SaltyCo
Salty Co aims to reduce global freshwater consumption by offering alternative, freshwater-free textiles. We do this by using the most abundant water supply on the planet – seawater. We grow salt-tolerant plants by irrigating them with seawater. Once they have grown, we harvest the plants and extract their fibres before manufacturing a variety of natural textile offerings. We are seeking to develop three freshwater free products; an insulating stuffing, a yarn for woven textiles and non-wovens. As demand rises for sustainable accreditations such as carbon-neutral, fairtrade and vegan, we are pioneering all the mentioned together with a new accolade: freshwater-free. By doing so, we propose to bring novelty products into the textile heritage of the UK’s manufacturing developments. We are also looking to shorten the textile supply chains by introducing a new crop into the saline farming happening in Scotland to then manufacture our textiles with a collaborative partner inside the UK.
- Listing ID: 1552
- Contact: Julian Ellis-Brown
- What are your aspirations and plans for the future?: Initially, we will look to enter a pilot phase involving R&D to refine our products and the formation of initial, small-scale market collaborations. This pilot phase is where Future Fashion Factory would have a significant impact on our development, due to the partnerships and industry network that can provide us. After completing this stage, we would begin scaling our business to a much larger market. We plan to expand our product offerings and revenue streams by selling and licensing directly to manufacturers. By talking to potential partners, we identified that the majority of them produce directly with their manufacturing partners. We need to identify suitable areas for cultivation and working with farmers to establish new saline farms. Having abundant seawater and 140 million hectares of non-arable desertified coastland globally, we have identified suitable locations in the UK and other parts of the world such as Turkey, Portugal, Asia, and North Africa. By promoting saline farming and shorter supply chains, we aim to bring social benefits for the industry, new textile manufacturing processes and products that encourage circular economy models.
- What types of projects are you interested in working on through Future Fashion Factory?: In collaboration with FFF, we would like to investigate the use of fibres from a selection of salt-tolerant species as a fill material for insulated clothing. This would provide a vegan, petroleum-free alternative to down or polyester. We have investigated the raw, ginned fibres and found excellent thermal insulating properties and hydrophobicity. To turn this into a viable product, we need to improve loft, compression, and launderability of the stuffing. Further down the line, we envision to develop our two other textile proposals of non-wovens and wovens freshwater free fabrics.