She’s been innovative since her childhood. As a kid she crafted paper from the invasive plant kudzu (Pueraria montana), and in high school, she created her own hairspray using lemon juice, sugar, and water, which surprisingly worked.
Much later, armed with a Master’s degree in textiles, Jane Palmer embarked on her entrepreneurial journey with a Los Angeles-based dye house, where they exclusively used traditional plant- and insect-based dyes steeped in history. These dyes, renowned from King Tut's tomb to the Mayans, proved enchanting but unsustainable due to issues like colour consistency, fading, cost, and water usage. Recognising the need for modern-day, high-performing and cost competitive solutions, she sold all of that to set out on her current venture, Nature Coatings.
When Jane started, little did she know that she would be that critical drop in providing a nature-based solution across some industries; nature-based solutions, according to the World Economic Forum, have the potential to deliver up to 37 per cent of the emission reductions needed by 2030 to limit global temperature increases to below 2 degrees Celsius.
Not surprisingly, Jane’s cleantech biochemical start-up has recently received a $2.45 million seed funding from some leading investors including actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio to help push adoption of its groundbreaking BioBlack TX — a unique carbon-negative black pigment sourced from FSC certified wood waste.
The other investors include Regeneration.VC, 22 Fund, Safer Made, and Portfolia.
Jane has oft said, “Everything I design I want to be able to bury in my vegetable garden”, and she truly is doing that.
BioBlack TX not only benefits the planet by being free of fossil fuels and sequestering more carbon dioxide than it emits, it also prioritises the health and well-being by containing non-detected Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and carcinogens, and having less than 0.1% of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).
- With its cost-competitiveness and superior performance, BioBlack TX aids companies in their decarbonisation efforts and compliance with impending regulations like MRSLs (Manufacturing Restricted Substance Lists).
- In addition to the textiles industry, BioBlack TX can be applied in various other sectors, including paint, automotive, package printing, and more.
BioBlack has garnered worldwide acclaim and has been embraced by renowned fashion brands like the Kering Group, Levi's, Bestseller's Jack & Jones and Selected HOMME, as well as Vollebak.
texfash.com: What drew you to this field? How did you start?
Jane Palmer: I've always had a passion for creating innovative products using whatever is available and around me. I’ve had that kind of mentality – that we can make things that work a lot more simply and without harmful chemicals.
My journey with Nature Coatings began with the vision of developing a bio-based black pigment that could compete on price and performance with harmful and petroleum-derived carbon black. Starting with that knowledge, I knew the bio feedstock had to come from a waste stream, for the product to be cost competitive. So I started exploring dozens and dozens of different waste materials, taking one step at a time.
I committed my personal savings to Nature Coatings and secured a small angel investment in 2017. A significant turning point came when Nature Coatings was accepted into the Fashion for Good accelerator programme later that year. This opportunity allowed me to refine our product offerings in line with industry demands and attracted new investors, including Fashion for Good itself.
Please take us through the process — explain the science of it in layman's language.
Jane Palmer: The science behind our process is simple. We transform wood waste into a 100% bio-based black pigment without any chemicals or added materials. While heat is a crucial element in our process, we don't incinerate the wood. Burning wood generates excessive CO2, and our method and resulting products are carbon negative. Once we obtain the pigment, we blend it into our exclusive 100% bio-based formula. To the best of our knowledge, we stand as the pioneering and sole company in the market to produce a 100% bio-based pigment dispersion.
As far as we know, we are the first and only company on the market to have made a 100% bio based pigment dispersion. We believe we are also the first and only to have a dispersion that is carbon negative.
