Patagonia has partnered with eco-friendly biomaterial firm Yulex to create the first plant based wetsuit. The natural rubber is made from the guayule plant and uses water as a solvent where "traditional rubber plants and synthetic rubber production both use environmentally harmful solvents and create a vast amount of non-biodegradable byproducts". They're now sharing their findings with all other major wetsuit producers in the hopes of having a larger environmental impact for the better.
My next project of surf friendly and eco friendly swimwear has been accepted by an amazing website to receive funding. www.boosted.org.nz is a crowd funding platform backed by the NZ arts foundation. The deal is that in order to receive the money I have to reach my target within 30 days otherwise the money is sent back to each donor…so I need as many people to help as possible. I’ve had the bikinis, onesies and rashies designed and patternmade for a while now. They’ll be made with Econyl‘s high tech recycled nylon and cut from a tessellating pattern so that no waste is created. I’m just waiting for the fabric to arrive before I can really get into the making and this...
