In just two days, a sea otter T-shirt worn by pop star Taylor Swift helped raise more than NZ$3.4 million for ocean conservation.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium in Northern California launched the campaign after Swift wore a vintage otter conservation T-shirt in a movie celebrating her new album The Life of a Showgirl.
The shirt, originally made in the 1990s, features two sea otters floating on their backs. Fans were so eager to get the same shirt that the aquarium decided to re-release it. Their goal was to raise NZ$2.2 million, reaching that target in under eight hours. Donations came in at nearly NZ$174,000 every 15 minutes.
Anyone who donates at least NZ$113 will receive one of the otter T-shirts. The money goes towards helping injured and orphaned sea otters.
The aquarium doesn’t know how Swift got the shirt, but she and her fiancé, American footballer Travis Kelce, have been seen visiting nearby towns. Interestingly, Kelce loves sea otters, and there’s even a sea otter at the aquarium named Opal — also the name of one of Swift’s songs and Kelce’s birthstone.
The shirts are printed by Liberty Graphics, a small company in Maine. They use eco-friendly cotton and inks, and are trying to avoid using plastic packaging.
