In the early 2000s, Lululemon was one of the first companies to use a seaweed-derived fabric created by a company called SeaCell. Lululemon touted the material online as containing anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties that can reduce stress. But a 2007 New York Times investigation tested SeaCell fabric and found no evidence to support those medical claims. In fact, the Times’ test found no trace of seaweed in the fabric at all.
Lululemon continues to carry the fabric, which it uses for a clothing line called VitaSea, but all medical claims have disappeared from its marketing and website. Instead, the brand focuses on the breathability and comfort of the material. But other companies such as Leticia Credidio, Pangaia, Vuori and SeaCell continue to advertise or explicitly imply the fabric’s medicinal benefits, despite a lack of supporting evidence.
On SeaCell’s website, a page on the benefits of its seaweed fabric reads: “Seaweed is added as an active ingredient for a very good reason. The fact that this marine plant is rich in trace elements has been known since the days of Chinese medicine, and the seaweed has also been proven to protect the skin and have anti-inflammatory properties. SeaCell, which is based in Germany, did not respond to requests for comment.
A dermatologist, who asked not to be named, said there is no research to support SeaCell’s claims. While seaweed contains many vitamins and nutrients, there is no scientific support for the idea that wearing clothing made with seaweed delivers those vitamins to the skin in any way.
However, Leticia Credidio, a Canadian designer brand, uses SeaCell as a selling point. In the product information of a SeaCell nightgown, its website states, “The unique properties of seaweed help to protect our skin against the harmful environmental influences we are exposed to in our daily lives.” Leticia Credidio did not respond to requests for comment.
In a blog post from 2015, activewear brand Vuori announced it would begin using SeaCell fabric, saying it is “rich in minerals, proteins and trace elements that have a natural exchange with the skin when worn.” Vuori still sells clothing made from it fabric, and claims for its medicinal benefits are still in place. The brand did not provide comment in time for this story’s publication.
Pangaia, a company that prides itself on its material innovations, also uses SeaCell fabric, but much of its marketing focuses on the material’s sustainable credentials. Seaweed is 100% biodegradable. Pangaia harvests it once every four years, allowing it to fully and naturally regenerate between harvests.
Pangaia’s website about its seaweed fabric includes a line that reads “seaweed is rich in essential substances such as vitamins, antioxidants, amino acids and minerals.” But a representative from Pangaia said this is not meant to mean those elements can be absorbed through the skin.
“Seaweed is a natural regenerative resource that grows abundantly under the sea,” the rep told Glossy via email. “Overall, it has a lot of great properties, but our fiber wasn’t explicitly developed to provide any skin benefits.”
It has become increasingly common over the past five years for brands to highlight the health benefits of their clothes. Vibrant Body Co., for example, guarantees that its clothing contains no more than 100 common toxins found in other intimate products. Graffenberg, a Swiss brand, claims the antioxidants in its clothes can reduce the number of “free radicals” or trace elements that cause wrinkles, which has some scientific backing.
Standardizing and regulating the various claims made about the sustainability and health benefits of clothing and manufacturing processes is a major issue in the fashion industry, so much so that the EU introduced laws against it this year. Fashion has largely been an unregulated space in terms of what brands can say in their advertising, but that is slowly changing, according to Rania Sedhom, managing partner of Sedhom Law Group, who has experience with the law of fashion.
“There are rules about nomenclature in all kinds of things,” Sedhom said. “Wines can only be called certain types if they are from certain regions, for example. But fashion has never had anything like it.”
