From Ocean To Outfit, with Thamires Pontes of Phycolabs

Welcome back to Planet & Purpose, a LinkedIn Newsletter featuring professional insights from ocean and climate ecopreneurs, VCs, advocates, and beyond. If you’re new to my page and this newsletter, welcome! I’m Daniela V. Fernandez , Founder & CEO of Sustainable Ocean Alliance .?

In this edition you’ll meet Thamires Pontes , visionary Founder and CEO of Phycolabs , a brand pioneering sustainable seaweed threads and fibers to refashion … fashion.

Every time you do a large load of laundry, common synthetic fibers like polyester, nylon, and rayon shed anywhere from 600 thousand to 17 million microfibers. While that’s less than 1 oz per load, taken together, global household plastic laundry pollution adds another half a million metric tons of microplastic to the ocean every year.?

For perspective, that’s equivalent to the crushing weight two of the world’s largest cruise ships, from the #1 source of primary ocean microplastics!

Read more below about how Phycolabs’ revolutionary seaweed fiber solution is poised to solve this systemic fashion industry problem. Stay tuned for the evolution of Planet & Purpose, as we share exclusive interviews with more data, solutions, and trends to inform your ocean advocacy.

Daniela (DVF): Welcome to Planet & Purpose Thami! We’re so thrilled that Phycolabs is a Sustainable Ocean Alliance Ecopreneur Network (EN) member. I can’t wait to share your solution!?

Thamires Pontes (TP): Thanks, Daniela. Very excited to be Ecopreneur Network members and to share about Phycolabs’ novel seaweed threads and fibers!?

DVF: I can’t wait to dive in, but first, please explain why you founded Phycolabs.

TP: I was born and raised in the northeast of Brazil and got my start in fashion at the age of 17. I did a bit of everything in the beginning: styling, production, cutting, sewing, and draping.?

While working at a fabric importing company, I created prints, researched trends, traveled to the world’s trade fairs in search of raw materials, and visited manufacturing facilities in China.

Through these experiences, I saw firsthand how problematic the fashion industry is, from environmentally harmful practices to inadequate working conditions. Frustrated, I ventured into new materials research to redesign the industry leveraging innovative, sustainable, raw textiles.

DVF: The best entrepreneurs ID a problem and develop the solution! What happened next?

TP: I went back to school for my master’s degree, where I deepened my understanding of systemic fashion problems like synthetic dye pollution and the reliance on unsustainable fibers. I began researching how to transform natural seaweed compounds into strong, sustainable threads and fibers without generating toxic waste.?

Why seaweed, you might ask? So many reasons!

It grows quickly and is cultivated in marine environments without freshwater, fertilizers, or pesticides, simultaneously promoting marine biodiversity and sequestering carbon dioxide.?

Compared to plant-based or fungal biomaterials, seaweed is more versatile, has a lower land-use and environmental impact, and better mechanical properties.

From an economic perspective, seaweed offers a good cost-benefit ratio and easy processing. As an added benefit, its cultivation provides coastal communities with a sustainable income.

DVF: So to recap, seaweed fibers are competitive, environmentally friendly, versatile, affordable, and beneficial to communities. I can’t see a downside, funding must have flowed!

TP: Actually, not at first.?

After graduating, I needed more research funding, but industry players didn’t understand the project’s potential. Everything changed when I joined my first acceleration program. I became an entrepreneur in order to transform my fiber research into a product for the market.?

After visiting Brazilian seaweed farms, developing friendships and partnerships, I founded Phycolabs in 2022. This relationship will enable us to provide B2B customers with transparent, environmental impact insights from the very first stage of the supply chain—raw materials.?

This is bigger than scaling Phycolabs, though. It’s a model for industry transformation, a proof point that when you know who grows, you get accurate Scope 3 emissions data and drive systemic change.

DVF: I can’t wait to witness the industry’s disruption as others follow the example of Phycolabs and get clear on Scope 3. Speaking of scaling, where are you in your go-to-market strategy?

TP: Well on our way! Our fiber has already been developed from concept to prototype.

In three years, we have: ?

Completed initial lab tests and confirmed fiber:

1. Durability
2. Integrity after washing
3. Compatibility with standard manufacturing equipment/production line integration

Opened Phycolabs headquarters in S?o Paulo City and hired:

1. Gustavo Gon?alves , our technical designer and creative chemist
2. Wolgrand Neto, our production engineer for management, execution, and strategy
3. Miguel Caceiro , our CFO, mathematician, and economic strategist

Won multiple prestigious recognitions, including:

1. Global Change Award (H&M Foundation) 2023
2. Unlock Her Future Prize (The Bicester Collection) 2024
3. Gera??o Glamor Award/Glamour Brazil’s ‘Woman in Science’ 2024

Developed a B2B client pipeline of premium and luxury brands with:?

1. 12 partnerships established?
2. 10 more on our radar

Secured research & development grants from:

1. Sebrae (Support Service for Micro and Small Enterprises)?
2. Embrapii (Brazilian Company of Research and Industrial Innovation)
3. International grant source(s)

DVF: No mention of VCs? Do you recommend strictly grant-based funding for founders?

TP: Good question. First, it is important to note that securing funding for entrepreneurship in Brazil and Latin America differs greatly from the process in Europe, the U.S., and elsewhere.?

In Brazil, VCs tend to be more conservative, and many seek to significantly dilute the founder in the early rounds, demanding a significant equity stake for relatively small investments.

By instead securing government R&D grants that support the development of Brazilian industry, Phycolabs has maintained the best cap table possible and ensured our long-term sustainability.

Simultaneously, international grants have become a critical funding source for our initial growth.

While strategically applying for grants has worked well for us, I recommend that any fellow entrepreneurs consider their unique geographical context to determine a best-fit funding model.

DVF: Compelling. Anything else you’ve learned and would want to share with founders??

TP: My advice for ocean startup founders is to leave the comfort zone of your field.

Embrace opportunities to learn about entrepreneurship, science, business models, market dynamics, and marine biodiversity is essential to broadening your perspective as an innovator.

During my master’s program, I audited classes in the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering doctoral program. Studying polymer matrices, plastics, and the fundamentals of materials engineering wasn’t easy, but I knew I needed that knowledge if I wanted to reimagine fashion.

An excerpt from Bruce Lee’s ‘lost interview,’ continues to inspire and guide me to this day –

“Empty your mind, be formless... shapeless, like water. You put water into a bottle; it becomes the bottle. If you put it in a teapot, it becomes a teapot. Be water, my friend.”If you believe that you can learn anything, you unlock a superpower. So, if you want to shine in front of others, be adaptable, and work hard when no one is watching. Be water, my friend. :)

DVF: Aligned with the ethos of adapting, what’s next in Phycolabs continuous evolution?

TP: We will be opening a factory here in S?o Paulo City, the design capital of South America, once we conduct another technical and economic feasibility study to better define fiber pricing.

Currently, we are collaborating with brands that are willing to pay more for exclusive materials, value innovation, and do not require large volumes to facilitate initial commercialization.?

Scalability will be a gradual process, similar to how the synthetic fiber Lycra (generic name Spandex) took six decades to achieve competitive costs with good performance.

As new tech with significant R&D investment, seaweed fibers will cost more than synthetic fibers initially. With time, as we scale production and move from targeting innovators and early adopters to the majority, we’ll be able to compete in the entire industry – including fast fashion.

DVF: Speaking of time, when will consumers be able to purchase seaweed clothes??

TP: As soon as possible! We are approaching market readiness and focusing on ensuring the material meets the highest standards for performance and sustainability before launching.?

This will depend on the completion of the production scale-up and partnerships with our initial clients, who we estimate will use our fiber in 3% to 10% of their initial collections. These initial collections will validate the material in the market and encourage its wider adoption.?

At launch, we are aiming for an initial production capacity of 55 tons of fiber per year, scaling by 30% annually to reach 160 tons by 2029.?

DVF: So between now and 2029, we’ll see collections roll out, and measurable impact?

TP: Correct! We’ll have accurate impact numbers for both economic and environmental sustainability as garments made from seaweed fiber debut and we begin to scale up production.?

Initially, we know that by cultivating 3,200 tons of seaweed across 172 hectares, we could create at least 222 direct blue jobs and sequester a minimum of 544 tons of CO? annually. In the next 5 to 10 years, we envision scaling our fiber to a commercially viable level, establishing a significant presence in the worldwide textile market, and driving systemic change.?

As a widely adopted alternative, seaweed fiber has the potential to transform the entire fashion industry. Use on a global scale would prevent half a million metric tons of microplastic pollution from leaching into the ocean annually as a result of laundering polyester, nylon, and rayon.

Beyond pollution reduction, adopting seaweed threads and fibers can benefit human health. The toxicity of synthetics is documented, and consumers are concerned about forever chemicals.?

Synthetics will go out of fashion. Consumers will pay more for next-gen materials like seaweed. The tides are turning; Phycolabs is fashioning a human and ocean-friendly future of fashion!

DVF: A valiant mission and economically viable products, you can’t get much better than that!?

I encourage Phycolabs, and founders of ocean startups reading this, to pursue Ocean Solution Label certification for credibility on both fronts. I’ll include information on how to apply below.

TP: External validation of being ocean positive and profitable is very valuable; we’ll look into the Label! Thank you for sharing your platform; I am grateful to be part of the Ecopreneur Network!

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OPPORTUNITIES IN OUR NETWORK Last Call, Ocean Leaders Fellowship Sustainable Ocean Alliance , in partnership with Dona Bertarelli Philanthropy ,? will send an inaugural fellowship cohort of 40 young ocean leaders (age 18-35) to the 2025 Our Ocean Youth Leadership Summit (OOYLS) and UN Ocean Conference (UNOC). The fellowship, which runs from March 24 to December 5, 2025, also includes skill development workshops, a personal mentor, and ocean career planning. Get answers to frequently asked questions and apply here by THIS Sunday, February 23, at 11:59pm PST.?

Apply for the SOA Ocean Solution Label Sustainable Ocean Alliance and Solar Impulse Foundation are now accepting applications for the SOA Ocean Solution Label—a certification label recognizing profitable ocean-positive businesses that protect and preserve the ocean. Founders can apply here.