Naomi Campbell posing in Pangaia’s discretely stylish recycled- and organic cotton sweatshirts and sweatpants has caught the attention of the fashion world. The Pangaia x Air-Ink capsule collection has been created by transforming carbon emissions into Air-Ink®.
Reconfiguring the Apparel Industry to be More Circular
Pangaia is not just a direct-to-consumer brand. On their desire to expand and change the industry, Parkes told Vogue: “We have our open-ended B2B, where we’re trying to spread the innovations in a way that helps everyone—the people making them, us, and other brands trying to reach new innovations.”
Pangaia’s goal is to offer Air-Ink printing on a broader scale for other companies. “The consumer is starting to ask for it, and companies can use it as a brand differentiator or brand builder,” said Parkes told Vogue before admitting, “I mean, it’s hard, it’s expensive, it takes a long time. But hardcore biotech science and luxury are actually perfectly matched in terms of their timing and their craftsmanship, all of that”.
“We have our open-ended B2B, where we’re trying to spread the innovations in a way that helps everyone.”
Amanda Parkes
Hoping to bring change on a broader scale for themselves and other fashion companies, Pangaia has been working with innovators like Sharma’s Graviky Labs; the company has produced jackets filled with a goose-down replacement made from flowers. Pangaia also recruited Jenke Ahmed Tailly as creative director. Tailly is a stylist known for his work with Beyoncé and other cultural arbiters to codesign the Air-Ink collection with the in-house team.
Taking Baby Steps To Prove New Science is the New Luxury
This Air-Ink launch is the first time that Pangaia has used pollution to create an end product. When it comes to the ins and outs, the first step in the Air-Ink manufacturing process is capturing PM 2.5, a particulate pollutant harmful to human health produced by industrial machines. Once collected, the PM 2.5 goes through a filtration process that removes toxins, and it’s transformed into a pigment that replaces carbon black, which can be variously used for ink, dye, or paint. Each kilogram of Air-Ink screen-print ink will mitigate 800 grams of CO2 footprint.
PANGAIA x AirInk collection brags Organic Cotton Men’s and Women’s Track Pants, Hoodies, T-shirts, Shorts and accessories created using recycled & organic materials, sustainably sourced trims, labels, threads and packaging. Including the first PANGAIA Bag. The capsule collection showcases the brand’s distinctive P logo, formed by seven circles, as a series of interlocking infinity symbols.
Pragmatic when it comes to the challenges of reconfiguring the apparel industry to be more circular, Pangaia is not only introducing big ideas; they are also about embracing the metaphor for the interdependence of humanity.
Founding editor-in-chief of FashNerd.com, Muchaneta is currently one of the leading influencers writing about the merger of fashion with technology and wearable technology. She has also given talks at Premiere Vision, Munich Fabric Start and Pure London, to name a few. Besides working as a fashion innovation consultant for various fashion companies like LVMH Atelier, Muchaneta has also contributed to Vogue Business, is a senior contributor at The Interline and an associate lecturer at London College of Fashion, UAL.