The Woolmark Company has partnered with South Korea’s Hyosung Corporation to develop eight new fabric qualities combining up to 79% Merino wool with regen BIO Spandex, a stretch fibre partly made from renewable resources, as sportswear brands look for natural alternatives to synthetics.
The fabrics have been translated into six apparel pieces, Woolmark said in a LinkedIn post. The company did not name the garments, brands or mills involved, and invited industry buyers to contact its technical team for details. The post gave no commercial terms.
Woolmark said the blends pair Merino’s natural warmth, thermoregulation and odour resistance with the stretch, recovery and shape retention supplied by the spandex. The aim is to balance next-to-skin comfort and breathability with the technical demands of performance apparel, as sport, recovery and everyday wear increasingly overlap.
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Hyosung, which describes itself as the world’s largest spandex maker by market share, was the first company to commercialise USDA and SGS-certified bio-based elastane at scale in 2022. The original yarn contained 30% renewable content, and the company has since added regen BIO+ and regen BIO Max versions with higher shares.
The pairing is not without precedent. Icebreaker has already introduced a blend of regen BIO spandex with its Merino wool, while Pangaia uses the fibre with bio-nylon in activewear. Other brands have combined regen BIO Spandex with silk, lyocell and organic cotton, according to Hyosung, showing the fibre’s use across a range of natural and cellulosic materials.
Hyosung has also promoted wool-infused performance fabrics in its autumn-winter 2027/28 trend forecasts, noting that wool can struggle to keep its shape after repeated washing, a weakness that synthetic partners can offset.
Woolmark’s Merino Perform specification requires a minimum wool content of 50% for the Woolmark Blend tier and 30% for the Wool Blend tier.