From Sargassum To Swimwear, The Seaweed Elastane That Needs No Fresh Water
From sargassum to swimwear. Freedom Ecowear, a Caribbean sustainable swimwear brand, is moving to a bio based elastane made from seaweed, chosen because it needs no fresh water and uses up the sargassum that is overwhelming Caribbean beaches with climate change. Talking it through at the atelier with Vivi Rufino and David, the couple who run the brand together, Vivi explains the seaweed stretch fibre she is testing as a cleaner alternative to spandex in the bikinis.
Sargassum Seaweed Elastane, The Sustainable Swimwear Stretch That Needs No Fresh Water
The last bit of synthetic in a Freedom Ecowear bikini is the stretch, and Vivi is hunting its replacement on her own coastline. We got onto it while talking about what comes after spandex, and she lit up describing a stretch fibre being made from seaweed, of all things, chosen for one reason above the rest: it needs no fresh water at all. The extra twist is that it uses up something the whole Caribbean is desperate to be rid of.
Spandex under 8% was the honest compromise in the last article. Vivi is not done chasing better. Her brand, Freedom Ecowear, is testing a stretch grown from Caribbean seaweed, the kind of fix only a small maker would bother to try.
A Bio Based Stretch For Natural Swimwear, And Why Freedom Ecowear Chose Seaweed
She started with the problem with conventional stretch. Spandex is synthetic, natural swimwear still needs a little, so the hunt for a clean version is on. “There’s some companies already creating bio lofty, which is spandex but bio based,” she said. “We have so many byproducts of corn, orange, even mushrooms. Cellulose is an amazing material. Everything you create with plastic, you can create with cellulose, literally.”
But she picked seaweed deliberately. “The one we are actually going to start using comes from seaweed,” she said. “We chose seaweed because they actually don’t need fresh water. We are having an overpopulation of seaweed because of climate change right now.” That is the cleverness of it, a stretch fibre with no thirst, made from a surplus. It is the next chapter after the under 8% spandex she uses today, and it keeps her natural swimwear honest.
Sargassum, The Caribbean Seaweed Menace That Became A Sustainable Swimwear Fibre
If you have been to the Caribbean lately, you have smelled it before you saw it. Vivi names it directly. “I don’t know if you’ve seen sargassum,” she said. “So many people are asking, what do we do with sargassum? Then we process it, we clean the beach and we process it. And that’s literally what this company we’re working with is doing.”
The mechanics are real. “It’s a fibre. They came up with this innovation. It’s literally made of seaweed,” she said. “And they created this super resistant fibre that you can then weave and create a textile, or create the elastic.” There is a chemistry catch, which she is honest about. “It needs certain characteristics. It needs to be long enough. If it’s not long enough, it needs to be bound with another material to make a filament.” Given how sargassum has buried beaches and gutted fisheries across the region since 2011, turning it into stretch is a genuine win. You can support the brand chasing it on their website.
Why Sustainable Seaweed Swimwear Was Tested, Not Rushed To Market
This is where a lesser brand would slap “seaweed bikini” on a product page. Vivi will not. “We talk about the bio based standards for elastane. We are not, we’re testing them still,” she said. “We’re not using them because we still have so many questions about how this stuff is actually made, and if it’s actually better than what we already have.”
She wants it to be true before she sells it. “That’s why we’re really hoping we can, that this actually is as clean as it’s promised to be, that this is actually an alternative,” she said. “I feel we’re making progress because the fact that people are waking up is pushing labs and brands to actually do their research.” That patience is the whole Freedom Ecowear method, the same care behind the seven year polyester transition.
Fixing An Ocean Problem With The Problem, Seaweed Into Eco Swimwear
There is a neat logic to solving a problem with the problem itself. Climate change dumps sargassum on Caribbean beaches, and a small swimwear brand wants to weave that exact seaweed into the stretch of a bikini. The crisis becomes the cure.
It is a reminder that the most promising sustainable materials are often local, abundant and currently treated as waste, sitting on the beach for free. And it is a reminder to reward the brands that test before they boast. When a maker tells you a fibre is not ready yet, that honesty is the signal you are dealing with the real thing. Our sustainable clothing guide tracks the next generation of fibres like this.
-12% Off Exclusive Discount On Sustainable Swimwear
Freedom Ecowear have given us a discount of -12% off to share with our website visitors. Use the link to claim your discount.
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