Marimekko and Origin by Ocean have joined forces in a pilot project to reimagine a more sustainable textile printing process—the pilot aims to substitute synthetic chemicals and reduce the amount of chemicals used in Marimekko’s printing process.
Origin by Ocean is a Finnish technology and material innovation startup working on algae-based products. Origin by Ocean uses a patented biorefining process to extract bio-based chemicals from harvested harmful algae and ecologically farmed seaweed.
In the pilot, we substituted a synthetic thickener with Origin by Ocean algae-based thickener within the print paste. A set of textile products was printed with Origin by Ocean Caerulo™ alginate, a print paste thickener made from marine biomass from the Dominican Republic.
Thickeners play a crucial role in the textile printing process, as they are the main component in the paste. Testing the use of bio-based thickeners in our printing process helps us toward our goal of reducing the amount of chemicals used in our supply chain. Every small step counts.
