Carbon-Storing Algae Ink T-Shirts

Innovation is bringing us new hope

Vollebak created carbon-negative algae-tinted t-shirts. The fashion brand tinted the t-shirts using algae ink to show how fashion can innovate away from heavy oil-based black pigments for textile dying. The ink used for the dye is created by heat-treating algae biomass, which transforms it into blackened char.

Moreover, the process of blackening the algae locks away the carbon that was sequestered by the biomass throughout its life, creating a carbon-storing shirt. Manufacturer Living Ink explains that every kilogram of black powder pigment produced removes 4.16 kilograms of CO2 from the atmosphere.

The pigment is mixed with a binder and turned into ink. Vollebak then screen prints the Algae black ink onto the Tt-shirts from the outside.