Women in Costa Rica are turning fish into fashion with a new sustainable business model that processes animal by-products into wearable fabrics and accessories.
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00:00Bringing in the catch of the day, this fisher's haul is not just destined for the dinner table.
00:08A much more glamorous fate awaits these fish.
00:16In this coastal town in Costa Rica, 70-year-old Marta Sosa prepares sea bass skin for use
00:23as fabric.
00:24She's one of 15 women who make up PL Marina, or the Marine Skin Cooperative, a start-up
00:31all about turning fish into fashion.
00:53Housewives until a few years ago, Sosa and colleague Mauren Castro wanted to start bringing
00:59money in for the family.
01:01That's when they started to use fish skin to make leather, turning an animal by-product
01:06into a sustainable source of fabric, and providing these women with some financial independence.
01:26With training from marine resources NGO Marviva, the women have become artisanal tanners, selling
01:33fish skin fabric to textile factories, and even producing their own bespoke line of jewellery.
01:59PL Marina's products are also a small part of a solution to a big problem.
02:05Fast fashion is a major global polluter, with one UN report finding that the fashion industry
02:11is responsible for 9% of all microplastics in the world's oceans.
02:20Confident in her unique and sustainable products, Castro has big dreams for her line of fishy
02:28And with sustainable fashion a hot trend on international catwalks, this line of marine
02:43merchandise could be the next in vogue.