Adam Costello, an inspiring innovator, joins us on 1st June as our UK for Good member forum guest speaker.
We are always looking for inspiring innovators in our community to share their journey with us and give us an insight, and some hope, to a future beyond business as usual.
So we asked Adam why he decided to embark on the Inland Sea journey, how he believes they are making a difference, why it matters, and his thoughts about the future..
This is what he told us:
“In 2017, I started Inland Sea as a passion project to increase awareness about plastic pollution and how litter from our cities ultimately ends up in the sea and our food chain. As a surfer and outdoor enthusiast, I have always considered the environment throughout my lifetime. My background in art and design led me to establish a design agency in Manchester, where Inland Sea was born.
After the tragic terrorist attack in Manchester, my design agency created a Manchester Bee T-shirt to raise money for the victims and their families. Because of my knowledge of eco materials, I wanted to use organic cotton for the T-shirts. This sparked the idea for Inland Sea, and I came up with the name and designs and set up a small website.
At a Patagonia event in Manchester, I learned about their Responsibili-T-shirt, which is made from recycled plastic bottles. I found a source for these T-shirts, imported 500 of them made from 50% recycled PET and 50% organic cotton with two different designs, and attended the first plastic pollution festival as part of the Treacle Market in Macclesfield.
I had a stall for two years, where I received feedback and learned how to sell clothing. I established the brand within the eco-conscious community in Macclesfield, and it felt like the start of a more eco-conscious movement.
When Covid hit, I could no longer run the market stall. So, I started a podcast with my partner, Victoria, called “Things can only get Greta.” We wanted to create a lighthearted take on the climate crisis, offering positive solutions rather than activism and protests. We had some amazing guests, including Sian Berry, the co-leader of the Green Party, and oceanographer Tony Butt.
During my research, I learned about seaweed and its carbon-sequestering properties. I found a somebody based in Devon who was trying to establish seaweed farms in the UK, and we had him on the podcast. He told us about SeaCell, a fiber that contains seaweed and can be used for clothing. This was a lightbulb moment for me as it aligned with what I wanted to achieve.
I had the idea and the name of the fibre, but no knowledge or contacts on how to manufacture clothing from it, and no money to start a project like this. I was running another podcast called “The Ethical Pages” and interviewed Ed Sandison from Ocean Tee Golf. He had created a golf tee made from bamboo and had created an eco-golf brand. During the podcast, we discussed my idea for SeaCell clothing, and he was able to share contact details for a factory in Lithuania that could make SeaCell T-shirts.
So, with the idea, contacts, and a manufacturing option, I was ready to make my vision for Inland Sea a reality and it was time to take action. Although it was the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic and despite the mid-winter lockdown and having a family of three kids under one roof in our small countryside home, I launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to raise funds for the project. For the entire month of February and into March, I campaigned digitally every day, and to my great surprise, I successfully reached our £14K target!
With the funds raised, I was able to create 700 T-shirts in two different colours and four unique designs, which we distributed all around the world to our supporters. The success of the campaign put Inland Sea on the map as the first brand to make T-shirts out of seaweed, and it helped us showcase how fashion can be done differently and much more sustainably.
Our success didn’t go unnoticed, and soon after, we were contacted by Sea Change Wine, the UK’s leading sustainable wine company, who asked us to create T-shirts for their merchandise. This opportunity allowed us to create the T-shirts again, but the global market was unstable due to Brexit, and it wasn’t feasible to manufacture them in Lithuania again. So, I reached out to English Fine Cottons, the only cotton spinners in the UK, to explore the possibility of spinning the seaweed fibre and cotton here in Manchester.
After six months of development, we produced our very own fabric, spun from raw fibres, and became the first to import large bales of SeaCell into the UK and spin yarn for knitting into fabric. We trademarked the fabric SeaBlend, and we’re now able to offer this highly sustainable fabric to other brands that see the advantages of manufacturing in the UK and the benefits of a fabric that is kind to the skin.
It hasn’t been an easy journey, and I’m not sure if I would want to repeat it, but it’s the work we need to do if we want to create a truly sustainable future for the next generation. Although it’s not perfect, it shows the big multi-million-pound fashion brands that it can be done the right way. We have state-of-the-art cotton spinners here in the UK, highly sustainable fibres available, and many options for alternatives to fossil fuel-based materials such as polyester, which we need to stop using.
I hope my journey has inspired anyone who wants to create a solution to the climate crisis, whether it’s through fashion, energy, or food. I believe seaweed can be one of the major renewable resources to the climate crisis and help us secure a better world to live in.”
Join us on 1st June to meet Adam, learn more about his journey and think about ways you can develop your business beyond usual.