Twice nominated for the 2026 Earthshot Prize.
Semi Finalist at the
Monaco Ocean Protection Challenge 2025.
About KelpTex
Who
Runa Ray
Runa Ray founded Kelptex with the objective of providing nature-based textile solutions that consider planet and people from the design stage of the manufacturing process to consumer uses. She is a fashion designer who brings two decades of industry experience, including a background in clean manufacturing. Her family’s 50-year business in India produces wood-free, ash-free, chemical-free industrial filter paper. This combination of fashion knowledge and sustainable production inspired her to create Kelptex, a solution to the environmental challenges caused by waste and pollution in the fashion industry.
Founded in 2024 and headquartered in California. USA, Kelptex combines textile waste and seaweed to create a biofabric that is durable, biodegradable, and completely recyclable.
Our Collaborations
Kelptex has gained early traction through technical validation, institutional partnerships, and commercial demand. Our core biomaterial is patent-pending; 78% USDA BioPreferred certified; and incorporates biomarkers for traceability and anti-copy protection. Additional certifications are underway.
We are collaborating with the Danish Government and VIA University College Denmark on research and educational deployment. The Government of India and the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute to integrate our process into smallholder seaweed communities, and the World Bank on Sargassum usages.
With UC Berkeley, we are exploring the industrial scale-up potential of seaweed to drive innovation, sustainability, and economic development in the global bioeconomy.
Our partnership with the Schmidt Ocean Institute links coastal waste reduction with regenerative material development. Commercially, Kelptex has received orders from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Prince Albert II Foundation.
We have also joined CalRecycle to align with California’s 2030 Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law, positioning Kelptex as a compliant, scalable sustainable solution for biomaterials across the state.
Publicity includes being a 2025 Monaco Ocean Protection Challenge Semi-Finalist and invitations to present at Art Basel, the Global Seaweed Coalition, the EU Algae Summit, Monaco Ocean Week, Monte Carlo Fashion Week, and the United Nations Ocean Conference.