This T-Shirt Dyed With Naturally Black Ink Absorbs CO2 From The Environment
Image via Vollebak
Having black as your go-to outfit color certainly has its perks; it’s timeless, never too flashy, and no one would remember you wore the same shirt last week. What’s not really known is that most black pigment is derived from carbon black, which is generated from burning heavy petroleum partway. As Fast Company notes, producing carbon black isn’t great for the planet, and the pigment is potentially even carcinogenic, if scientific studies like this one published by the World Health Organization are right.
Are your tendencies to wear the shade enough to outweigh the dark effects? Acknowledging that most people aren’t going to give the color up, UK clothing label Vollebak has teamed up with US biomaterials firm Living Ink to create the ‘Algae Black Shirt’, which, as its name suggests, is dyed in the much friendlier algae ink. As a plus, algae sucks up carbon and pumps oxygen back into the atmosphere during photosynthesis.
Image via Vollebak
There’s an abundance of algae in the world, and it’s often grown as feedstock for animals—which is the case for a Californian algae farm engaged to provide the base for the ink. When removed from water, a black component appears, and it can be dehydrated and crushed to make a pigment. It only takes a matter of days to grow the organism with only water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide, CEO Steve Tidball told Fast Company.
Thanks to the copious supply of algae, black algae could be used as an alternative for carbon black at scale, and Vollebak is hoping the fashion industry would eventually make the switch to bring down carbon emissions. “You would have to use it at a mass scale to store a lot of carbon, so for this project what we are most interested in is proof of concept,” Tidball elaborated.
The T-shirt itself is biodegradable, being constructed out of eucalyptus, beech, and spruce from responsibly managed forests; put it in soil, and it breaks down in 12 weeks.
In addition, the algae ink used has been treated to be UV-resistant, ensuring that the color doesn’t fade. The garment is then washed with a mango-based softener for ultimate comfort.
Only a few thousand Algae Black Shirts (US$110 each) will be available when they launch on August 5, but the hope is that other brands would catch up with their own versions. The garments are part of Vollebak’s ongoing mission to challenge the fashion industry in positive ways through unique designs.
Image via Vollebak
Image via Vollebak
Image via Vollebak
[via Fast Company, images via Vollebak]
Also check out these recent news
