Crocs has become the first brand to commercially use Algae Ink™ as the black component in a full CMYK retail packaging process. The innovation, developed by Living Ink Technologies in partnership with packaging supplier EcoEnclose, has been implemented on more than 3.2 million cartons for Crocs’ Jibbitz™ shoe charms since August 2023.
Algae Ink, made from algae biomass, replaces petroleum-derived carbon black in the “K” position of CMYK printing. The black pigment was integrated without affecting print quality, color fidelity, or drying time. The initial press run was completed in under four hours, and the full-color match was achieved successfully.
“This partnership with Crocs demonstrates that scalable, sustainable solutions can be seamlessly integrated without sacrificing quality. We’re inspired by Crocs’ ‘progress over perfection’ mindset as they adopt our black Algae Ink within standard CMYK printing,” said Scott Fulbright, CEO of Living Ink.
Amber Bochmann, Senior Retail Operations Manager at Crocs, added: “The idea of being the first brand to incorporate black Algae Ink using a four-color process was very exciting. As you can see by the palette of colors that our Classic Clog comes in, color and personalization shine brightly within our brand.”
Living Ink’s pigment is derived from waste algae biomass sourced from the nutritional supplements industry. The process results in a carbon-negative pigment and, according to the company, reduces carbon emissions by over 200% and water usage by 98% compared to conventional inks.
The successful CMYK integration demonstrates that Algae Ink can scale beyond single-color and pilot applications, offering a commercially viable alternative to fossil-based pigments for packaging and related sectors.