In London, sustainability-focused clothing brand Vollebak has begun selling black T-shirts dyed using algae. The company claims it is the first algae-dyed clothing to be available in the color, and that the breakthrough took five years to develop in partnership with Living Ink. The color was achieved by sourcing spirulina waste from food coloring industry and heating it to make a black material capable of dying garment.
“Every black thing we own is likely to contain carbon black, from our phones to our cars to the ink in our pens,” Vollebak co-founder Steve Tidball tells design publication dezeen. “Vast tracts of lands called tar sands are stripped of all life and vegetation to extract the heavy petroleum, while the production process creates significant greenhouse gas emissions.”
The company acknowledges that it has so far only been able to achieve a faded black color, but it is working on enabling more intense blacks. “Ultimately it should be possible to match the color that carbon black can produce,” Vollebak cofounder Nick Tidball adds.
Living Ink says black algae pigments have applications beyond fashion, such as tire manufacturing. “Clothing is a great place to start but larger volume is in the more industrial sectors,” according to Living Ink founder Scott Fulbright.