Local biologist starts clothing line to help coral reefs
Biologist founded clothing company that helps fund coral restoration
Mitch Dender has had a fascination with the environment and oceans as far back as he can remember.
When he was young, he would spend hours fishing with his dad and his friends. Soon he started buying aquariums and filling them with different types of fish. Today, the 28-year-old from Windsor is a fisheries biologist with a passion for coral reefs.
“I saw what was going on with the coral reefs, and I’ve always been very attached to the reefs,” he said. “I’ve dived in Australia and the Caribbean for the last six years and snorkelled my whole life.” His passion led him to research studies on the degradation of the coral reefs. Some of the statistics startled him. For example, he discovered that more than 56 per cent of the world’s reefs have been lost over the last 30 years. Dender, a graduate of the University of Windsor’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, wanted to raise money to help with coral reef conservation. So, in January he started his clothing company For the Reef. He sells hoodies, T-shirts, jewelry and ball hats all made from fabric that is microplastic free. The clothing is made from 70-per-cent bamboo, 30 per cent cotton, giving it a softer and more quality feel.
The company is striving to “rebuild the reefs with every purchase.”
“People don’t realize this, but up to 90 per cent of our plastics in our lakes and oceans are microplastics,” he said. Microplastic is plastic that is less than five millimetres in diameter.
“A huge majority of clothing contains microplastic,” he said. “When you see polyester, spandex or anything like that, those are all plastic-derived fabrics.”
For the Reef partnered with SECORE International, a conservation organization that works for the protection and restoration of coral reefs. Every item of clothing purchased supports the planting of baby coral in the ocean. In June, For the Reef donated $16,500 to SECORE’s research and conservation efforts in the Caribbean island of Curacao. Dender said microfibres seem like a great idea on the surface because they are made with recycled plastic. But when microfibres are washed, microplastics end up in waterways.
Aquatic animals, including coral, mistake microplastics for food. Microplastics disrupt the digestive tracts of aquatic animals, causing them to starve.
“Whether you know it or not, we are all affected by coral reefs and, if we lose the coral reefs, we lose our fisheries in the ocean,” said Dender. “If we lose our fisheries, we lose a third of our protein production on the planet, which leads to hunger.”
For more information, go to forthereef.com.