We firmly believe that small things can have a big impact. What better reason to ensure that even the buttons on our swim shorts are made from eco-friendly rPET, produced by a Swiss start-up in Basel.
We already know the facts: according to a United Nations report, if we don’t make rapid, permanent changes to our patterns of consumption and approach to waste management, by 2050 our oceans will contain more plastic than fish. That’s not very long, so why wait? In a race against time such as this, even little things can have a beneficial effect. That’s why almost everything about our swim shorts is 100% eco-friendly, from the recycled fabric for the shorts themselves to the rPET for the buttons, made by a young Swiss company that is actively seeking solutions to combat marine plastic pollution. This innovative start-up has involved local communities on the islands of South East Asia, including the Andaman Islands, in setting up an effective system of managing waste and collecting plastic.
The recovered, sorted plastic waste is taken to Switzerland by a carbon-neutral means of transport, where it is transformed into rPET, thanks to a partnership with the Swiss Institute of Materials Technology and Plastic Processing.
It is from this locally produced, traceable, eco-friendly material that we mould our buttons – a little thing, perhaps, but something we can do to help depollute the seas.