Marle / Story

Thoughtfully designed and consciously created in exclusively natural fibres and fabrics, Marle is a premium womenswear brand grounded on the philosophy of everyday luxury.

Founded in 2015 by designer Juliet Souter, Marle is a premium women's ready-to-wear offering that reimagines luxury through a lens of timeless essentials and a connection to nature. Crafted to be cherished beyond a single season, each piece is inspired by the luxurious, natural fibres synonymous with Marle.

With a focus on impeccable details, polished construction, exceptional materials and superior quality, Marle anchors its design philosophy in conscious consumption and sustainable living.

Marle / Philosophy

Our small, family owned business care for the people who work with us, those who make our garments and those who wear them.

At the heart of Marle is the desire to create pieces connected to nature. Our luxurious, natural fabrics inspire the design process and ensure our pieces are both high quality and timeless. Every collection is designed with intention, quality and longevity in mind - pieces to cherish, to pass down and to wear time and time again.  

Our small, family owned business care for the people who work with us, those who make our garments and those who wear them. We believe in quality over quantity and as such, we produce just four collections a year and at times, meaningful and exclusive capsules. 

We acknowledge that producing sustainable clothing is a journey and not a destination - it’s important to us that each step we make is done with intention and commitment. We will continue to learn, to do better, to lessen our environmental footprint and to grow our ethical initiatives. Thank you for walking this journey with us.

Marle / Commitment

Exclusive Use of Natural Fibres and Fabrics

When it comes to fabrics, nature simply can’t be beaten. Durable, luxurious and full of benefits - we work exclusively with natural fibres and fabrics. Durability is of peak importance to us, as we design with longevity in mind, so we need fibres that last, that age gracefully, are reliable and provide a level of texture. 

Another benefit of solely using natural fibres is that fabrics and yarn made of the earth can return to the earth and break down naturally, beautifully without contributing to landfill.

Natural fibres each have their own additional benefits such as antimicrobial properties, breathability, odour resistance and even self-cleaning. For more information on our natural fibres see our ‘Fabrics’ section here.

Protecting our Planet 

We aim to tread lightly. It is important to us that we create our garments conscious of our impact and as well as only using natural fibres we constantly develop initiatives within the business simultaneously.

Our first priority was the elimination of single-use plastic and synthetic fibres used in our care labels. We deliver our garments in biodegradable bags made of corn starch and our care labels are 100% cotton.

We reduce our impact through safe and minimised use of chemicals where possible, all of our knitwear is Oeko-Tex certified yarn along with majority of our silk pieces.  Our new basics collection is made using GOTS certified organic cotton. 

When possible we work with un-dyed fabric which conserves water, energy resources and reduces the overall footprint of the garment.

We choose sea freight over air shipments. Air freight has a Co2 emission over 40 times sea freight. Our offices have an environmental focus with our staff encouraged to take part in recycling schemes.

We are constantly researching new ways of working, new fibres, new advancements and better practices.

Continual Learning

We have always been realistic about our impact on the environment and while we do our very best to be as sustainable as possible, it’s still a journey and an area of the fashion industry that is constantly evolving. With constant improvements in the industry, technological advancements and new fabrics being created, it is important that each step we make is done so with intention and commitment. 

We work with a team of suppliers who are both incredibly advanced technologically but understand our commitment to sustainable and ethical practices.

We eradicated our use of single use plastic within our office, including the bags in which our products are shipped in.  We’d always used recyclable bags but we worked hard on creating our own compostable bag. They’re TUV certified and we can proudly say break down within a few weeks – tried and tested by our team here.  Packaging we use from third party suppliers, particularly that which we send our online orders in are all compostable.  Our tissue paper is supplied through No Issue tissue who have their sustainability journey available online here

We’re on a journey with our approach to sustainability and don’t believe it’s possible to be perfect but we promise to always do our best.

Fair Working Conditions

We believe our production should positively impact every person in our supply chain. A garment passes through many hands to come to fruition and we love the craftsmanship and beauty this brings to our clothing. Those people deserve to be taken care of, to feel safe in their workplace and have job security - just like our staff in New Zealand. 

We value our suppliers and our relationships with them. It is important to know our suppliers first-hand - that closeness is what helps us create clothing with incredible quality that we are proud of. We cherish our relationships with our factories, and that daily communication and regular face-to-face visits keeps us confident in their practices.

Our knitwear factory is Gold WRAP certified, please read more about this here, and our two suppliers have signed our in-house Code of Compliance - please view that here.

Flexible Working Conditions

We are a family run business, and believe family life and work life should successfully intertwine. We offer our head office staff flexible hours to assist them to make this happen. This comes back to our philosophy of being more human about business and looking after the people we work with.

Marle / Fabrics

Silk isn’t just luxurious and beautiful, it also has numerous benefits and properties that make it one of our favourite fibres.

SILK

Silk isn’t just luxurious and beautiful, it also has numerous benefits and properties that make it one of our favourite fibres. Because of its natural protein structure, silk is the most hypoallergenic of all fabrics. Its natural temperature-regulating properties give silk the ability to cool and warm simultaneously.

It is highly absorbent and dries quickly. It can absorb up to 30% of its weight in moisture without feeling damp and in contrast to its delicate nature, it is one of the strongest natural fibres, thanks to its elasticity and ability to stretch without breaking.

We mostly use sand washed silk that can be cleaned in a regular delicate cycle or hand washed. This not only makes caring for the garment easier and more practical, it reduces the use of chemicals and energy required for drycleaning.

Majority of our silks are Oeko-Tex certified, which you can read more about here.

Shop our silk styles here

Our brand was born from knitwear and it still makes up a large part of our collections.

WOOL

Our brand was born from knitwear and it still makes up a large part of our collections. Knitwear is inherently less wasteful than other woven fabrications, as each piece is knitted to size meaning no off-cuts.

Wool is a diverse, durable and smart fibre. It is temperature regulating (keeping you cool in summer and warm in winter), moisture absorbent (wool fibres can absorb large quantities of moisture vapour then move it away to evaporate into the air), odour resistant, anti-static, stain resistant, fire resistant, biodegradable and renewable.

We design with various wools in our collections, sometimes blended with other natural fibres such as silk and cotton meaning you will also get the benefits that those fibres provide. Please see below for a more extensive overview of each wool fibre.

All of our wool is Oeko-Tex certified.

CASHMERE

Prized as ‘the diamond of fibres’, cashmere comes from the fine winter undercoat of the cashmere goat. Our cashmere comes exclusively from Mongolia. The fineness, length and colour of the fibres determine cashmere’s value. Cashmere is stronger and warmer than regular merino wool, which is just one of the many reasons we love it as much as we do.

All of our cashmere fibre is Oeko-Tex certified.

Shop our cashmere styles here

MOHAIR

Mohair creates beautiful texture and has a lovely softness. The smooth fibres of mohair do not irritate the skin, even for people who are sensitive to most wools. One of mohair’s most important qualities is its ability to take wear due to its surface smoothness. It is said to be the most durable animal fibre. It can be twisted and bent without damage; making it great to work with in multiple ways.

It is renewable, durable, resists odours and wicks away moisture, mohair garments resist wrinkling due to the strength of the fibre which is stronger than steel of the same diameter.  Mohair has a unique lustre, this helps creates a soft and feminine texture that we adore working with.

Our mohair yarn is Oeko-Tex certified.

Shop our mohair styles here

PERINO

Perino yarn is exclusively made in New Zealand and is a blend of Super Fine Merino, New Zealand Brushtail Possum and Mulberry Silk. This unique blend is luxuriously light and beautifully soft. These three fibres woven together mean you get the benefits of each in one garment. Possum is said to be 55% warmer than merino and 35% warmer than cashmere.

Possum fur is a hollow structure, unlike wools it doesn’t have scales on it which in turn means that the fibre doesn’t pill from friction.  Adding this to yarn provides superior warmth and durability. The silk properties of Perino also ensure low in any pilling and the breathable warmth that silk provides. 

The merino aspect of the fibre is sourced from both Australia and New Zealand and carries ZQ certification. Read more about that here.

Celebrated as one of the most low-impact fibres to produce, hemp is also one of the strongest and most durable of all natural textile fibres.

HEMP

Celebrated as one of the most low-impact fibres to produce, hemp is also one of the strongest and most durable of all natural textile fibres. Environmentally, hemp grows easily with little water, usually requires no chemical fertilisers and pesticides and has a high yield - producing more fibre per acre than any other source. It is an extremely fast growing crop, blocks out weeds as it grows and can improve the soil, making it a good ‘break crop’ for farmers.

In terms of wearability and longevity, hemp is naturally resistant to mould and ultraviolet light, more water absorbent, and will dye and retain its colour better than any fabric. Similar to wool, the porous nature of the fabric allows hemp to breathe, so that it is cool in warm weather and naturally warm in cooler weather.

Due to it’s structure, durability and soft texture we enjoy adding linen pieces to our collections.

LINEN

Due to it’s structure, durability and soft texture we enjoy adding linen pieces to our collections. Linen is created from the resilient flax plant, which requires few fertilisers or pesticides and does not need high volumes of water to irrigate.

The best choice for warmer months, linen allows heat to quickly move through the garment meaning you cool off five times quicker in linen than wool, and eighteen times faster than in silk. Thanks to the weave and structure, linen fabric allows more airflow over your body. Using this fabric is in line with our philosophy of longevity in our clothing as it improves with age, and gets naturally softer the more it is worn.

Shop our linen styles here.

Naturally, organic cotton is a stronger and more resilient material, meaning the pieces will last you for years to come.

ORGANIC COTTON 

Naturally, organic cotton is a stronger and more resilient material, meaning the pieces will last you for years to come. It is grown in a way that minimises harmful environmental impacts; the crops aren't treated with insecticides, herbicides and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) which can be harmful to farmers, workers, entire wildlife ecosystems and eventually, consumers. 

Our organic cotton is GOTS-certified. GOTS-certified stands for Global Organic Textile Standard, and is internationally acknowledged as the leading textile processing standard for organic fibres. GOTS covers all steps from harvesting, right through to environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing and labelling. This certification means that our organic cotton range contains a minimum of 95% certified organic fibres.

The organic cotton featured in our range is ethically grown and sourced in India. Their manufacturing practices ensure requirements are met for all chemical inputs and that wastewater is treated in a functional wastewater treatment plant.

Shop our Organic Cotton styles here.