• Reports Highlight Over $50 Billion Locked in Textile Waste

• Living Ink Unveils CMYK Compatibility with New Croc Partnership

• Cypris Materials Sells Core Technology

• Ambercycle Enters the Japanese Market

• A&B Smart Materials Secures Over £90,000

• Sun Bear Biofuture Awarded £60,000

  The BioDesign Newsletter

Issue #051

August was far from sleepy.

While many of us have been soaking up late-summer light (and maybe trying to remember how to holiday without checking emails), the world of materials and design innovation has been buzzing. This issue will bring you up to speed on all the summer highlights.

Reports Highlight Over $50 Billion Locked in Textile Waste

BCG’s latest report has everyone doing the math about the textiles waste opportunity. The report states that there is $50B worth of value in textile waste — but 80% of global waste still isn’t recycled.
The roadmap?

• Smarter collection systems

• Improved sorting + processing

• A genuine market appetite for recycled materials

To many of us, these are not new ideas — but a big consultancy spotlight along with regulatory pressure could be the shove the industry needs to move that stubborn 80%.

Of course, not everyone has been on the sidelines as Potter Clarkson’s new data shows increasing patent filings in textiles, coatings, and packaging within the synthetic biology space. This is an indicator that more players are getting involved in the innovation of the next-gen materials that are gaining traction.

Innovation Developments

Living Ink Unveils CMYK Compatibility with New Croc Partnership

Crocs and Living Ink Technologies have rolled out the first commercial algae-based black pigment in full CMYK packaging. Partnering with EcoEnclose, over 3.2 million Jibbitz™ boxes have already shipped.

Algae Ink™ is made from upcycled algae waste, turning a nutritional supplement byproduct into a carbon-negative pigment that prints beautifully — and sustainably.

Cypris Materials Sells Technology Platform

Cypris Materials, Inc. has harnessed the transformative power of structural colour into a platform for industry-leading companies. During August, the company announced that Cypris Materials, Inc. had sold its technology platform to a leading global coatings company. The platform is backed by a portfolio of patents with exclusive colours relianton the company’s technology.

Funding

Ambercycle Enters the Japanese Market

Goldwin’s PlayEarth Fund has invested in Ambercycle, bringing their regenerated polyester cycora® to Japan’s famously exacting textile market. cycora® is expected to be featured in Goldwins’ Fall/Winter 2025 collection in a limited capacity, with a full-scale rollout planned for the Fall/Winter 2027 collection.

As Ambercycle’s CEO Shay Sethi puts it: "together we’re showing that circularity isn’t a distant future—it’s a new standard with solutions being built right now.”

A&B Smart Materials Secures Over £90,000

A&B Smart Materials wins a £91,250 equity-free grant from the Henry Royce Institute. The funding from the UK’s National Institute for Advanced Materials Research will accelerate A&B Smart Materials’ biodegradable, bio-based solutions for the hygiene and agriculture path to market.

Sun Bear Biofuture Awarded £60,000

Sun Bear Biofuture is a synthetic biology start-up that produces an alternative to palm oil using precision fermentation. The company was awarded a Solutions Catalyst grant from AberInnovation for a £60,000 autumn collaboration project.

👟 Coming Soon → Behind the Breakthrough with shoe designer Aisha Kujik

The BioDesign Newsletter is an independent publication.

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