edge swimwear has become her signature, Marysia continues to expand the brands offerings.

This March, after a year of research, product testing and rounds of samples, MARYSIA launched her first swim collection made from sustainable fabric. A critically important initiative for the designer, the core pieces are made using an environmentally sustainable and ethically produced material with the same high-quality texture, quality and fit for which the designer is known.

The sustainable fabric is obtained from regenerated raw materials (fabric scraps which would otherwise be disposed of as waste) using a mechanical rather than chemical process using far less water. The yarn meets traceability requirements which makes it possible to verify the authenticity of its recycled origins and has obtained a series of green certifications, including the Global Recycled Standard and Ecolabel EU.

“This is such an exciting development for my brand and an effort that I hold dear in my heart. As a lifelong lover of the ocean, I recognize all of the ways that we are depleting our natural resources and want to do my small part by reducing waste and raising money for awareness,” says Marysia. “We’ve always believed that you should buy fewer, but better and that applies to seasonal swimwear purchases. Our suits may cost more, but they can easily last 10+ years - that’s an impressive cost per wear and it’s anti-fast fashion.”

This milestone is part of the brands commitment to minimizing their environmental impact, from centralizing production in a single factory to ensuring that the packaging is recyclable. MARYSIA is committed to this initiative and is working towards making all collections entirely made of sustainable materials by 2022.