Top fashion designers including iconic Dame Zandra Rhodes, Collette Dinnigan, Bronwyn Lowenthal (Lowie) and Cora Hilts (Rêve En Vert) have donated to a stunning new range of ocean-themed T-shirts to support EJF’s Save the Sea campaign.

Launched on World Oceans Day, the designs are already making a splash in fashionable, ocean conservation circles. A ‘Save the Sea’ T-shirt is a purchase for life: printed on organic cotton, with all profits directly supporting EJF’s work to end illegal fishing and marine pollution. Each of these beautiful designs is inspired by a shared passion and concern for the future of our oceans and our ‘blue planet’.

These talented designers have been compelled to create a ‘Save the Sea’ design by a range of perils to ocean environments.

Dame Zandra Rhodes, who celebrates 50 years in the fashion business this year, says “I’m thrilled to be donating another design to EJF, a charity fighting for the heart of our oceans. No pollution is the only solution when it comes to taking care of our seas, the people who live by and sail on oceans, and incredible wildlife inside. The fact that over 8 million tonnes of plastic is dumped in the oceans every year is appalling, and I hope my design helps people think harder about their use of plastic, and their love of the sea.”

Bronwyn Lowenthal, co-founder of ethical clothing brand Lowie, and long-term supporter of EJF, has created a vibrant graphic design of coral and sea creatures. She was moved by her time diving on the now irreparably damaged Great Barrier Reef.

"We have supported EJF for the last 10 years and have a longstanding relationship with this amazing charity so when the opportunity came up to design a t-shirt to help the Save the Sea cause, we jumped at the chance. I grew up by the sea in a sailing city in Tasmania, Australia and I have always been close to nature, and now more than ever it is vital that we protect our oceans and those that work with them."

Lowie have also been diving deep on the web for plastic-free practices and products, which you can read about here.

Cora Hilts, co-founder of sustainable luxury boutique Rêve En Vert, likewise describes her childhood by the sea as a source of inspiration. “It was such an honour to be asked by EJF to design an item of clothing that would use fashion to resonate with a deeper meaning of sustainability. Having grown up on the seaside in Maine, protecting our oceans is one of the most important things to me and I hope this T-shirt will help in some way with that.”

Successful Australian fashion designer Collette Dinnigan takes Arctic wildlife as her focus for a beautifully hand-drawn design. "There's a reason why polar bears, seals and walruses are poster animals for the ravages of climate change: global warming is disfiguring the Arctic faster than anywhere else on Earth, and these intelligent, and interlinked, marine animals are being pinched into positions they should never have to endure. I am proud to be donating this design to EJF, a charity fighting for marine biodiversity, and changing the way we treat our seas."

The T-shirts are made from 100% organic, fairly-traded cotton in a factory powered by renewable energy. Designs by Rêve En Vert, Lowie and Collette Dinnigan are available to buy now from EJF’s Just-For shop – with Zandra Rhodes’s T-shirt released later in the month.

100% of profits directly support EJF’s Oceans Campaign – replenishing fisheries by working with local communities in West Africa, tracking illegal fishing internationally, preventing slavery at sea, and protecting a multitude of marine life.

Steve Trent, EJF’s Executive Director said: “Organic cotton offers a natural alternative to synthetic fabrics that are polluting our oceans. Buying a JUST-FOR t-shirt means you’re not only supporting innovation and sustainability in the fashion industry, but with 100% of the profits going back into EJF’s work, you’re playing a vital role in protecting the oceans upon which all life on Earth depends.”

ENDS

Notes for editors:

• EJF’s Just-for project has been supported by Vivienne Westwood, Katherine Hamnett, Betty Jackson, John Rocha, Eley Kishimoto, Rodnik Band, Gillian Anderson, Naomi Campbell, Lily Cole, Erin O’Connor, Olivia Colman, David Gandy and Christian Lacroix, together with Oceans Ambassadors, Kimberly Wyatt and Max Rogers. The portfolio has featured in New York, London and Paris Fashion Weeks; and coverage including Vogue, Elle, Grazia, Marie Claire, Guardian, FT and The Telegraph. T-shirt sales have raised over £600,000 for EJF projects to protect the environment and human rights.
• Last month, the UN reported that up to 33% of the world’s reported fish catch is illegal, unreported or unregulated – thus depriving small-scale fishers of food and income. Around the globe, more than 3 billion people rely on ocean biodiversity for their livelihoods.
• The planet is warmer now than at any point in the last 800,000 years and it is heating, fast. In coastal seas, this is leading to the irrecoverable bleaching of coral reefs: half of shallow reefs worldwide have already died, an appalling loss for marine ecosystems.
• Every minute the equivalent of a rubbish truck of plastic waste enters the oceans. 100,000 marine mammals and turtles and 1 million sea birds are killed by marine plastic pollution annually.
• EJF: works with grassroots communities to protect marine habitats and endangered wildlife including turtles, dolphins and sharks; campaigns to end slavery in fisheries; and promotes traceability and transparency in seafood supply chains.

The Environmental Justice Foundation is an international non-governmental organisation working to protect the environment and defend human rights. EJF is a charity registered in England and Wales (1088128). www.ejfoundation.org

Contact:

Daisy Brickhill - EJF Press & Communications Officer

daisy.brickhill@ejfoundation.org

Tel: 0787194691