Turning lost fishing gear into something usable is part of an initiative by a clothing manufacturer, a diving organisation and an NGOs to retrieve and recycle nets into a clothing range.
Clothing brand Fat Face and its charity Fat Face Foundation, charity set up in 2009 to make a positive and enduring difference to the lives of people in communities where Fat Face sources, manufactures, retails and distributes its products, have set up a partnership with diving specialists Fourth Element and global animal welfare charity World Animal Protection.
Fourth Element’s Ocean Positive swimwear, made from recycled marine plastics, is now available from the Fat Face website and selected stores, with proceeds from sales supporting World Animal Protection’s marine wildlife protection work.
The Fat Face Foundation and Fourth Element are members of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), an alliance spearheaded by World Animal Protection to find solutions to the problem of lost and abandoned fishing gear (ghost gear) worldwide.
The claim is that 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear is discarded in the world’s oceans every year.
The Ocean Positive swimwear line by Fourth Element uses recycled nylon from retrieved lost fishing gear to produce its line of bikinis, swimsuits and beachwear. Teams of divers and fishermen all over the world reclaim these nets, often working in extremely dangerous conditions. The netting is then recycled into before being knitted into Lycra fabric for the Ocean Positive swimwear.
‘The Ocean Positive range is a statement of intent, to do something meaningful to benefit the environment that we love and feel compelled to protect,’ said Paul Strike, co-founder of Fourth Element. ‘We also wanted to address a requirement among our customers including ourselves, for a practical product that is comfortable under a wetsuit yet looks great as beachwear.’
