Eco-friendly SEAQUAL Fiber Uses Recycled Ocean Waste
Cleaning the oceans and upcycling plastic waste to extract a new, eco-friendly polyester
fiber: this is the challenge that was first undertaken in 2016 by Spanish start-up SEAQUAL 4U, which owns the fiber SEAQUAL™. SEAQUAL 4U was born of an alliance between ECOALF foundation, textile group SANTANDERINA and spinning mill ANTEX.
To support the development of this eco-responsible fiber, these three shareholders have now appointed Michel Chtepa as managing director, with the goal of developing the SEAQUAL™ brand’s vision and global strategy.
Leveraging his sound knowledge of the textile industry worldwide and expertise in marketing, Chtepa previously worked as CEO at Quintenas Textile Solutions in France, as well as as Operational Marketing Manager for LYCRA® in Denim and Ready-to-Wear at INVISTA, ... Michel Chtepa aims to make SEAQUAL™ a “global ingredient brand inspiring the entire textile industry to achieve virtuous production and consumption by
way of a rational, Eco-friendly manufacturing process, without sacrificing the
creative element”.
With backing from the foundation ECOALF as part of its UPCYCLING THE OCEANS project, one of the main goals for this Eco-friendly brand playing an active role in environmental protection is to leverage the marine environment. For every kilo of SEAQUAL™
produced, a kilo of waste is removed from the seabed. SEAQUAL 4U has developed a virtuous supply chain from fisherman to consumer involving all players in the textile industry (Spinning-Weaving-Brands) to encourage the clean-up of marine waste and the designing of eco-responsible yarns and fibers. A division for partnering international weaving mills is being set up.
The fiber SEAQUAL™ will be on display at Première Vision Paris from Sept. 19 to 21, 2017, (ANTEX stand, No. 6G52) to present new products and fabrics produced by weaver partners for Autumn-Winter 18/19.
