# Algae-Dyed Sustainable Clothing
Vollebak Joins Living Ink on a New Experimental T-Shirt

By Amy Duong | Published 2022-12-16 | Eco
Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/living-ink-1
References: [dezeen](https://www.dezeen.com/2022/12/14/black-algae-dye-tshirt-vollebak-living-ink/) & [vollebak](https://vollebak.com/)

Experimental clothing imprint Vollebak works in collaboration with biomaterial brand Living Ink on a new tee that is made using black dye sourced from algae. The dye has been in development for the past five years through extensive research and development. It is made by collecting spirulina algae waste drawn from natural food coloring industries and then heating the product to create a black tonal char.

Vollebak's founder Steve Tidball talks about the dye to Dezeen, stating that "We've now got a sustainable alternative to dyeing clothing using traditional carbon black-based dyes. Every black thing we own is likely to contain carbon black, from our phones to our cars to the ink in our pens. Vast tracts of lands called tar sands are stripped of all life and vegetation to extract the heavy petroleum, while the production process creates significant greenhouse gas emissions."

Image Credit: Vollebak