Exploring Life & Business with Sea threads

Today we’d like to introduce you to Paige Brewer. They and their team shared their story with us below:

While in college, Dylan was a part-time kayak tour guide on the Indian River Lagoon teaching people about the beautiful bioluminescent plankton that call it home. During his time as a kayak tour guide, he was horrified by the sheer volume of plastic he found clogging the ecosystem.

After learning plastic was the number one ingredient in clothing, he went all in on the idea that the demand for new plastic could be replaced by the demand for removing it from the ocean. After almost 3 years of prototyping and building a supply chain, Dylan brought on a co-founder, Paige Brewer. Paige spent 10 years climbing the corporate ladder in manufacturing; starting as a customer service representative in 2012 and leaving the corporate world as the VP of Operations at SeaDek.

Paige was recognized in 2019 in Boating Industry’s Women Making Waves. When Paige and Dylan sat down to meet for the first time in August of 2022 it was instant sparks; it was clear that Dylan had the vision for where the company could go and Paige had the experience to make it happen. Since August of 2022, Sea Threads has been brought into 15 REI Co-Op stores, launched their e-commerce website, and added two new products and 9 new colors to their lineup.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Commercializing a new material is no easy task. We had to work hand in hand with collectors and textile labs to formulate a material that’s performance matched virgin strains. On top of bringing a new material to market, the apparel industry is in a transition and experiencing immense pressure to bring circularity to the space and eliminate virgin materials.

Sea Threads is bringing a turn-key solution to market but we are faced with steep waves competing against well-known brands who are shifting portions of their products to recycled materials.

Each day we are competing with brands who have decades of consumer loyalty to bring them to our product showing them that they don’t have to settle for 50% recycled products when we can provide a solution made from 100% recycled ocean plastic while providing the same comfort and performance.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Sea Threads?
Sea Threads is the brand behind ocean plastic apparel. Sea Threads is made from 100% recycled ocean plastic and each shirt is made from 1 pound of recycled plastic.

To put that into perspective for you, that’s almost a 24-pack of water bottles that you buy at the grocery store (23.87 bottles). We specialize in creating fully recycled performance shirts, also known as sun shirts. The biggest factor that sets us aside from our competitors is our ability to produce garments from 100% recycled ocean plastic. While most big brands are substituting a portion of their material with recycled plastic, they are still using virgin materials as well.

Unfortunately, this almost cancels out the good work most brands are trying to do. These big brands can switch to a fully recycled garment, bring circularity to the apparel space and make a major impact, but choose not to. This is where Sea Threads comes in. We were born and raised on the coast, experiencing firsthand the impacts of plastic on our oceans and coastal waterways.

It is because of this direct impact on our personal lives that we find it imperative to bring a fully recycled solution to the consumer and be the underdog that inspires big brands to convert their lines to Sea Threads and become a major player in the sustainable fashion movement.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
It’s not easy getting up every day and competing against big names like Patagonia, Columbia, and others. To do that, it requires extreme mental toughness.

We are constantly listening to motivational podcasts to keep our spirits high on those tough days and continue driving the needle forward.