Growing up in Singapore ignited my passion for our fragile
oceans and its inhabitants. I became fascinated by fish and at one point I kept
over 30 fish tanks in my childhood bedroom.
Living so close to the ocean also showed me firsthand the damaging
effects that humans were having on our seas.
Four years ago, I started my first eco-venture, an
ocean-friendly jewelry line called Sand Shack, which donated 5% of its profits
to ocean conservation efforts. At the end of the day I was left with the same burning
question: what kind of difference were my donations making on our oceans? That’s
when I created a unique business model in 2010, which would associate each
business transaction with a concrete environmental action.
United By Blue is
an ocean-friendly brand of apparel, which removes a pound of trash from oceans
and waterways for every product sold from our line of organic t-shirts, canvas
bags and jewelry. We don’t pay anyone to take out the trash: our staff jumps at
the chance get our hands dirty. In just under two years, UBB has removed over
80,000 pounds of trash during 60 cleanups in 15 states and two countries.
Our distribution has grown from a few specialty stores to
over 100 stores throughout the country and Japan. United By Blue’s story and
products have been featured everywhere from the Wall
Street Journal to GQ.
Our business model allows our impact to grow as fast as our business does.
Even before United
By Blue was founded, I greatly admired Clean Ocean Action’s dedication to turning
the tide of our oceans’ future. After
all, it doesn’t matter if it is a UBB customer in Kansas or a Clean Ocean
Action supporter on the Jersey Shore-- we are all United By Blue.
Brian Linton, United By Blue’s Founder and Chief Trash Collector
No comments:
Post a Comment