Sustainable fashion brand OuterKnown has launched the first commercial product featuring Keel Labs’ Kelsun™ fiber. By Rachael S. Davis, Executive Editor Slippery and slimy are words that come to mind when describing seaweed, not soft, smooth and comfortable like natural textile fibers. But Keel Labs, formerly known as AlgiKnit and the creator of Kelsun™ fiber, has harnessed alginate — a biopolymer found in seaweed — and developed a process to turn it into an environmentally friendly textile fiber. The fiber, designed as a plug-and-play replacement for conventional fibers, may be used in applications throughout the textile industry, according to Keel Labs. The company was founded by Tessa Callaghan and Aleks Gosiewski. As design students, they wanted to tackle waste in the fashion industry and took on the mission of creating a material solution that is as environmentally friendly as possible. Kelsun is 100-percent biobased, and also is biodegradable in wastewater. The seaweed used also is responsibly sourced. After years in development, Keel Labs is excited to announce the first commercial product launch for Kelsun fiber. The Kelsun Universal Blanket Shirt was developed in partnership with OuterKnown, a Culver City, Calif.-based apparel brand. The fabric is a 30-percent Kelsun/70-percent regenerative organic certified (ROC™) cotton, which retains the look, feel and performance of the original Universal Blanket Shirts in OuterKnown’s product line. OuterKnown was founded by pro surfer Kelly Slater and John Moore, Creative director, with a commitment to sustainable choices. The brand focuses on high-quality, responsibly sourced materials including organic, recycled or regenerated fibers, and biobased materials. “The Blanket Shirt was one of the first products in our line, and it remains one of my favorite pieces,” Slater said. “From the beginning, it was important to me to design and build a shirt that was high quality, made from sustainable materials, but felt vintage soft. … It’s been 10 years since we made the first one, and we are proud to be partnering with Keel Labs on the next generation of this shirt with a version made from Kelsun, a 100-percent biobased fiber derived from seaweed. Working with suppliers that share our love for the ocean is a great fit for Outerknown. I’m excited to see this grow.”

2024 Quarterly Volume IV