VOGUE BUSINESS

"Rob Ianelli, CEO of Oceanworks, a US startup that connects brands and factories with suppliers of ocean plastic waste to create buttons, sunglasses, zipper pulls and tape, eyelets, snaps and other types of trim from recycled plastic, views these minute details as “the last mile in sustainable apparel development”. One of the company’s first projects was a button it helped Outerknown, the casual California label helmed by surfer Kelly Slater, create in November 2017.

Despite being a self-described “supply chain matchmaker” and not a button manufacturer, Oceanworks has since received an estimated 500 inquiries about recycled-plastic buttons. “Trims were sort of this overseen line item in materials,” Ianelli says. “[They] weren’t being injected with additional sustainability metrics the way that fabrics were." Read Article