In 2007 beach pollution prompted more than 22,500 beach closings at ocean, bay and Great Lakes beaches. Pollution is harming the environment, but it’s also keeping outdoor enthusiasts from pursuing their passions, especially surfers.
Well aware that ocean pollution could be the end of surfing, some of the biggest names in the industry have come together to raise money in order to keep their sport alive. Project BLUE is the collaboration of seven competitive surf brands — Billabong, DAKINE, Electric, Famous Wax, Nixon, O’Neill, and Reef — all in support of the non-profit Surfrider. With new designs from each company — most of them incorporating alternative materials like recycled PET and organic cotton — a portion of all proceeds from products in the Project BLUE line goes towards Surfrider’s mission to help keep the world’s beaches and ocean safe.
We caught up with Vipe Desai, Director of Marketing at Monster Energy, member of Surfrider’s National Board of Directors and the initiative founder of Project BLUE, to learn more about what’s behind the initiative and the power that consumers have to vote with their wallets when it comes to the environment.
Wend: What inspired you to launch Project BLUE?
Vipe Desai: It all goes back to helping an organization that I’ve grown up with; the Surfrider Foundation, and my passion for surfing and the environment.
I’ve been involved with the Surfrider Foundation for almost 15 years. Originally I worked with Surfrider on a local level, dating back to when I owned the H20 surf shop in Sunset Beach. Years later, when I was managing the youth-marketing consultancy Propaganda Headquarters, Surfrider was added to our roster of partners as a pro-bono client and after a few years, I was asked to be a part of the national board of directors, a position I still hold today.
Surfrider does some really incredible work, but like most non-profits, they could definitely use more help on the financial side. After seeing the successes of other conscious shopping initiatives, I thought we could do something similar for Surfrider.
With project BLUE we’ve taken six of the top brands in surfing, who also happen to be competitors, and let them run loose within a product category, with part of the proceeds going to back to Surfrider. Billabong, DAKINE, Electric Visual, Nixon, O’Neill and Reef are all creating new products or coming out with special editions of their products.
The goal of project BLUE isn’t for people to shop more. What project BLUE does is give surfers and beach lovers an easy way to help Surfrider next time they need new gear.
Why target surfers with such a campaign? What do you think sets the surf world apart from other sports in terms of environmental activism?
Surfing is reliant on having a clean environment. When we’re out riding waves, we’re immersed in nature. We see fish, dolphins, plastic bags and other garbage… sometimes all in one session.
Philanthropy is a mature subject and unfortunately, many of us don’t get involved in a cause unless it has already affected us directly. It’s not rare that surfers get sick from riding waves in polluted waters. If people developed nagging coughs from playing softball on a contaminated field, I think we’d see other athletic manufacturers following suit.
There are a number of competing brands coming together to help raise funds to save our beaches and oceans. What does this tell us about the importance of environmental conservation for these companies?
The project BLUE partners getting together is similar to if a Coke and Pepsi or Microsoft and Apple were to get together and collaborate. On a regular basis, the partners in project BLUE compete, not just in product categories, but also for athletes, media coverage and space at retail.
The fact that these brands have set aside their differences for project BLUE shows that they all recognize that without clean oceans and healthy beaches, we can’t have a surf industry.
Not only does a portion of revenue go to an environmental organization but the products that are part of Project BLUE are also examples of sustainable design, incorporating everything from organic cotton to recycled PET. Do you think that Project Blue can be influential in getting other companies to start using more sustainable fabrics across their product lines?
I definitely hope so. Products under the project BLUE umbrella are made without compromise. If product is “green†and doesn’t hold up, it’s of no good to anyone.
One great example of a project BLUE partner using sustainable materials in their design is Billabong. The boardshorts Billabong makes for project BLUE use their exclusive Eco-Supreme Suede material, which is made from recycled plastic bottles. To-date, more than three million plastic bottles have been diverted from landfills and turned into Billabong boardshorts using Eco-Supreme Suede. That’s pretty incredible.
Eventually, people will come to expect that the brands they support are eco-conscious or have similar ideals as those involved in project BLUE. If a brand doesn’t care about its customers, why should customers care about a brand? Brands should look at customers not as people who buy merchandise, but as partners. The support needs to go both ways.
Project Blue is a clear example of how consumers can use their dollars to make change. Are consumers powerful enough to influence more businesses to start making change and implementing more sustainable practices?
Customers are definitely able to influence businesses to start changing their ways.
Voting with your wallet is one of the easiest ways we can all make our voices heard. By purchasing goods and services from companies that implement sustainable practices, people can easily show corporations that sustainability and eco-responsibility issues of importance to them. By acting as brand advocates and telling our friends (whether face-to-face or online) about who we’re supporting and why, other brands will start to listen and feel compelled to act accordingly.
Thanks Vipe!
