Unbound Merino Enters the Women’s Category

Unbound Merino, a Toronto-based menswear brand focused on merino wool, is entering the women’s market. Starting Wednesday, it will offer T-shirts, tank tops, leggings, a travel dress and long-sleeve Ts for women in sizes XS to XL.

Prices range from $70 for a tank top to $139 for the Merino Travel Dress. The brand is sold exclusively on the company’s direct-to-consumer site, Unboundmerino.com.

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Unbound Merino was established in 2016 by three lifelong friends — Dan Demsky, Andrew Cariboni and Dima Zelikman — to provide versatile merino wool clothing made for travel and everyday life. The clothing is designed to pack and own less so a customer can focus their energy on the actual experience of a trip rather than worrying about their clothes. The core purpose behind Unbound Merino is simplicity.

“Over the last six years, we have become a leader in minimalist, high performance travel apparel and are excited to now expand that offering to women. The line has been high in demand since we launched Unbound, and thousands of women have contacted us over the years requesting a line of merino wool clothing just for them, so we’re excited to finally deliver,” said Demsky, chief executive officer and cofounder.

The company uses superfine premium merino wool that’s soft, lightweight and breathable with properties such as the ability to wick away sweat, regulate body temperature and resist odor-causing bacteria. It is also wrinkle resistant and doesn’t smell, which means it doesn’t need to be washed nearly as often as traditional cottons. Unbound Merino uses only organic and ethically sourced merino wool from independent mulesing-free wool farms in Australia.

An Unbound Merino T-shirt. - Credit: courtesy shot.
An Unbound Merino T-shirt. - Credit: courtesy shot.

courtesy shot.

The company’s founders spent their high school days following their favorite bands across America. As passionate travelers, they were drawn to the natural benefits of merino wool. They found that it was typically designed as outdoor activewear with unnecessary embellishments and a flashy logo, and they wanted something that could be worn at a restaurant, museum, rock concert or out on the town.

According to Demsky, women’s travel has been experiencing “explosive growth” in recent years, and female travelers make up a large portion of the tourism market. “That combined with the demand we’ve received so far (about 15 percent of our current customers are women), we think women could make up 30 to 40 percent of our business in the next few years,” he said.

All of the clothing is season-less and timeless, so their focus will be on augmenting the current collection with additional pieces that help women own less, pack less and experience more. Their next women’s release will drop this summer.

As for where they are manufacturing the collection, Demsky said, “We firmly believe in manufacturing products in the best places to make them. So, depending on the product, our manufacturing and production is completed in Canada, Romania, Portugal, China and Vietnam.”

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