Haberdashery: Recovered Ocean Plastic

Plastic pollution is an enormous, global issue. With one garbage truck of rubbish being disposed of into rivers, oceans and lands every minute, it still astounds me how few consumers and businesses are aware of, or even care about the issue. Thanks to global campaigns like David Attenborough’s “Blue Planet II”, there has been a sudden wave in consumer awareness. As shoppers begin to question and ultimately refuse the single-use plastic they are presented with by corporates, the fight against plastic pollution becomes easier.

Thankfully, there are companies out there on a mission to solve this problem. Rob Ianelli is founder and CEO of Oceanworks. Oceanworks source, design and manufacture ocean plastic into finished goods including… haberdashery!

Rob was part of the founding team for Norton Point - the first ever sunglasses made from consumer ocean plastic, HDPE. The Kickstarter was fully funded in six days and raised just under $60,000 in thirty days.

The brand was inundated with requests from other brands looking to produce products for them too. Rob saw an opportunity to create a new company to help these brands, and Oceanworks was born.