From seaweed to T-shirts

Local entrepreneur Adam Costello is creating a splash by making T-shirts made from seaweed – and selling them from a shop in Macclesfield Heritage Centre. 

Adam started by making clothing out of recycled plastic bottles but then turned to seaweed in a bid to help reduce the environment. 

“Thank you to everyone who pledged to our campaign – we were overwhelmed by the support received and now we’re excited to get our plans underway,” said Adam, who lives in Bollington. 

“The average person in the UK produces 12 kgs of CO2 per day. So, our intention is to make sustainable clothing ranges using seaweed, while helping to establish seaweed farms to offset huge amounts of carbon – we’re proud to be one of the first independents to do that. 

“Our dream is to help extract a gigaton of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2030. Around 4000kg of CO2 could be absorbed per day, per seaweed farm. That’s the equivalent of saving the emissions omitted from four return flights from London to New York.” 

He said: “I grew up going to Angelesey on holiday, we had a caravan there and everything so that’s my connection to surfing and the sea. I set up the business because I was really concerned about plastic pollution that I’d see on the beaches and I wanted to raise awareness so therefore I created a t-shirt using recycled plastic bottles.

“I discovered seaweed last year as a really viable alternative to polyester and being a small business I had to start a crowdfunder. 

“We’re just trying to put Macclesfield on the map for being one of the first companies to use seaweed clothing.” 

The T-shirts are made with the patented material, SeaCell(TM)MT, which is manufactured using ‘Ascophyllum nodossum (Knotted Wrack) – a type of seaweed commonly found in Atlantic oceans. 

Inland Sea has also partnered with Car-y-Mor Seaweed Farm, based on the Pembrokeshire Coast, to invest back into a UK seaweed farm. 

Adam also secured partnerships with Denmark-based Zero North Shipping, a company leading in carbon neutral shipping services, and with Generation Juice, a drinks dispenser company based on the Isle of Wight. 

Looking ahead to the future of Inland Sea, Adam said: “We have recently applied for a government grant to help fund an experiment with seaweed as a replacement to polyester. 

“We are looking for investors and partners to help bring this idea to life and this exciting venture is what we hope will be the future of Inland Sea.”