How did you start? Where did the seed money come from? How much did you invest?
Eddie Wang: We have consistently pursued a dual-track transformation, allocating 5–10% of annual profits to research and development. Over the past decade, this has amounted to an investment of NT$50 million.
Take us through the process — from collection of oyster shells to its processing and its future applications.
Eddie Wang: Taiwan boasts a complete industrial ecosystem, which we leverage to develop nano-grinding technology. In the future, beyond textiles, this technology will also be applied to construction materials, plastics, and other fields.
We adopt a ‘One Line, Multiple Applications’ strategy, leveraging oyster shell applications to create three distinct brands:
Seawool
- Focus: Odour control and thermal regulation.
- Innovation: Upcycling recycled plastic waste into functional textiles.
Smawarm
- Focus: A sustainable alternative to down.
- Features: Odour-control, bacterial control properties, far-infrared warmth, and easy washing.
Hulk Bio-Ceramic
- Focus: Plastic reduction, low carbon footprint, and bacterial control properties.
- Sustainability: Designed for circular economies and long-term environmental benefits.
- Diverse applications: Suitable for use in sportswear, outdoor gear, fashion apparel, and more.
- Additional products: Offering a wider range of high-performance, eco-friendly textile materials to meet diverse market demands.
Kindly elaborate on your technology.
Eddie Wang: Detailed technical processes are trade secrets and cannot be disclosed.
What is your supply chain like? How do you ensure a ready supply of the raw materials – the oyster shells?
Eddie Wang: Taiwan has a complete supply chain for aquaculture, shell cleaning, shell collection, and preliminary processing, with a stable annual supply of 100,000 tonnes of waste oyster shells.
What were the challenges faced — be it in terms of research and development, the rolling out of the product and finally the commercial roll out?
Eddie Wang: The establishment of the sustainable textile brand Seawool requires significant investments of capital, time, and marketing efforts, making it the biggest challenge.
Cost of a product. To give us an idea how cheap or expensive it is. What tech changes are needed in machinery for an existing factory to do this?
Eddie Wang: Sustainable and eco-friendly products are typically 20–50% more expensive than regular products. Convincing consumers to adopt them is a challenging task. Machinery improvements are part of our trade secrets and are not disclosed.
How biodegradable is Seawool?
Eddie Wang: We produce recyclable products, but biodegradable solutions are still in the planning phase.
There is a lot of doubt in the industry on how viable these biomaterials are, especially with reference to their sustainability and biodegradability more so because they undergo several processes. What do you have to say about it?
Eddie Wang: We rely on third-party certifications and currently do not produce biodegradable products because recyclability is more important than biodegradability. Recycling provides a solution to address the marine waste pollution that has already occurred. Besides, who would compost textiles, right?
Which are the companies, designers, brands who use your products? What is the feedback like? What are the changes that they have demanded since you started?
Eddie Wang: Our technical processes remain confidential, but many brands in Europe, the US, and Japan are already using our products.
