Sorry if this item puts an earworm in your head, but here goes: Pharrell Williams, whose song “Happy” has been at the top of the U.S. pop music charts for the past nine weeks, is getting involved in recycling plastic from marine waste.
Williams and sportswear giant Adidas Group announced March 27 that Williams would design a clothing line, called Originals, for Adidas, which will use Bionic Yarn. That yarn uses 40 percent plastic scrap collected from oceans.
Williams has been an investor and creative director for Return Textiles LLC of New York, which manufactures Bionic Yarn, since 2009.
Return Textiles originally launched to produce high tech fabrics for outdoor gear, then developed Bionic Yarn to use recycled plastics.
Bionic Yarn's marine debris plastics will come from material collected by The Vortex Project.
The first commercial use for Bionic Yarn was a denim fabric that went into production in 2013.
The clothing for Herzogenaurach, Germany-based Adidas will go on sale this summer.
You can find an overview of what Bionic Yarn is here. And for a short non-musical video look at Bionic Yarn, with Wiliams and company co-founder Tyson Toussant:
