It would be an unusual Christmas at our house if it didn’t include some nautically themed gifts. This year, fish place mats were among them as well as an assortment of tinned seafood, which are always favorites. The odd player in the mix was a sweater. It doesn’t feature sea creatures and isn’t of the cable-knit iconic fishermen’s sweater variety. This one is made from seaweed. I have come across all kinds of products made from seaweed, the majority of them either edible or for skin care. But wearable products were not among them.
To be fair, this sweater is not made from seaweed that is harvested in Maine, but it is made from a species of seaweed that grows in Maine. Ascophyllum nodosum is the species; it is commonly known as knotted wrack and is the long-fronded common seaweed found on the intertidal that has oblong bumps that serve as air bladders along its smooth stipe. The other common species of rockweed, Fucus vesiculosis, or bladder wrack, also has air bladders, but they are typically in pairs along its sharper-edged stipe. Bladder wrack’s stipe also sometimes twists around rather than lying flat, much like a ribbon would curl if pulled along the edge of a pair of scissors.
Both knotted wrack and bladder wrack are a little too hefty to be used in edible products like seaweed salads or slaws, but instead are often dried and made into powders that can be added to smoothies or soups as a nutritional supplement and flavoring. Maine Coast Sea Vegetables is one of the local companies that sells powdered rockweed as well as seasoning blends that include rockweed that can be sprinkled over food in place of salt. These are just a few of the common types of products made using local rockweed species — no sweaters among them.
You might think that fabric made from seaweed would be snarly and itchy, but the seaweed sweater I received has a very light weave that is surprisingly soft and apparently gets softer the more you wear it and wash it. Perhaps part of that is due to the fact that the fiber they use is not only made from seaweed but also contains wood pulp. SeaCell, the German-based company that makes these sweaters, has developed patented Lyocell technology that combines eucalyptus and beech tree wood pulp with plant fiber derived from seaweed.
While the company is based in Germany, the seaweed comes from Iceland. They harvest the tops of the rockweed every four years and leave the lower parts to regrow. To make the fiber, they grind up the seaweed and then push it through the tiny holes of a machine designed to mimic a spider’s spinnerets. These thread-like fibers, along with those from the wood-pulp are then spun into a woven fabric using a 3D knitting process. SeaCell touts the many characteristics of the fiber they create including its obvious biodegradability along with breathability, moisture-wicking properties and ability to be machine washed.
While there are not currently seaweed sweaters being knit in Maine, there is another neat product that turns seaweed into useful fibers. This one is produced by a small company called Viable Gear, which is based out of Portland’s New England Ocean Cluster. Their goal is to make plastic-free fishing gear. They are in the process of developing this technology along with input from the fishing and aquaculture industries so that it is workable or “viable” for their businesses and will be strong enough to withstand ocean conditions and bear the weight and stress required for its many potential uses. I’ll have to see how my sweater stands up to the stresses of wearing and washing as well.
The combination of emerging technology and ancient natural materials is impressive and provides possible solutions for some interesting problems from nutrition to clothing to marine debris. It’s neat to think that the solution for keeping the ocean healthy comes from something that is already in the ocean, truly closing the loop in a sustainable way.
Susan Olcott is the director of operations at Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.
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