Reducing ocean pollution and creating new products: two for the price of one

The Seaqual initiative was prompted by the fact that, every year, an estimated 12 million tonnes of litter end up in the sea, which means that, if, by 2025, nothing has changed, for every three tonnes of fish in our seas and oceans there will be one tonne of plastic. Seaqual is also the result of a desire to support Barcelona’s fishing community, confronted with increasing quantities of rubbish invading their nets, a situation made worse by bad weather. In response, the Spanish company has undertaken an immense clean-up programme, collecting marine litter from the sea-bed, the surface of the water, beaches and estuaries. Once sorted and cleaned, the plastic waste is recycled in Seaqual Initiative approved facilities, before being transformed into textile fibres from which beautiful, new, sustainable products can be made.

Stages

Collection

Collecting the waste is a huge endeavour, and the company therefore calls on a network of 400 fishermen, who collect waste from the sea-bed. Seaqual is also assisted by a number of individual initiatives, as well as NGOs and businesses, who, each according to their means, help to clean beaches, seas and oceans.

Sorting

Once the litter has been collected, it is sorted, and any plastic is separated from the other waste then cleaned and cut into flakes.

Transformation

The flakes are then turned into recycled marine plastic granules before being melted into threads, which in turn are woven into a high quality textile fibre boasting the same qualities as traditional polyester.

How we make our swimwear

Based on our patterns, the Seaqual fabric is sublimation printed before being cut up, after which our swim shorts are manufactured with skill and expertise by our partners in northern Portugal.