Sway

As 1st place winner of the TOM FORD Plastic Innovation Prize powered by Lonely Whale, it has been an absolute honor to spend the last few years in their award-winning #UnwrapTheFuture program — and today, we're thrilled to share an overview of this program's impact through their freshly released Impact Report → UNWRAPTHEFUTURE.ORG This program has catalyzed Sway's journey from seaweed material prototypes to market-ready packaging. It helped us facilitate relationships with industry experts who helped strategize our approach, manufacturing leaders who provided ample line time and rapid feedback, and extraordinary fashion brands who tested and piloted evolving versions of our material (looking at you, Burton Snowboards, J.Crew, Florence Marine X, Noah, and Le Club Original). Thank you to TOM FORD BEAUTY, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and Phillip Sarofim’s Trousdale Ventures for sponsoring the Prize purse and Accelerator program. While the program may be wrapped, the journey continues. This is how we #unwrapthefuture 🌊🌞🌈🌱

Tomorrow, our very own Julia Marsh will be taking the main stage of Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) Advance 2024 in Chicago! Join the conversation to learn why seaweed stands out among other biobased materials, and how Sway is working with industry leaders like EcoEnclose to scale our compostable packaging solutions. We hope to see you there! Full agenda → https://lnkd.in/g8Vc3ZaS. Thank you SPC for shining a spotlight on Sway and seaweed as next-generation material solutions 🌊 #SPCAdvance #SPCAdvance2024 #SustainablePackagingCoalition

Today, we celebrate the impact achieved by our award-winning #UnwrapTheFuture program. Together with our extensive community of partners and winners of the TOM FORD Plastic Innovation Prize powered by Lonely Whale, we helped accelerate the adoption of prize-winning seaweed-based alternatives to traditional thin-film #plastic by trailblazing innovators Sway, Zerocircle, and Notpla. We are thrilled to share more about the impact of this multi-year collaboration. Read the report and meet our incredible community of supporters at UNWRAPTHEFUTURE.ORG. Thank you to TOM FORD BEAUTY, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and Phillip Sarofim’s Trousdale Ventures for sponsoring the Prize purse and Accelerator program. This is how we #unwrapthefuture.

Wrapped in nature: swapping plastic for seaweed packaging 🪸 Co-founder & CEO of Sway Julia Marsh shares the circular economy solution which replaces thin-film packaging with seaweed packaging. Businesses like Sway illustrate a future where circular business models are the norm.

Musings from our friends Superorganism on the power of cities, just ahead of NYC Climate Week 💭 The biggest misconception about cities is the “biological desert” fallacy, that man-made spaces are entirely binary: where there are cities, there is no nature. But this thinking is at the root of so many problems in biodiversity loss. That humans are *apart* from nature, rather than *a part* of it. In fact, we have built a novel, hybrid habitat, and nature can thrive within these corridors. #Superorganism is the first venture firm dedicated to biodiversity — and one of Sway’s incredible supporters! We so appreciate their critical lens on how cities can be a tool for a more biodiverse future. Also mentioned in this article: Cambium, Thrive Lot, and BLUUMBIO! Read their full breakdown of city’s hardships, potential, and solutions to enable a more biodiverse future on Substack at https://lnkd.in/gDf6_dBa 💌🦋🌿

Approximately 80% of environmental waste is determined at the design stage — meaning, design is one of our greatest tools for a thriving future 🧪✨🎨 Designers can wield their power to enable behavior change towards responsible consumption, to implement and scale circular materials, to optimize business models and partnerships to minimize environmental impact and improve the health of ecosystems. Sway is a material innovation company — and a design-driven organization. We're honored to be supported by Designer Fund, a design and venture partner committed to improving health, prosperity, and sustainability for all people. As Julia Marsh puts it in a recent roundup of Designer Fund's standout portfolio members: "Sway isn’t just designing next-generation materials. We’re part of a broader movement designing for holistic systems change. Our vision is of a regenerative reality for the next generation, where healthy ecosystems and communities are prioritized." Read the whole article and get inspired by peer design-driven organizations → https://lnkd.in/gfxdt2GB

Did you know that 85% of carbon dioxide emissions from *all* publicly traded companies comes from just 20% of the market? Our banking and investment choices — both as individuals and as companies — can do much better for our planet. Sway is proud to share that our employee 401(k)s are climate-aligned, made possible through our partner Carbon Collective. By directing our dollars into diversified, mission-driven portfolios that enable clean electricity, energy efficient buildings, sustainable food, and more, we're helping to build a future we actually want to retire into. We encourage all companies out there to learn more about what sustainable investment can look like, and the benefits we stand to gain from it. Start your learning journey here → https://lnkd.in/ecbE-rMW, and don't be shy to ask your questions with their amazing team!

These pellets are made from a special ingredient that could help end plastic packaging! Sway have found a solution to replacing the plastic pellet ‘nurdles’ that are melted down and used in the creation of plastic products. And the best thing about it is, it fits into existing industry infrastructure!

Microplastics, or tiny particles shed from synthetic textiles and products, are a growing concern in the fashion industry. Clothing microfibers significantly contribute to marine pollution. And research shows that plastic #microfibers and #nanofibers comprise up to 35% of #microplastics in marine environments. Increasingly, brands are leveraging alternatives — like Sway packaging materials made from seaweed! — which can replicate the look, durability and feel of plastic. This Glossy article by Zofia Zwieglinska shares how fashion brands, including our friends Burton Snowboards and Florence Marine X, are pioneering efforts to uplift regenerative alternatives to plastic and set new standards for the industry. Thank you Lonely Whale for connecting Sway to these incredible innovation brands through the TOM FORD Plastic Innovation Prize! #UnwrapTheFuture 🌊 Read now → https://lnkd.in/gFCKAz9K

Last week, Sway was invited to share our seaweed packaging solutions at the World Surf League #USOpenOfSurfing, one of the largest global surf competitions! As we know from our collaboration with Florence Marine X, the brand of Surf Olympian John John Florence, ocean health and the issue of plastic pollution are near and dear to the surfing community, who witness both firsthand. Together with Sustainable Ocean Alliance and rePurpose Global, Sway picked up pounds of plastic big and small from the coastline with The Surfrider Foundation, created oyster habitat from discarded restaurant shells with Orange County Coastkeeper, and learned about sea creatures with marine biologists. We even got to hang with the Florence brand, sharing our seaweed packaging collaboration together. It was incredibly special to witness people of all ages, from all around the world, coming together for this special event and taking action for cleaner seas. Huge thanks to World Surf League and #OneOcean for using their platform to uplift the people, products, and practices creating a thriving future for our oceans!