RIYADH — The Saudi Fashion Commission has unveiled what it calls a “defining moment” in its strategy to build a sustainable fashion ecosystem: a bio-textile developed from marine algae harvested from the Red Sea.
The Red Sea Seaweed Project represents the first tangible output of the commission’s pivot toward materials research and development — a deliberate strategy to differentiate Saudi Arabia’s nascent fashion industry from established capitals that compete on design heritage.
“We are looking at materials that are not necessarily yet available abundantly in the world,” Burak Cakmak, chief executive officer of the Saudi Fashion Commission, told WWD. “Understanding our differentiating point,” he said, is “where it was possible to create a full value chain. Seaweed is one of these elements.”
The project brings together the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), which has conducted extensive marine algae research; Madrid-based Pyratex, specialists in commercializing novel textile materials, and the Fashion Commission’s own production facility, The Lab, in Riyadh. The result is a breathable, skin-friendly fabric that blends lyocell with algae additive and organic cotton — fully traceable from Red Sea shore to finished garment.
The process is remarkably low-tech in its early stages. Fishermen and women in coastal villages harvest seaweed that washes ashore. The biomass is dried in the Saudi sun, then pulverized mechanically before being blended with sustainable fibers.
“You might be able to harvest a lot of seaweed in a North Sea of Europe, but you won’t be able to dry it — you don’t have the sunshine there,” Cakmak noted. “Those elements play a critical role.”
The commission has produced 30 meters of fabric so far, manufacturing a finished top and vest at The Lab to demonstrate the material’s commercial potential. The textile’s natural breathability and skin-friendly properties make it particularly suited for apparel in the region’s climate — a practical consideration as the commission thinks about eventual market applications.
Courtesy photos
Testing is now underway to optimize blends for the kingdom’s varied conditions. “By using it, we are seeing — is it good for a more humid climate, like the Red Sea coast, or is it better for Riyadh, where you want a different property?” Cakmak said. “Based on that, we’ll make some adjustments. We can create different blends to provide those properties.”
The longer-term vision extends beyond stand-alone seaweed textiles. The commission is exploring blending the algae-based material with bioplastics developed by start-ups in its innovation pipeline — potentially creating fully bio-based alternatives to the polyester blends commonly used in conventional garments. The goal is a range of sustainable textiles that can replace traditional fabrics while maintaining the performance properties consumers expect.
Sustainability has been embedded in the commission’s strategy since 2021. Its first initiative tackled textile waste from the Hajj pilgrimage, collecting leftover ihrams and recycling them into new textiles now sold in Mecca, the Jeddah airport, and Medina. Palm fiber is next on the research agenda.
“It would have been easy to say, ‘You know what, nobody’s asking us to do it,’” Cakmak said of the research investment. “But this is what’s going to last. This is the legacy.”
The approach has attracted international attention. The commission recently hosted a sustainable textile start-up competition with Collateral Good, a Swiss venture capital fund. Winners included companies working on bioplastics and banana leaf fibers, with conversations ongoing about bringing their research to Saudi Arabia.
The strategy also creates unexpected synergies. Seaweed collection provides income for coastal communities previously dependent solely on fishing. More significantly, it addresses a practical challenge for the kingdom’s tourism ambitions: left on beaches, decomposing seaweed creates toxic fumes — a problem that has plagued destinations from Florida to the Arabian Gulf.
“What we are creating is not purely about the fashion industry, but the side effect of the cities,” Cakmak explained. “Most initiatives in the world linked to fashion don’t necessarily have this crossover effect.”
For an industry where sustainable material innovations have frequently struggled to scale, the commission believes its ecosystem approach offers advantages. As a government entity, it can connect players and create incentives across business, consumer and government channels that individual brands cannot.
China manufactures; Italy crafts; France designs. If this strategy succeeds, Saudi Arabia may stake its claim as the place where the industry’s next generation of sustainable materials is born.
