Bima Wear is a fabric printmaking and clothing business based at Nguiu, Bathurst Island, Tiwi Islands off the coast of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Twelve Tiwi women currently work full time producing unique fabric prints and sewn garments in brilliant, bold, timeless designs. Fabrics feature traditional symbols, structures and family and environmental representations that are central to Tiwi culture.

Eight women have worked with Bima Wear for more than 30 years with three working since its inception in 1969. Dedication and morale is strong among the women, with most of us having worked at Bima Wear since leaving school.

We Bima Wear Ladies are especially proud at the moment, having re-established our business as our own after some years of setbacks. We make all the decisions about the future of our much loved enterprise.

This e-commerce website is very important to us as it means we can now sell our fabrics to the world and stay afloat as an independent business.

Bima Wear has held stalls at various markets in Darwin over the last few years including Mindil and Parap markets, Tropical Garden Spectacular, Territory Craft Fairs and Christmas Craft Fairs. We also travelled to Womadelaide, 2008 as guest artists.

Bima Wear brings a significant income into the community of Nguiu, which numbers approximately 1500. We recently won the Keep Australia Beautiful NT (Northern Territory) Award for Best Business Project.

Local Tiwi people shop for their clothing at Bima Wear and proudly wear the beautiful vibrant designs to special occasions including religious and cultural ceremonies, football matches and for shopping trips to the mainland.

Bima Wear has gone through many stages, from being one of the biggest sewing centres in the Northern Territory, producing school uniforms and providing fabrics for fashion designers such as Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson, amongst others, to now entering the world of e-commerce with our online shop.

We hope you enjoy our website. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries or would like more information.

The Bima Wear Ladies