A summit to raise awareness for the oceans and launch the first fashion collection made from recycled Ocean Plastic
"We all feel a connection to it when we’re standing on a beach, but the ocean affects our day-to-day lives more than we expect. The ocean truly is the lifeblood of our planet.”
Pharrell Williams
During the September 2014 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Parley for the Oceans submerged 23 Wall Street in an underwater audiovisual light display to raise awareness of major threats to marine species and ecosystems, and to introduce the kinds of solutions that are possible through creative collaborations. To kick off the two-day summit, creators, thinkers and leaders from the worlds of fashion, art, eco innovation and ocean conservation were invited to attend the Parley hosted ‘Ocean Night', where Pharrell Williams unveiled the first fashion collaboration of the Vortex Project: a denim line made from recycled ocean plastic material presented as the SS15 G-Star 'RAW for the Oceans' collection. 'RAW for the Oceans' is supporting the Vortex Project, an initiative by Parley for the Oceans in partnership with Bionic Yarn and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
In the year since its launch at Parley Wall Street, three 'RAW for the Oceans' collections have transformed over 2 million PET plastic bottles and containers intercepted from coastlines and the sea by the Parley Global Cleanup Network.
There are no perfect solutions to the massive issue of plastic pollution in our oceans. There are only incremental steps we can all take to address and counter immediate threats while boosting eco innovation for long-term solutions. Recycling ocean plastic and turning it into new material is about so much more than making something consumer-ready and cool, it’s about taking action to create and inspire change. Turning plastic "into something fantastic” in collaboration with Bionic Yarn, Pharrell and G-star RAW has allowed us to cut into the unnecessary production of virgin plastic while raising necessary funding and awareness for the cause. Learnings along the way have inspired our current Ocean Plastic Strategy and further informed the principles of AIR, our long-term plan to Avoid, Intercept, and Redesign the world’s most ubiquitous design failure.
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Parley Wall Street Summit Speakers:
Sylvia Earle, Captain Paul Watson, Pharrell Williams, Leland Melvin, Louie Psihoyos, Chris Jordan, Thecla Schaeffer, Tyson Toussant, Tim Coombs, John Warner, Marco Spier, Iain Kerr, Roger Payne, Dianna Cohen, Chris Clark, Felix Hallwachs, Miranda Wang, Susan Hartland, and Heidi Taylor.
