MAN FRIDAY IT’S TIME TO HIT THE BOTTLE
Fashion’s new obsession for recycling ocean plastic is one we should all get on board with, says Stephen Doig
The sun is out, the garden’s calling and there’s a bottle of something crisp in the wine cooler; why not settle into the Bank Holiday with some stark and alarming reading? Sobering and postapocalyptic, Will Mccallum’s book How To
Give Up Plastic might not make for light relief, but it highlights what will happen if we don’t sate our plastic consumption. The statistics – that we kill more than 100,000 marine mammals a year with the near-impossibleto-get-rid-of material, and that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish – make for grim reading. This week’s Extinction Rebellion protests across London have also been highlighting the perils (to perhaps less convincing effect).
The fashion industry is one of the biggest problem areas – synthetic fibres account for a third of the microplastics in the ocean. Luckily some brands are beginning to step up their eco responsibility and chime with the times and tackle this swell. Recycling plastic from the oceans and turning it into clothing and accessories is one of the ways they are doing this.
This week Ralph Lauren debuted the Earth Polo, a rendering of its classic polo shirt. It has been developed with American recycling specialist First Mile and features a cotton-like material made with plastic bottles. Appropriately, swimwear brands have also been dynamic in recycling ocean waste – the likes of Riz Boardshorts, Passenger Clothing and Naeco use plastic bottles to create their shorts and trunks.
The realm of luxury isn’t impervious either. This spring Swiss watchmaker Breitling unveiled the Super Heritage II Chronograph Outerknown (they like a decorous title, the Swiss timepiece authorities). It uses Econyl yarn on the strap, which is a material made from nylon debris from fishing nets, having worked with the Ocean Conservancy initiative to develop it.
The waste from men’s grooming and beauty products is monumental too, but initiatives from the likes of shaving and men’s toiletry brand Men-ü to reduce all products to concentrates (saving on packaging) and making the bottle pumps and components of its shaving kits recyclable are examples of more considered approach in your bathroom cabinet. The mass market King of Shaves has also vowed to go plastic-free by 2023.
And with stigma around manbaggery a thing of the past, there’s no excuse for a man not to carry a handy tote. Get into the habit of taking one with you wherever you are out and about and saying yes to a plastic bag will – hopefully – seem as unbelievable and archaic as smoking on planes. And a tote is a heck of a lot more stylish.