American high fashion designer Tom Ford is committed to taking action against the alarming rise in ocean plastic waste.
According to Vogue, ocean plastic is one of the biggest threats to marine life facing us today; more than eight million tons of plastic enter the oceans each year, and it is predicted that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish.
“It’s one of the greatest issues facing us: polluting the oceans. If they die, we’re in big trouble,” Vogue quoted Ford, who will be releasing a new watch made from 100% ocean plastic today on Nov.19.
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He has also announced a $1 million Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize for anyone who trail blazes research into and comes up with a scalable replacement for thin-film plastic that makes up polybags.
The project will be a five-year commitment according to Ford, who hopes to choose a winner by 2022 and bring the product to market by 2025. “It has to be scalable, a real actual solution that can be manufactured and produced, that’s a big part of it. It’s been an education process for me, but I’m so excited about finding an alternative to a polybag,” said Ford.
Talking about how he learned about the threat emanating from single-use plastics, Ford recalled watching actor Adrian Grenier talking about plastic straws. He says he first switched to metal straws and then from plastic to glass bottles.
“I told everyone at home and everyone at the office we’re getting rid of all single-use plastic. It all went off from seeing Adrian talk about straws,” he shared. Ford is now partnering with Grenier on the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize.
Till the Innovation Prize can come into action, Ford’s ocean plastic watch will be removing the equivalent of 35 bottles of plastic waste from the ocean.
“It’s incredibly durable. It’s beautifully made. And it says ‘ocean plastic’ on it. You see it on your arm and you think, ‘Wow, you can make great things out of ocean plastic’,” said the designer.
