Zeefier is creating sustainable textile dyes from recycled seaweed waste

Posted on 27/06/2022 by JC Torres

Everyone wears clothes and, regardless of your particular style or aesthetic inclinations, those clothes will often have one or more colors. While most of the materials used in textile could be considered sustainable or at least biodegradable, part of their production actually has a tremendous negative impact on the environment. It’s almost too easy to take for granted that the things responsible for our colorful attires harm both the planet and the humans working with these dyes. The need for safer and more sustainable ways to dye textiles has never been greater, and, as always, we only have to look to Mother Nature for the answers to many of the problems we have made for ourselves.

Designer: Nienke Hoogvliet

Despite its almost pejorative name, people have started to recognize the benefits of seaweed, at least beyond just an ingredient for food. True to its name, it is almost too easy to grow seaweed without the need for freshwater or agricultural land. And like any other plant, it purifies CO2 and produces life-sustaining oxygen. Seaweed has also become a favorite component in cosmetics these days, which has increased their use and, unfortunately, their waste.

The startup Zeefier is trying to fight two battles on different fronts. On the one hand, it is trying to promote the use of seaweed to solve many of the sustainability problems of the fashion industry, particularly in the use of synthetic dyes. On the other hand, it is also trying to avoid pushing “seagricultural” practices that could also harm the environment in other ways. So instead, the seaweed they are using for their 100% natural dyes is collected from food and cosmetic wastes, enabling a more circular economy that reduces the risk of growing or harvesting seaweed too much.

Given the nature of seaweed, some might doubt how varied the dyes produced from these plants can be. In truth, the potential colors do seem to sit on a specific range, but it isn’t at all limited as one might presume. There are, of course, browns and greens, but there are also oranges, purples, and even pinks. Despite the existence of red seaweed, red dye has proven to be a bit problematic so far. Blue, at least for now, seems to be out of the question, too.

There are apparently other bumps in the road in creating natural dyes from seaweed or any other organic material in general. There’s the potential discoloration over time, even if subtle. These natural substances also don’t seem to work well with anything but natural materials like cotton, silk, and wool. Perhaps it is a good thing in order to sway people away from synthetic textiles as well.

Fortunately, Zeefier is intent on developing the secret sauce to make seaweed-based dyes and textiles successful and commercially viable. This kind of sustainable thinking pushes bright minds to utilize the wealth of materials that the Earth provides us, especially the ones that are easily replenished. At the same time, Zeefier’s advocacy is also a testament to how an overabundance of anything can be harmful and that we don’t really need to grow or harvest more seaweed than what we’re already throwing away.

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Fairphone has a subscription program that rewards you for keeping your phone longer

Posted on 16/06/2022 by JC Torres

Subscription models are back in business, from the video streaming services that keep us entertained to even the software we use for our work. Phone manufacturers have started to wise up and start biting into that pie, creating subscription programs designed to make you think you’re saving more in the long run. Some of these subscriptions include the promise of upgrading to a new phone when a new model is announced, which is designed to keep you hooked on a specific phone brand. That system, however, is also designed to keep you switching phones and ditching them regularly, which also means regularly increasing the industry’s e-waste. Fairphone, so far the only manufacturer still selling completely repairable phones, is trying to propose a different way of thinking about subscription programs, one that’s designed to actually make you hold on to a phone longer and make sure you actually take care of your Fairphone as well.

Designer: Fairphone

The Fairphone itself is already an outlier among smartphones because of the way it’s designed and manufactured. In addition to using responsibly-sourced materials, the phone is designed to make repairs easier and can be done by anyone with enough knowledge and courage. And, of course, it also sells those replacement parts, so you won’t have to go out of your way to find spares.

The company behind the world’s most repairable phone now wants to take its sustainability commitment to the next level with its Fairphone Easy subscription program. Interested subscribers can sign up for a €21 a month subscription for 60 months (5 years) or a €34 per month for three months. That subscription fee includes a rather bold lifetime warranty and free repair or replacement of parts, though that only applies to anything except the display and the battery. These two are only free once a year, and any repair or replacement needed beyond that will cost extra.

That sounds almost normal or at least generous for a phone subscription service, but that’s not what sets Fairphone Easy apart. Instead of having to send in your broken phone and wait for a repair or a replacement, Fairphone will immediately send you a replacement within 48 hours while you send the problematic phone back to them. The new phone will be the one you will use from that day forward, and your old phone will either be repaired, refurbished, or recycled, depending on its state. The repaired phone will then be used to replace other broken phones from other subscribers, creating a circular economy between Fairphone Easy subscribers.

At the same time, however, Fairphone is providing incentives for subscribers to actually take care of their phones. For every year that your phone remains undamaged, Fairphone will cut off €2 from the monthly fee. After three years of no repairs or replacement, the monthly subscription fee will be reduced by €8. While these all sound like the perfect way to create a sustainable smartphone economy, there is one big catch to Fairphone’s proposal.

After that five-year period, you would have practically amassed a €1,260 amount, not including the discounts from an undamaged phone. That’s almost twice the price of the €649 Fairphone 4 that comes with the subscription, even if you consider the warranty and repairs. In fact, you could even say that you are paying for those repairs, so they aren’t exactly free. And if you decide to finally cancel the subscription after your contract, you will have to return your Fairphone 4. The company says this allows them to reuse the phone and its parts for as long as possible rather than have owners just throw it away later on.

In effect, Fairphone Easy is basically a rental program rather than a subscription, where you don’t exactly have ownership of the phone you’re using. On the one hand, it does come with good feelings of doing your part in protecting the environment in the long run. On the other hand, it’s a rather expensive way of doing so, even for customers in the Netherlands, where the program is available. Perhaps calling it a rental program would have been an easier way to help people understand Fairphone’s business model and make them more amenable to the overall costs of supporting Fairphone’s vision for a greener smartphone economy.

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Maybe a circular Apple iPod isn’t such a crazy idea after all…

Posted on 07/09/2021 by Sarang Sheth

Apple has had its fair share of product successes, but none have been as impactful as the iPod. The iPod truly made Apple a consumer tech company, taking it out of its little box of being a niche computer manufacturer. It practically changed the music industry overnight, ostensibly killing the CD and the Walkman while simultaneously pushing a generation towards digital downloads. It also singlehandedly forced the entire music industry to pivot from selling entire albums to selling singles. As the iPod rapidly became a household device, it also spawned an entire industry of tech-accessory manufacturers who made speakers and docks specifically for the iPod… but most importantly, it allowed tech and fashion to collide in a way that nobody had ever experienced before… fundamentally changing how Apple would make products in the future. Andrea Copellino’s iPod Nano concept captures that very spirit of the iPod in a fresh new design that breaks the mold all over again.

Nostalgia can be an incredibly powerful emotion (case in point, the 2019 Moto RAZR), although Copellino’s redesign doesn’t capitalize on the old iPod’s iconic design. Instead, it challenges it with a fresh relook at what a music player from Apple could look like – and I’ll be honest. I like it for a bunch of reasons.