Sunbrella is sponsoring the French association The SeaCleaners in their important mission of raising awareness against plastic pollution on land and at sea. By becoming an official sponsor of The SeaCleaners, Sunbrella is choosing to help preserve the oceans and environment.
What is The SeaCleaners?
The SeaCleaners is an association founded by Yvan Bourgnon that encourages coordinated and joint action to sustainably preserve the oceans from plastic pollution. Bourgnon has always harbored a love for the ocean and has made quite a splash in the racing world. He holds several world records and won the Transat Jacques-Vabre in 1997 along with his brother, Laurent. He has also accomplished solo adventures on his catamaran without assistance, including a round-the-world race from 2013 to 2015 and the Northwest Passage linking Greenland to Alaska in 2017. Today, as Chairman and Founder of The SeaCleaners, his focus has turned to cleaning up the oceans of which he has become so familiar. Their largest adventure so far is the Manta, a cleaning ship that will collect and treat plastic waste.
A Promising Partnership
Partnering with The SeaCleaners was a natural fit for Sunbrella. The oceans are the playground for many of us who love to be on the water and is very important to protect for generations to come. With its sponsorship of The SeaCleaners, Sunbrella proudly supports the creation of The Manta, a first-of-its-kind ship. The Manta is designed to collect, treat, and repurpose large volumes of floating plastic debris in highly polluted waters. The Manta will also hold educational and learning conferences and showcase technological solutions for waste management and repurposing.
Sunbrella is dedicated to protecting and preserving the environment. Currently, more than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the oceans every year, impacting the lives of more than 1,400 marine species and killing 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals a year. If we don't react and do the work to reduce pollution, by 2050 there will be more plastics in the oceans than fish.
Dickson, our European counterpart, explains how our environmental initiatives line up with The SeaCleaners.
Sustainability at Sunbrella
Supporting the oceans and the environment is important to Sunbrella. In addition to supporting organizations like The SeaCleaners, Sunbrella is committed to creating a more sustainable future through eco-responsible actions including the fabric manufacturing process. Here are some actions that make a difference:
- Textiles are woven from solution-dyed acrylic, thus avoiding a very polluting yarn dyeing stage. By integrating color and performance properties directly into the fibers, our manufacturing process increases color retention, lowers potential pollution, and saves water.
- The water used during the weaving process is completely recycled internally and the North Carolina and South Carolina manufacturing plants are solar powered.
- Recycle My Sunbrella, another initiative focused on fabric recycling, has collected nearly one million pounds of fabric that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill.
To learn more about our sustainability initiatives, visit the sustainability page.
Learn more about our marine upholstery fabrics, our sustainability initiatives, and The SeaCleaners.
