Graviky Labs have partnered with PANGAIA, an apparel and material science institution, to extract pollution from the air to create a fashion innovation–PANGAIA AIR INK.
On this earth day, many prominent brands like ASICS made a promise for sustainable fashion. But PANGAIA seems to be taking it a step further with its latest collaboration with a pollution upcycling company, Graviky labs. The partnership seeks to clean the air and build a long-term solution for sustainability in the fashion industry.
Graviky labs have their base operations in India for this fashion innovation, one of the worst air-polluted countries, where the company aims to mine unnatural resources and turn them into products. The mining process includes an open-air industrial device that extracts PM2.5 particles from the air. Further proceedings draw out carbon from those particles and convert them into formulations for textile printing.
PANGAIA’s chief operating officer, Dr. Parkes, defines this fashion innovation as a road to upcycling growing air pollution. So far, the partnership has produced a capsule collection that comes from Jenke Ahmed Tailly, a creative director. The collection includes recycled t-shirts, track pants, and hoodies with AIR INK printed graphics and letters. Keziah Jones and Naomi Campbell are the new faces for the Capsule collection in a film created by Tailly in Lagos, Nigeria.
“I started dreaming about infinite ways of rising and was organically drawn to the infinity symbol, which is connected to everything in life and represents a potential of infinity rather than an infinite quantity. This is the best metaphor symbolizing the notion of the interdependence of our humanity which is aligned with Pangaia’s philosophy.” Jenke Ahmed Tailly said in an interview.
The PANGAIA AIR INK is currently being tested in different facilities to make sure it isn’t damaging to the printing machines. According to Dr. Parkes, the ink has already replaced the conventional black ink in their Portugal facility. The company aims to import bulk quantities of AIR INK for all of PANGAIA’s product printing requirements. The labs claim that a kilogram of AIR INK mitigates around 800g of carbon footprint. In comparison, 1 kilogram of traditional black ink created from fossil fuels adds 2.4 kilograms of carbon footprint.
PM2.5 is the smallest and one of the deadliest pollution particles that arise due to fossil fuel burning and exhaust fumes from industrial operations. These particles are small enough to pass into the bloodstream, which makes them hazardous to human health.
The PANGAIA AIR INK will not only contribute to sustainability but also human health by extracting carbon out of these particles and onto the fabric where it will remain enclosed forever. The collection features a special infinity logo that has been created specifically for the collection. The infinity symbol represents infinite connectedness to the planet. The collection includes hoodies, sweatshirts, t-shirts, track pants, and shorts.
Next, learn how ASICS is contributing to the planet with its 3D printed shoes.
