I held the shirt in my hands and wondered, “How in the world can this be made of 11 plastic bottles?” It could easily be mistaken for some fine cotton shirt given the texture and the lightweight feel, but nope, it really is made of 100 percent plastic. Hope in a Bottle’s president Nanette Medved-Po brought in this amazing innovation from the States and tapped artist (yes, she’s an actress too) Solenn Heussaff to help bring them to life with her colorful designs.
The shirts come in two sizes and three designs that all feature an illustration printed in the middle with embellished patches on the shoulder. “I actually drew a kid and flowers around him, because flowers are the symbol of beauty and something that’s blossoming,” Solenn shared when we asked her about the design concept. “So if you give education to the children, they will also blossom into something better.” She wanted to keep it simple and designed each shirt with Hope’s advocacy in mind.
There will only be 200 shirts available and you can first purchase them through Hope’s vendo machines that will pop up in different locations for two to three days at a time. You have to follow Hope in a Bottle’s Facebook and Instagram accounts to find out where it’ll show up next. After the vendo caravan, it will be available through their online retail partner Zalora.
Similar to the concept of Hope in a Bottle, 100 percent of the profits will go directly to the building of public school classrooms all over the country. What are you waiting for? I already got mine and wore it to Philippine Fashion Week yesterday!
Photos courtesy of Hope in a Bottle
Follow Preen on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Viber