Back in 1995 when I lived in the Dominican Republic I had this social business idea of bring conservation awareness/support and fashion together. Until today I still have not forgotten about this idea. Living then in Cabarete, which is a great water sports town, the oceans and its creatures were of interests. We picked sharks as we felt, already then, that they needed protection. We named our wannabe company “Natural Born Killers”. The naming philosophy was based on that most of top predators were endangered or were soon going to be on the list. And, from the creatures perspective we humans were the ultimate predator, so the person wearing the item was, in a way, a natural born killer.
As sharks and surfers have a special relationship we would develop surfer and beach wear. A percentage of each sale would go towards the conservation of sharks. We would work in partnership with very particular and selected organizations, mostly local ones. We even had a very special plan in place for restricted and limited shark teeth and bone jewelry, which would need to be certified and be a local run business. The animals were not to be hunted and/or killed for jewelry.
We did produce some T-shirts and shark teeth jewelry, and they did sell very, very well. Then we all started to move on and that is how it ended.
The idea was not only limited to sharks and surf wear. We also had other animals and fashion lines in mind, e.g. [grizzly] bears for trekking wear, [rattle] snakes/pumas for hiking wear, lions for safari look, polar bear/orcas for winter sports wear, tiger for jungle wear, etc. There were much more ideas then just a fashion company, there would also be local community activities in each Natural Born Killers Hub.
I still do really like this idea, of people supporting endangered animals by doing what they love doing in the creatures habitat. On the end, people do vote with their wallets and if they would buy NBK they are making a statement and giving back.
If anyone is interested in the idea please contact me. I'll be 100% on board!!!....
Write a comment