Say hello to Fresh Clean Threads, a clothing brand that understands the significance of sustainability and actively incorporates environmentally responsible practices into its business model. Dedicated to providing comfortable and affordable basics, Fresh Clean Threads has embarked on a journey towards becoming fully green within the next five years.

To achieve this goal, they’re is implementing various measures. They’re reducing water usage in fabric dyeing, incorporating recycled polyester into their clothing production, eliminating single-use plastics, and adopting eco-friendly practices in their factories. These initiatives reflect their commitment to minimizing the negative impact on the world’s oceans, which face grave challenges from pollution, overfishing, climate change, consumerism, and unsustainable practices within the clothing and retail industry.

CORAL takes great pride in partnering with Fresh Clean Threads as a sustainability ally. We recognize and appreciate their dedication to ocean conservation, and we’re honored to be a recipient of their support as they continue on this transformative journey.

Meet the Founders

Matthew Parvis, the Founder and Executive Director of Fresh Clean Threads, is a San Diego resident who considers the beach his backyard. When he and his wife, Melissa, established the business, they ensured environmental conservation became an integral part of their guiding principles.

We have big aspirations to become a truly sustainable brand for the future, and we are spending a lot of time and resources to do this as quickly as we possibly can. But to do that we also have to be here as a business, so we call that being sustainably sustainable.

When asked about how Parvis has incorporated sustainability into the brand

The Fresh Clean Seas collection aligns with their sustainability initiative aimed at minimizing its impact on the ocean. The two primary focuses are reducing the usage of single-use plastics and supporting ocean conservation efforts. The collection takes an additional step by sourcing recycled polyester as its fabric.

Regarding this deliberate product decision, Matthew Parvis acknowledges, “What we are truly striving for at Fresh Clean Threads is to introduce innovative technologies that enable us to ensure that this polyester has a significantly reduced environmental impact.”

Reducing Single-Use Plastic

Fresh Clean Threads is deeply committed to reducing its plastic consumption, particularly in packaging and shipping materials. As part of their sustainability journey, the company has made significant changes, such as replacing traditional poly-mailers with compostable mailers made from cornstarch. These innovative mailers break down within months, in stark contrast to the hundreds of years conventional plastic takes to degrade.

According to Matthew Parvis, this transition represents the “second step” in their pursuit of becoming fully green. The first step involves making meaningful contributions to ocean conservation efforts, exemplified by their support for organizations like CORAL. The third step will ensure sustainable practices throughout the fabric production process by carefully selecting factories that share their values, all of which forms a crucial part of their responsible approach.

Eliminating polyester from their brand is the fourth step.

In addition to their packaging changes, Fresh Clean Threads has eliminated plastic tape, opting instead for fully recyclable water-activated paper tape. Plastic packaging for their products has been replaced with compostable bags made from plant-based materials. Despite recognizing that ethical considerations may not always be the primary factor in purchasing decisions, the company considers these choices as fundamental pillars of their brand. Matthew Parvis expresses a strong desire for greater awareness of environmental issues, including the detrimental impact of companies, to take center stage.

Supporting Ocean Conservation

In the past, the company has partnered with a handful of non-profit organizations dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans, and CORAL is grateful to now be a part of the Fresh Clean Threads community.

Beyond donating a portion of its profits to CORAL and being our match donor for our springtime campaign, our partners have dedicated their Fresh Clean Seas collection to our mission. This decision heightens the awareness and urgency for coral conservation and best practices to Fresh Clean Threads’ consumer base. In this way, Fresh Clean Threads is a part of the solution instead of part of the problem. 

Our Partnership

Fresh Clean Threads has recognized the importance of sustainability and is taking concrete steps to reduce its impact on the environment. The Fresh Clean Seas initiative, focused on reducing single-use plastic and supporting ocean conservation efforts, is an excellent example of how businesses can be environmentally responsible while still being profitable.

The driving ideology behind the company is “clothes that don’t wear on the planet.” This statement goes beyond the physical article of clothing, which has the potential of influencing its consumers for the greater good. Awareness provides shoppers the opportunity to make environmentally sustainable decisions all while educating them about the need for coral reef conservation.

CORAL is proud to align itself with Fresh Clean Threads, and we’re enthusiastic to see this partnership grow. Join us on our journey to make the ocean a healthier place for those that live above and below its surface.

The post Inside our Alliance: Fresh Clean Threads appeared first on Coral Reef Alliance.

Q: What motivates you to give to CORAL?
A: Diving near coral reefs for over 30 years and the way that CORAL is supporting the communities that live near the reefs as one of the methods to help preserve the reefs.

Q: What excites you about CORAL’s work?
A: The work in Roatan

Q: Tell us about your favorite ocean experience.
A: Too many to say there is one favorite.

Q: What are your hopes for the future of coral reefs?
A: That we’ll do whatever we can to help locals protect the coral reefs that are surviving.

Q: What worries you about reef health?
A: Ocean water temperatures rising.

Keep reading why donors choose CORAL. Hear from Jackson, our youngest donor, to learn why he cares about protecting the world’s coral reefs.

The post Why Donors Choose CORAL: Amy appeared first on Coral Reef Alliance.

Q: What motivates you to give to CORAL?

A: So that I can raise money to help save the coral reefs.

Q: What excites you about CORAL’s work?

A: That it’s [coral reefs are] the home to many different animals and that it is SO PRETTY!

Q: Tell us about your favorite ocean experience.

A: The first time I saw the ocean when I was on vacation. I was three!

Q:  What are your hopes for the future of coral reefs?

A:  That it will always be home to lots of beautiful animals.

Q: What worries you about reef health?  

A:  That some day it’s going to go extinct, and that lots of different species that live there won’t have a place to live anymore.

Join our alliance today or fill out our survey is you’d like to be featured on CORAL’s blog.

The post Why Donors Choose CORAL: Jackson appeared first on Coral Reef Alliance.

Q: What motivates you to give to CORAL?

A: The future of our reef ecosystems is vital to the sustainability of our planet. Every ecosystem has its nursery. Coral reefs are the ocean’s nursery.

Q: What excites you about CORAL’s work?

A:  CORAL’S work is very strategic. It is not addressing one issue, but many. Grassroots issues, like sedimentation, sewage, overfishing, are essential to address. And many issues are global, such as climate change. CORAL is focused on coral.

Q: Tell us about your favorite ocean experience.

A: I took myself on a shore dive in the Philippines. Just me. The water was warm and clear. All I did was sit myself down in the sand in the middle of an immaculate coral reef at about 25 feet and just watched for an entire hour as thousands of fish sailed.

Q:  What are your hopes for the future of coral reefs?

A: To preserve, re-vitalize, protect, and share their importance and beauty.

Q: What worries you about reef health?

A: Climate change.

Join our alliance today or fill out our survey is you’d like to be featured on CORAL’s blog.

The post Why Donors Choose CORAL: Bradley appeared first on Coral Reef Alliance.

Fast forward a few months, and Waters, the one-woman-machine, has single-handedly sewn and sold 635 reusable face masks, donating 100% of the proceeds to her favorite wildlife conservation charities, the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) included. 

Waters has been an avid SCUBA diver since 2011. She is a Master Diver and an underwater photographer who has explored oceans far and wide, logging over 350 dives. She has experienced some of the most incredible underwater sites, from diving with manta rays in Hawai‘i, to swimming with sharks, playing with dolphins, and enjoying bountiful coral while diving off the Rangiroa atoll in French Polynesia. Waters recalls, “I have always been in the water, it is my happy place.”

With such exploration, she has also witnessed first-hand the devastating effects of climate change, pollution, and overfishing on coral reefs. After years of dreaming and longing to visit the Great Barrier Reef, Waters was disappointed to find bleached coral as far as the eye could see. What was once an underwater rainforest of dreams, now looked like a nightmare, and Waters was inspired to help.

Even in her childhood, Waters had a passion for the ocean and for philanthropy. In third grade, she became so fascinated by sharks that she saved up all of her allowance money and donated it to marine researcher, Dr. Eugenie Clark, popularly known as “The Shark Lady.” Dr. Clark sent a signed photograph in return saying that she was inspired by Waters’ love for the ocean at such an early age.

Outside of the water, Waters has gone on safaris in Africa, trekked through the Rwandan rainforest to see wild gorillas, visited threatened orangutans in Borneo, and climbed Mt Kilimanjaro. Holding nature close to her heart, her call to action was learning that conservation nonprofits were struggling in the face of COVID-19. Waters decided to donate all of the proceeds from selling her masks to CORAL and three other organizations, a total of $6,500 to help conserve nature. Each mask was designed with vibrant prints of different animals and nature-scapes from the ocean to the rainforest. 

Selecting CORAL as a recipient was a no-brainer: her love for the ocean and SCUBA diving drew her to protect coral reefs. CORAL’s mission to save coral reefs and inspire local communities and individuals to protect their coral ecosystems deeply resonated with Waters because, “this project was me, just one person, trying to make a difference. If you inspire one person, they can inspire another person…and that’s how it grows.”

Although Waters originally aimed to become a marine biologist, she found her true calling in medicine. Working at the Durham VA Medical Center in North Carolina has been an adjustment during COVID-19. Pre-COVID, she would see patients every day while running the prostate cancer clinic. Now, Waters has had to shift over to telehealth appointments, social distancing, and working from the basement of the hospital, which she covered with pictures of the ocean to keep herself happy.

Waters sees first-hand the importance of wearing masks to curb the spread of the virus and help the healthcare system in our country as the number of COVID-19 patients in her hospital continues to rise, and her colleagues rush to respond. She leveraged her knowledge of proper masking techniques from years of working in the medical field to create a unique design for comfort, practicality, and safety. Not to mention, she made each part of the mask sustainable, from the upcycled metal nose rod, to the recycled T-shirt material for the straps, and the zero waste, printed-on-demand fabric that supports independent artists.

Between working as a nurse, taking care of her family (dog included), organizing food drives, virtually hiking the Appalachian Trail, and sewing hundreds of masks, juggling her busy schedule has been difficult. Yet, Waters found peace in helping others. Making masks during this crazy time has brought her joy and hope: hope that the pandemic will end, that her loved ones will be safe, and that her work will help wildlife in dire need of a saving grace. Her favorite part of this whole experience has been seeing how many people are excited to wear masks and help charities, as it has revealed “the good in the world.” As a superwoman who not only saves people’s lives during work, nurse Waters protects people, animals, and the environment when she is off duty, and inspires others to follow. Waters is a living example that one person can make a difference. 

The post A Nurse’s Plan to Save Coral Reefs by Making Masks appeared first on Coral Reef Alliance.