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There is a word that appears on every Maaji hangtag, woven into every campaign, spoken by every person who works at the brand's Medellín headquarters: Maajic. It is not a typo. It is a declaration. When sisters Amalia and Manuela Sierra launched their swimwear company in 2003, they were encoding something specific into the DNA of the brand — the idea that a swimsuit could carry a charge, that the right piece of fabric could shift your mood the moment you pulled it on. Twenty-plus years later, Maaji has sold in over 100 countries, landed in Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, and Anthropologie, and become one of the most recognizable names in global swimwear. The Maajic turned out to be real.
Two Sisters, One City, a Dream Stitched from Color
Amalia and Manuela Sierra grew up in Medellín, Colombia — a city known for its resilience, its jaw-dropping geography, and its capacity for reinvention. Their parents were entrepreneurs, and that spirit of building something from nothing lived inside both of them. Fashion was the thread that connected them: both sisters came of age surrounded by Colombia's extraordinary culture of craftsmanship, color, and textile artistry. When they decided to launch a swimwear brand, they started with an initial investment of 18 million Colombian pesos — a gift from their father — and an idea that swimwear could be more than functional. It could be transformative.
The brand's name is said to be inspired by the Mahi-Mahi fish, known for its iridescent, brilliant color — a fitting origin for a label that would go on to become synonymous with bold, fantastical prints. Their first collection debuted in the early 2000s. Their first standalone retail location opened in 2009 at Medellín's El Tesoro shopping center. From there, the story accelerated.
Today, Manuela serves as Creative Director, overseeing every product from initial concept through to the completed designs sent to Maaji's seamstresses. Amalia leads Sales and Marketing, working with wholesale partners, retail teams, and telling the Maaji story to the world. The two roles are different in texture but share the same vision: to deliver Colombia's Maajic to the world, one reversible bikini at a time. "We will get there without a doubt," Amalia has said of their ambition to become the biggest summer lifestyle brand on earth. With 350+ employees — proudly called Maajic Makers — and distribution across five continents, that trajectory is not a fantasy. It is a plan.
The Reversible Revolution
Ask anyone what makes Maaji different and the first word they will give you is reversible. It sounds simple. The implications are anything but.
Maaji's signature innovation is what they call the 4-Way Style: four looks from a single swimsuit. Flip the top, reverse the bottom, and you have an entirely new outfit without packing an extra bag. Starting with the 2023 collections, every single Maaji piece is guaranteed reversible — the inside features a print as intentional as the outside, coordinating with matching sets from the same collection. Pre-2023 pieces offered what the brand calls an "assorted print" inside, meaning the inner fabric was a curated surprise. Either way, wearing Maaji means carrying more than you packed.
The reversible concept is not merely a gimmick. It reflects Maaji's broader design philosophy: clothing should work harder than it appears. A Maaji bikini set functions as a minimum of four distinct looks. A one-piece can be worn traditionally or flipped inside-out to reveal a completely different print composition. Mix the inside of one top with the outside of a coordinating bottom and you have invented an entirely new combination. The brand treats this multiplicity not as a marketing tactic but as a genuine expression of their design values — the idea that fashion should offer freedom rather than prescription.
Color as a Philosophy
If reversibility is Maaji's functional signature, color is their soul. The brand's print library is among the most ambitious in swimwear — a rolling catalog of florals, geometrics, tropicals, painterly abstracts, and fantastical compositions that borrow equally from Colombia's biodiversity and from the imagined world beneath the ocean's surface. Collections carry names like "Sacred Fauna" (inspired by Colombia's extraordinary wildlife) and "Spritzer House" (dense, intricate flower prints drawn from Colombia's botanical richness). A Spring 2023 collection was titled "Rewind for Good Times" and described by the brand as being inspired by "the whimsical world lying beneath the ocean's surface." The 2025 Resort collection, "Mermaidland," sent models down the runway at Miami Swim Week in neon prints and mermaid-inspired textures beneath a glowing cherry eclipse — the debut show for a partnership with Coca-Cola's Cherry Coke brand.
The palette at Maaji is never accidental. The brand's design team draws directly from the Colombian landscape — the highland flora, the Caribbean coastline, the markets of Bogotá — and translates that visual richness into swimwear that reads, from fifty feet away, as unmistakably joyful. Ocean-inspired colors, unexpected detailing, and prints that tell stories are the constants across every collection. What changes is the story being told.
This is also why Maaji prints are finite. Each collection represents a seasonal release. When a print retires, it does not return. The reversible concept creates infinite combinations, but the prints themselves are singular and time-bound — which gives each piece a specific character that accumulates value over time.
Sports Illustrated, Swim Week Miami, and the Making of a Global Brand
Maaji's international breakthrough moment came in 2011, when the brand was selected for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue — one of the most coveted placements in the industry. The issue featured model Hilary Rhoda wearing Maaji swimwear, and Maaji pieces were used in a body-paint composition on French model Kenza Fourati. For a Colombian brand less than a decade old, the exposure was transformative.
The relationship between Maaji and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit world has continued. In 2022, Maaji returned to the Paraiso Miami Swim Week alongside Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, debuting their Spring 2023 "Rewind for Good Times" collection at a joint PARAISO appearance — an event that underscored just how firmly the brand had established itself as a peer of the industry's most recognizable names.
Maaji's presence at Miami Swim Week — the annual gathering of the global swim industry that takes place each summer along the South Beach and Brickell corridor — is now a recurring fixture. The brand has held runway shows, poolside presentations, and rooftop cinema events at venues including The Temple House. At Swim Week 2025, Maaji's "Mermaidland" show was described by one publication as "walking into a Lisa Frank-colored dream world," featuring reversible swimwear, mermaid textures, and the debut of the Cherry Coke x Maaji: Very Cherry Summer collaboration — the first of a planned three-part Coca-Cola series.
Celebrity alignment has followed naturally. Real Housewives star Melissa Gorga was photographed in Maaji, helping generate early viral attention stateside. Influencer Olivia Ponton appeared in the brand's 2021 runway presentation. But Maaji's reach extends beyond traditional celebrity: the brand has cultivated a community they call Maajic Seekers — women defined less by status than by a specific orientation toward life: positive, vibrant, in constant search of an endless summer.
Made in Colombia, With Maajic
The label inside every Maaji garment reads: Made in Colombia with Maajic. That language is intentional. Manufacturing has remained in Colombia since the company's founding, and that commitment shapes the brand's identity as much as any print.
Colombia has long been one of the world's premier swimwear manufacturing countries — the country's textile infrastructure, skilled labor force, and deep traditions of quality craftsmanship make it a natural hub for the industry. Maaji's production team, their Maajic Makers, are treated as creative partners rather than production units. The brand is committed to ensuring that every team member earns a living wage and is treated with dignity and respect — values codified in their sustainability program and their path toward B Corp certification.
Maaji achieved B Corp Certified Corporation status — a designation that requires companies to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. The brand's "Stitching Consciousness" program formalizes these commitments. Their sustainability work includes responsible material sourcing, carbon footprint measurement managed by an in-house environmental engineer, optimized waste management, and ongoing beach clean-up initiatives. Eighty percent of their garments are now made with sustainable materials — a figure that would have been unthinkable in the early years of the brand.
In 2017, Maaji was acquired by L Catterton — the investment fund born from the union of L Capital (the investment branch of LVMH) and Catterton Partners, with LVMH participation. The acquisition placed Maaji within Swimwear Holding, a global conglomerate also encompassing Australian brand Seafolly, with headquarters in Singapore. The investment brought long-term strategic vision and opened international doors — but Amalia and Manuela have remained intimately involved in the brand's direction, their creative and commercial fingerprints still visible in every collection.
Sizing, Fit, and the Maajic Seekers
Maaji's extended sizing program runs from XS to 3XL — a range that reflects their stated belief in the power of togetherness and the idea that the Maajic Seekers tribe is defined by attitude, not size. The fit philosophy centers on what the brand describes as "an incredible and enchanting fit" — swimwear that moves with the body, supports without constricting, and makes the wearer feel, in the brand's language, sensuous. Bottom cuts include the Hipster, Signature, Cheeky, and Chi Chi silhouettes. Tops range from sliding triangles and fixed triangles to underwire, sporty, bralette, bandeau, and fixed halter styles.
Price points position Maaji as accessible luxury: tops and bottoms typically fall in the $60–$120 range, while one-pieces and more detailed constructions run $150–$220. For swimwear that is genuinely reversible — effectively delivering two garments in one — the value proposition is significant.
Collecting Maaji
Maaji produces seasonal collections with prints that retire permanently. There is no reissue. When a pattern sells through, it is gone. This structure gives the brand a collector's logic: pieces from specific collections carry their own history. A print from the Sacred Fauna collection, or an early reversible from a pre-2023 run with its assorted interior surprise, represents a fixed moment in the brand's creative arc.
For buyers who understand this — who know that the Maajic Mermaidland colorways will not reappear next spring, that the Cherry Coke collaboration pieces are seasonal and finite — Maaji shopping becomes something more intentional than impulse. It becomes curation.
Every Maaji piece in our collection is 100% authentic, new with original tags. Maaji produces seasonal runs with prints that retire — once a pattern is gone, it doesn't return. We price fairly and in line with market value. Same-business-day shipping on most orders placed by 2 PM PST. We're not a warehouse. We know what we have and why it matters. Browse all Maaji at PerfectKini →
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