Mara Hoffman

Mara Hoffman was a New York swimwear and resort label that designer Mara Hoffman started in 2000, straight out of Parsons School of Design, and wound down after a final Spring 2024 collection. It was known first for loud prints and later for one of the most thorough sustainability overhauls attempted by an American designer brand.

Prints first: 2000 to 2015

For its first fifteen years the label sold color. Hoffman's stated aim was to inspire and delight through colors, prints and bold shapes, and the business became best known for swimsuits and resort dresses in saturated, often psychedelic patterns that suited festivals and beach holidays more than offices. Swimwear became the category most closely tied to the name.

Hoffman has said she started making clothes at about eight years old, and that dance and the moving body shaped how she designed. The swimsuits reflected that: wrap fronts, tie belts, cut-outs, and cuts meant for swimming and lounging rather than a single photograph.

The 2015 reset

In 2015 the company changed course and began to rebuild itself around what it called a sustainability framework. The brand described three parts: changes in design and manufacturing, a stricter choice of fabrics and materials, and more active support for social justice causes. Hoffman summed up the approach as "acknowledge, reconcile, and change", and was candid that the shift came late in the brand's life.

Hoffman's own account puts the change down to a long-held attachment to nature and a sense that the industry's systems served the few at the planet's expense.

What changed in the fabric

The materials list in the brand's last years tells the story better than its mission statements. Swimsuits were cut from recycled nylon, much of it ECONYL regenerated nylon, blended with spandex and rated UPF 50+. Ready-to-wear and cover-ups used organic cotton, TENCEL lyocell, linen, organic linen, hemp and recycled polyester. Even outerwear padding switched to recycled insulation.

What a late Mara Hoffman swimsuit looked like

The prints survived the change, though they became calmer and more painterly, and some pieces moved to textured solid knits and jacquards. Typical late styles included a balconette-style underwired bikini top with adjustable spaghetti straps, high-waisted bikini bottoms with self-tie belts, and fully lined one-pieces with wraparound bodices and open backs. Most were described with a coverage rating, minimal, moderate or full, which made shopping online simpler.

A CFDA award, then a pause

On 6 November 2023, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Hoffman received the CFDA Fashion Award for Environmental Sustainability, presented by Rosario Dawson. She was the third recipient of the honor. The two before her were Patagonia and the United Nations, which says something about how rarely a designer label of her size had been recognized for the work.

Within months she announced the end. In a public letter she wrote that after "a gorgeous run of 24 years" Spring 2024 would be the last collection "for the time being", and that the company would sell the final pieces and remaining stock until it was gone. Hoffman did not hide her frustration. Anyone working in the sustainability movement, she wrote, knows "it has been far from easy on so many levels", and the industry's structure "was never built to prioritize Earth and its inhabitants".

The site after the shop

The brand website now thanks customers for "a beautiful 24 year run" and points visitors to a new venture, Mara Hoffman Studio, focused on photography, creative direction and visual storytelling. Remaining swimwear was sold off under the label Full Circle, much of it final sale.

For a lingerie and swim archive the label is a useful case study. It shows how far a mid-sized designer business could push recycled fibers and certified natural ones into swimwear, and how hard it was to make that pay. The CFDA award and the closing letter came less than a year apart.

Last updated October 7, 2026