An eco-fashion brand has teamed up with Edinburgh Zoo to make t-shirts for their new Giant Pandas, Tian Tian and Yang Guang.
With the Zoo conscious to raise awareness about conservation, they recruited eco-fashion brand Rapanui, winners of the RSPCA Good Business awards, to create a t-shirt made from bamboo—but rather than going on the Panda’s plate, these t-shirts are being sold alongside the visitor’s attraction to raise money and contribute to their upkeep.
Bamboo is hailed as a fabric of the future, Mart Drake-Knight, Co-founder and designer explains:
“Bamboo is an amazing fabric, it is as soft as silk but half the price, it grows fast without water, pesticides or fertilisers, Bamboo has a lot of potential as a sustainable textile, not to mention the softness and kind-to-skin properties that make them feel great.“
Rapanui recently won the RSPCA Innovation in Fashion award for its approach to traceability and animal welfare and claim their mission is to make eco cool:
“Eco fashion is no longer about itchy brown socks, we want to use the power of cool to inspire wider lifestyle choices” said Co-founder Rob Drake-Knight. The Guardian recently described Rapanui as ‘bang on trend.’”
A percentage of the profit from each t-shirt sold to the zoo shop has been donated by Rapanui to the Edinburgh Royal Zoological Society. The t-shirts are available to purchase in the Edinburgh Zoo Shop.
See more images at Men’s Fashion by Mark e-mag.
Photos & text Copyright Rapanui.