Exclusive HfP competition: Win luxury swim shorts, worth up to £220

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• whiskerxx says:

  14 Dec14 December 08:35

  How do you recycle the shorts?

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    14 Dec14 December 09:02

    Just bunch them together to make a hollow and pour your coke in. Once done, toss them in the ocean. I’m trying to start a business recycling ocean found shorts into plastic bottles worth up to £220 but I’m struggling for source material.

• Oh Matron! says:

  14 Dec14 December 09:09

  If the Zeitgeist at the moment is to be negative when someone comes along with an innovative product, that’s removing plastic from the oceans, and is british made, and you even have a chance of winning something for free, then this doesn’t bode well for society.

  I applaud H4P and it’s approach to still have decent journalistic intentions, instead of the Credit Card referral fee hawkers that charade as “travel websites” in the US… Keep it up Rob (and Rhys, of course!)

  • Brian says:

    14 Dec14 December 09:35

    And Anika!! It’s her article…

  • ThinkSquare says:

    14 Dec14 December 09:50

    Please can we clarify – is Zak actually removing these bottles from the ocean, or is it simply plastic that has been sent for recycling?

    • Brian says:

      14 Dec14 December 13:54

      Yes, from his comment above, the shorts are made from (mostly) bottles and fishing nets pulled from the ocean. He also says he’s a kite surfer. Reading between the lines, therefore, when the wind drops, he pulls bottles and other plastic waste from the ocean to fill the time….

      • Cat says:

        14 Dec14 December 18:39

        I now have a policy of swim out, avoiding the plastic, swim back in and collect along the way. I usually try to do a beach clean or two while on holiday as well.
        This is so much better than my paltry efforts, and it’s awesome. It’s a brilliant business idea, I hope he finds enough people willing to pay that kind of money and I applaud him.

    • Zak Johnson (NAECO) says:

      15 Dec15 December 11:13

      Hi ThinkSquare,

      We actually use a company to pull the plastic out in mass – these are well equipped to do this and have the vessels and the ability to do so. We often do Naeco beach cleans where we are ensuring we tidy the beaches locally. However, we can only do this in the UK at the moment and the problem is greater elsewhere so we try our best to reduce in multiple areas. We are actually in conversations with a few companies to start clearing around the Maldives as part of a new initiative.

      Anyone is welcome to our beach clean days – I know it is not for everyone but I provide food and beers (or prosecco) at the end of the day too. It is great to meet people with the same passion as us – we know not everyone will buy our products but we try to educate people along the way as I feel if we all did a little… it would make a huge change. Ideally, we want no plastic in the ocean and to do this we need to educate people at source – not using it in the first place is the ideal solution but we need companies to come up with ways to use the plastic dragged out each year or we will just end up with a landfill issue next. If anyone has ideas how to use it – I am an open book and would happily share ways in which you can get that business going. We need more people to do more…

      Well enough of me preaching and boring people…

      Have a great Christmas everyone

      Zak

      • Cat says:

        15 Dec15 December 11:35

        Hey Zac,

        I’d be interested in doing the occasional beach clean, and my preference is prosecco!

        Rob, would you mind giving Zac my contact details, or vice versa?

        Thanks!

        Cat

  • Chris says:

    14 Dec14 December 09:52

    Indeed, well said.

    I work with someone with a ‘this doesn’t completely solve every one of society’s problems and it’s therefore pointless’ attitude and it’s exhausting.

    It’s also important to see someone making something actually decent out of reclaimed material, rather than a poor substitute that one buys for the cause alone (think recycled paper, etc) – prove there is a market for quality items made from recycled product and watch it grow so one day there are £30 recycled shorts too.

    • Zak Johnson (NAECO) says:

      15 Dec15 December 11:17

      Thanks for the positive feedback Chris,

      We try our best to make products built to last as you say – no point making something from the plastic that will fail and end up in landfill or back in the ocean. We do believe over time as manufacturing costs reduce we will be able to make more cost-effective products.

      Tesla introduced and electric car which was over £100k (not saying we are a Tesla at all) and then they refined their business, processes and offering and now have an affordable (more affordable) car coming for a larger demographic.

      These new businesses take time as there is no road map – no one walked this path before and this can mean it is expensive to produce or even market for awareness.

      In short I think your bang on the money and see where the market will eventually be

      Zak

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    14 Dec14 December 10:46

    We are not a nation who build people up, we are one that rejoices in pulling others down. But most of the comments here appear good natured.

    For me, it’s not the concept that raises the eybrows, it’s the marketing. I’d be interested in how many plastic bags go into this (the video starts showing such an item). I’d be interested in how many bottles come from the ocean (the video shows a plastic bag in the ocean) vs via traditional recycling that is already occurring.

    Listen, it’s a worthy project and it is undoubtedly finding another new avenue to recycle plastic. In that sense this is good but I suspect it isn’t really moving the needle in terms of accessing the hard to reach stuff in the middle of the Pacific or the hard to recycle.

    It’s the oversell that raises mirth. That too is the Zeitgeist of the moment.

    • Chris says:

      14 Dec14 December 13:13

      “the Zeitgeist of the moment”

      Is that a bit like a self-defining tautology?

    • Cat says:

      14 Dec14 December 18:41

      It’s lowering the amount being added to the (currently 3 X the size of France?) Pacific garbage patch on a daily basis.

      We need to start somewhere…

  • Callum says:

    14 Dec14 December 11:23

    They aren’t removing bottles from the ocean, that’s PR rubbish.

    • callum says:

      14 Dec14 December 14:06

      It seems I was wrong about not removing them from the ocean – my apologies!

      • Zak Johnson (NAECO) says:

        15 Dec15 December 11:19

        Callum, not at all. It is all about education, we are a fairly new business walking a new path for sustainable futures. It will take us time and we know there will be questions along the way. I appreciate the opportunity to tell people so thank you for the comment.

        Have a great Christmas

        Zak

• MonkeymaN says:

  14 Dec14 December 09:58

  Has to be better than my DIY effort of recycled plastic swim shorts involving a Tescos carrier bag. Time to upgrade, I hope I win!

  • ankomonkey says:

    14 Dec14 December 20:20

    🙂 Maybe try those see-through freezer bags next time. They’re a bit stronger and will give the snorkellers a surprise as they swim by…

    • Zak Johnson (NAECO) says:

      15 Dec15 December 11:19

      I can’t wait to see these options!!!! Hahaha

• RussellH says:

  14 Dec14 December 10:43

  > This month their goal is to remove 15,000 plastic bottles from our oceans and landfills.

  So, they actually send staff out to landfill sites to rescue bottles that others have not bothered to send for re-cycling? Or use drift nets to remove bottles from the sea?

  If so, perhaps that might account for the silly pricing!

• Rts says:

  14 Dec14 December 11:02

  Buy Hurley X Phantoms… They are much more stylish, cheaper and also uses recycled plastic.

• Callum says:

  14 Dec14 December 11:27

  Perhaps I’m wrong, but I don’t believe these are environmentally friendly at all. The “hand stitched” aspect may counteract some of this, but the tiny plastic fibres will wash off this product (as all synthetic clothes do) and run straight into the ocean. It’s effectively turning a stable lump of plastic into millions of tiny pieces.

  I would imagine turning recycled bottles into new bottles instead will be much better.

  • Zak Johnson (NAECO) says:

    15 Dec15 December 11:42

    Hi Callum,

    Thanks for the comments – I am by no means arguing but I would like to help give some information on why we are environmentally friendly compared to other competitors in the space and even other clothing companies if that is ok.

    We start off by trying our best to remove the 8 million tons of plastic consumers throw into the ocean each year. This has to be removed or it will degrade into our oceans and indeed create harmful microplastics. The quicker we get this out the fewer microfibres we will be exposed to. I know we need to stop this at the source and there are some fantastic companies out there doing this but unfortunately, that won’t help the millions of tons still killing our ocean wildlife and getting into our human food chain.

    We manufacture our garments in the UK as we are a fair and sustainable employer and try to do things a little differently rather than focus on where we can make for cheap and exploit for massive profits. We as a business actually take a very small profit margin in comparison to other fashion brands.

    I also know that not every consumer will stop washing synthetics so I think it is also another challenge for manufacturers of washing machines to invest in filtration systems that can help filter the fibre before it enters our waste water. If anyone wants to take on the task I think this could be big bucks and be a hige saver.

    Microfibres – we have actually been testing this. When I made the product I wanted to create a garment that was not going to be washed every day / week. This would reduce the number of microplastics being washed into the rivers and oceans through the washing process.

    All swimwear is synthetic fibre like polyester/ nylon. Unfortunately, no other fabric is acceptable for swimwear currently and I saw this as a threat. I have tried many options for swimwear and it needs to retain certain qualities only found in synthetics.

    So I wanted to combat the use of virgin plastic in swimwear by using a recycled plastic as the source element for making our yarn. This would reduce the plastic in the ocean and reduce the use of virgin polyester. It also reduces the use of chemicals and water waste as it takes less energy to produce. (Long convo but happy to share all info and stats this with you on this)

    We then looked at the average amount of times swimwear is washed and this is typically quite low compared to a number of other garments. We have also studied that the microplastics coming off of standard synthetic fibre from virgin shorts is much higher than Naeco shorts. We are working with a team to document this research in detail. We cannot stop people from going in the ocean in swimwear but we can reduce the harmful effects of the product in the water and also the amount of plastic in the ocean. We also recommend using Guppyfriend Bags to wash your clothes in – surprisingly a number of people speak about microplastics but do not use a Guppyfriend bag or alternative in their day to day washing which is astounding!!! These are a must for everyone…

    As I say it is a new world and unchartered water but we are always striving to do our best to fix the issue at every stage.

    I hope that helps a littke more but always happy to answer anyhting else

    Best

    Zak

    • Zak Johnson (NAECO) says:

      15 Dec15 December 11:46

      Sorry about the 3 – 4 typos I am writing on the move.
      Best,
      Zak

      • Callum says:

        15 Dec15 December 13:14

        Don’t worry about typos!

        I do appreciate what you do is better than the current mainstream, but if you’re trading off being better then I don’t think it’s enough. There actually is non synthetic swimwear (barely) available (hemp/cotton), and if you’re charging £220 per pair I’d imagine you can make some reasonably nice ones.

        The issue is they most probably aren’t as nice as the ones you’re making, and as you’ve mentioned, you’re a luxury brand. Which is fine as, as I said, you’re better than most, I just don’t think the environmental credentials are as good as the marketing implies (though when does marketing ever not exaggerate I guess!).

        Thanks for the reply, and although my post was negative (annoyingly I have a habit of only posting about the bits I disagree with and not praising the bits I do!), thanks for making the effort with this!

• JD says:

  14 Dec14 December 11:36

  I’m struggling to find a tailoring blog that details the advantages of handstitching plastic clothing, I’m keen as hell for the added “richness” my life will get from it.

  • Rob says:

    14 Dec14 December 13:49

    Not handstitching plastic clothing, handstitching clothing in general. Or indeed handstitching on briefcases, handbags etc.

    Go and read Permanent Style for half an hour, you might learn something.

    • jd says:

      14 Dec14 December 14:18

      On this list of all things I need to learn something about, stitching won’t feature.

      • Peter K says:

        14 Dec14 December 19:03

        “On this list of all things I need to learn something about, stitching won’t feature.”
        Yet you went looking for a tailoring blog about hand stitching plastic clothing long enough to say you were struggling to find one and then make a sarcastic comment. Hmmmm.

    • Jane says:

      14 Dec14 December 15:34

      rather (unnecessarily) defensive Rob

• marcw says:

  14 Dec14 December 12:04

  I’d rather swim naked than paying £220 for some swimwear. I’d also rather save those £220 and instead on buying plastic, make all possible efforts to reduce plastic consumption. Why do we need plastic bottles if there are glass (reusable, refillable,…) bottles?

  The solution is not finding uses for plastic, but to reduce and minimise any plastic.

  • Brian says:

    14 Dec14 December 13:39

    Hear hear!

  • David says:

    14 Dec14 December 16:52

    I’m sure we’d all rather swim naked, but it isn’t always socially appropriate…

  • Zak Johnson (NAECO) says:

    15 Dec15 December 12:02

    Hi Marcw,
    Thanks for joining the conversation – swimming naked is absolutely up to you! Hahah I find I get shouted at most places so tend to stick to wearing shorts.

    I agree with you – we definitely need to reduce and minimise the use of plastics in our day to day lives. However, to say the solution is not finding uses for plastic currently decomposing and killing over 100,000 marine mammals a year is not quite correct. I hope I can help answer this.

    As we are dumping 8 million tons of plastic into the ocean this is causing huge issues around the world. It actually doesn’t matter which country contaminates as it affects us all sadly. I wanted to do something more than the average guy on the street and I know there have been comments about 15,000 bottles is a (figuratively and literally a drop in the ocean) but it is a start. If we all found ways to remove and recycle this plastic we will remove microfibres from our ocean that will eventually kill our ocean wildlife. I am not saying Naeco will be the one solution to change the world but I created it to raise awareness and bring the conversation to others about the plastic problem.

    I really encourage anyone to create a business that helps to reduce this – I have said in a previous comment I would be happy to help anyone do this too. I am passionate about it and sometimes feel is a task that is impossible. But one of my favourite quotes at the moment is…

    “It always seems impossible till it is done’ – Nelson Mandella.

    Sorry for the long reply but your comment deserved my time and I hope I helped a little.

    Have a great Christmas

    Zak

    • marcw says:

      16 Dec16 December 09:28

      Thanks for your efforts to reply Zak.
      I understand your commitment and efforts to run a sustainable eco-friendly business, which I really appreciate (but I can not afford a £220 bill for a pair of swimming shorts). I have no problems with this. I also have no problems with swimming naked, don’t particularly care what other people say or think about me when I do it.
      However, reducing plastic dumping in the oceans is not the solution to protect the marine ecosystem. It may help, but it is not the solution. AFAIK the biggest threat to marine ecosystems is actually overfishing. Big picture: if we REALLY want to protect the marine ecosystem we should fight all threats: plastic, overfishing, oil, and all the contaminants (loads of shit and chemical waste) we throw into the sea.

      On a side, do you collaborate with ONG or charities in places whith plenty of plastic (rubbish) on beaches/coast?

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