Sustainability

The future of fashion? It grows in our rivers and seas, according to these fashion start-ups

From hemp to fungus, eucalyptus to bamboo, a growing number of fashion labels are looking to nature for solutions – and algae is the latest eco-innovation to capture the market

Photosynthesising aquatic organisms (algae, for example) produce about 70 per cent of the oxygen in our atmosphere, more than all forests combined

Nutritious and fast-growing, algae already has a following as an alternative protein among health fanatics. A new generation of sustainable fashion start-ups want us to wear it too.

The fashion industry produces more than 100 billion garments annually, about 14 for every person on Earth. Most end up in landfills or clogging rivers and beaches in developing countries. Only a fraction are ever recycled. Fashion is responsible for up to 10 per cent of humanity’s ...