From the clothes we wear to the sheets we sleep in and the fabrics that cover our furniture, almost everything is dyed with synthetic, petroleum-based dyes. his leads to pollution and high water consumption. The Dutch company Zeefier is showing that things can be done differently. They are offering the textile industry a sustainable alternative with dyes made from seaweed. Co-founder Anne Boormans tells us more.
A sustainable alternative to dye
Anne started Zeefier in 2020, together with designer Nienke Hoogvliet. They got to know each other through their common interest in sustainability and natural materials. What started as a shared idea, grew into a company that now produces environmentally friendly dyes. “We make a dye that the industry really needs,” says Anne. For this, they use only seaweed as a raw material. “The big advantage of seaweed is that you don't need a drop of fresh water or a piece of farmland for it. It also grows very quickly and is abundant,” Anne explains. These properties of seaweed make it sustainable and suitable for producing dyes on a large scale.
From seaweed to dye
Following their own secret recipe, Zeefier processes the seaweed into dye in their own lab. They supply this dye to sustainable fashion and interior brands, which use it to colour their fabrics themselves at specialised dye-works. The dye is surprisingly colourful. Zeefier makes dye from red, brown and green seaweed. With it, they develop a broad range of natural hues, such as sand, warm ochre and reddish brown. Each type of seaweed and recipe produces a different colour.
Interior fabric dyed with seaweed dye
So far, Zeefier has supplied dye to brands and suppliers of fabrics and yarns who then use it to colour their own fabrics. But that will change in 2026. Then, for the first time, they will launch their own interior fabric on the market, which they will make themselves and dye with their own seaweed dye. The fabric has been developed in collaboration with Enschede Textielstad, a sustainable weaving mill that is committed to preserving Dutch textile production. Zeefier can start this project and work on scaling up their production thanks to the support of the DOEN Foundation.
A diverse team
The Zeefier team is small, female, diverse in age, and spread throughout the Netherlands. “We started during the COVID pandemic, so remote collaboration is part of our system,” says Anne. “We live in the Randstad, Twente and Zeeland. It's because we come from different environments that we all have a different view of things.” This diversity is also visible in their mission: Zeefier wants to make dye for a wide market. “Not just for people who already live very sustainably, but especially for people who are not used to it yet.”
Changing the standard
Anne has some clear advice for other people who would like to do business in an impactful way: just start. “You need patience, because it takes time to make a new idea big. But keep talking to people, testing and trying. Because if you just leave everything on paper, nothing will happen.” Zeefier has been around for five years now and is about to launch an industrial product. In doing so, they will prove that seaweed dye really works. And that you can make a difference with a small, diverse team. “We want to change the standard,” says Anne. “It takes time and courage, but it really is possible.”
The DOEN Foundation supports Zeefier thanks to players of the Postcode Loterij.
