Advertisement

Save the Ocean Before Your Next Vacation

Photo credit: Amanda Pratt
Photo credit: Amanda Pratt

From Town & Country

Picking the eco-friendly, good-for-the-environment fashion option seems like it should always be the obvious choice, except for the rub: Sometimes going green means limited choices or a fabrication that leaves something to be desired (or, more simply, none of the options catch your eye). While the market has happily expanded to include environmentally friendly labels and shopping sources for ready-to-wear (including expanded offerings from fast-fashion giants like H&M), a niche has remained for special-occasion type buys.

Circumventing that issue when it comes to vacation-wear is Everything But Water, the online and brick-and-mortar retailer that's positioned itself as an every-month-of-the-year emporium for swim and beach-bar outfitting. The company is launching "Water is Everything" on World Water Day (March 22), a multi-year initiative to educate, give back and institute change. Capsule collections will allow shoppers to actually snap up eco-friendly products (fabric made of recycled plastic bottles! upcycled glass beads!), but the more exciting retail thought is that anything you purchase from the site, green or not, will be supporting a company that's dedicated to a gravely important cause.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Everything But Water
Photo credit: Courtesy of Everything But Water

"We'd been wanting to do something outside of ourselves for some time and finally got to the point where we felt the company was big enough to make an investment financially and operationally," Sabra Krock, the company's creative director and co-owner, explained. "It was also inspired by governmental forces at hand. We felt we had to do our part to contribute in areas that weren't being sufficiently addressed."

Beyond the aforementioned capsules-including Vitamin A suits made with recycled plastic bottles and jewelry from Kate Davis and Twine & Twig-the company is teaming up with California-based non-profit The 5 Gyres Institute to support research that will combat the deluge of plastic that's tossed into the ocean annually.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Everything But Water
Photo credit: Courtesy of Everything But Water

"We'll be doing beach clean-ups nationally in September and ocean trawling expeditions in Florida, New York, and California," Krock said. "We're also doing educational programming with children grades two through nine."

Kate Davis necklace, $144; everythingbutwater.com SHOP

Within their corporate office and select stores, the company is also implementing change. Environmentally friendly office supplies will be subbed in where possible, and a pilot program enacted with nationwide mall conglomerate Simon Malls will allow the pesky plastic bags that protect pieces in transit to be recycled.

In short: You now have an easier way to find conscious pieces that are beach-ready, and if none of those catch your eye, you can feel conscionable about purchasing from a company that, overall, is actually working to do something about the mess we've made of our seas.

You Might Also Like