Outerknown Updated Its Heavyweight Shirt Jacket with a Next-Gen Fabric

A shirt made with seaweed isn’t as crazy as it sounds. In fact, it actually makes a whole lot of sense.

Published September 25, 2024

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Updated September 25, 2024

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In figurative sense, Outerknown, the elevated basics brand founded by surfers Kelly Slater and John Moore, came from the ocean.

Its latest piece of clothing actually did.

The Kelsun Universal Blanket Shirt is a limited-edition version of Outerknown’s wildly popular Blanket Shirt, infused with — get this — seaweed. Only it’s not as crazy as it sounds. In fact, it actually makes a whole lot of sense.

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Outerknown Kelsun Universal Blanket Shirt

$228 at Outerknown

Outerknown Kelsun Universal Blanket Shirt

Making sustainable clothing starts with picking the right fabric. That’s why Outerknown turned to Keel Labs to source an innovative fiber for a new version of the best-selling Blanket Shirt.

closeup of yarn — Kelsun fabric is made with alginate, an abundant biopolymer found in seaweed.

The fabric in question is called Kelsun and it’s made using alginate, an abundant biopolymer found in seaweed — one of the most regenerative organisms on the planet.

As such, Kelsun is 100 percent biodegradable, and because it comes from the ocean, it’s free of pesticides and fertilizers.

The Outerknown Kelsun Universal Blanket Shirt represents the first commercially available product to feature Kelsun, which makes up 30 percent of the garment’s composition. The rest is Regenerative Organic Certified cotton, responsibly sourced from a textile manufacturer in Portugal.

“The Blanket Shirt was one of the first products in our line, and it remains one of my favorite pieces,” Kelly Slater says. “From the beginning, it was important to me to design and build a shirt that was high quality, made from sustainable materials, but felt vintage soft.”

“It was important to me to design and build a shirt that was high quality, made from sustainable materials, but felt vintage soft.”

According to the brand, this version of the Blanket Shirt feels similar to original “but a little lighter.” It features a cozy twill texture and comes in a relaxed fit.

Pricing and availability

The Kelsun Universal Blanket Shirt went on sale this week for $228 in a Muted Plum colorway. Most sizes sold out quickly after launch.

Here’s the good news: according to Keel Labs cofounder and CEO Tessa Callaghan, you can expect to see Kelsun pop up again in the future.

“This garment is the first (though not last) of its kind, and we can’t wait to continue sharing the evolution and expansion of our partnership [with Outerknown],” Callaghan says.

In the meantime, you can shop the brand’s original Blanket Shirt, recently refreshed in a handful of fall-friendly hues and patterns.

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