Monday with Whole Body: United by Blue

The third edition of ‘Monday with Whole Body’ brings us guest blogger, Brian Linton, President and Chief Trash Collector of United by Blue.  We love his story and think you will, too!

Why I started United By Blue: Organic Apparel Saving the Oceans

My name is Brian Linton. I am the founder and Chief Trash Collector at United By Blue (UBB).  UBB is a Philadelphia-based brand of ocean-friendly apparel.  For every 1 product we sell, we remove 1 pound of trash from our world’s oceans and waterways through company-organized cleanups. 

Removing 1 pound of trash for every 1 product sold is no easy feat…it requires event planning, volunteer recruitment and logistics that normal companies never have to face.  Since launching the brand in April 2010, we have hosted 25 cleanups across 10 states and removed 12,000 pounds of trash.  This year, we will host over 50 cleanups and remove 100,000 pounds of trash from beaches and waterways across the world.

Many people look at the above-mentioned work and ask me “why did you start United By Blue…why not just sell organic apparel and stop at that?”

The answer to this question is long, and could easily be covered over multiple blog posts…but I’ll stick to the basics here.

It all began 4 years ago when I founded a jewelry company called Sand Shack, which is the parent to UBB. In starting and growing Sand Shack I learned a tremendous amount about business.  I learned how to sell, how to manage, how to do product development, and just about any other thing small businesses do.

Ever since the first year of operating Sand Shack I knew I wanted to help our world’s oceans, so I did the thing I saw countless other companies do: donate a percentage of proceeds to conservation efforts outside the company. But in June of 2009 I realized that I wasn’t satisfied with this model.  I wasn’t satisfied with where Sand Shack was and what it was accomplishing.

I wanted to accomplish something more. Not only did I want to build a stronger brand, I wanted to build something that I could be proud of, that I could look at and know that it was not only making money but doing GOOD.

Countless hours of brainstorming by myself and with those closest around me led me to the conclusion that the way to accomplish the most good was to do something so ridiculously concrete that the good would be unavoidable.

Looking at the countless problems our oceans face, ocean pollution was something that I knew my customers, employees, and myself could easily wrap our heads around.  It is a concrete, visible problem.  It was also something that truly saddens me to see, and something I am excited to dedicate my energies to cleaning up.

Therefore, United By Blue was created on the premise that every single business transaction should accomplish something good for our environment.  By associating the removal of 1 pound of trash from oceans and waterways for every 1 product sold we set the bar high.  Cleaning up 1 pound of trash for every 1 product sold is no small feat, and in fact, it is a daunting and difficult mission.  And obviously, for the business to be truly sustainable, removing that pound of trash cannot cost more than the profit earned on the sale of a product.

In the end, I love what I do. And I hope our business model not only allows us to do the most environmental good possible, but inspire others to do the same. 

You can find UBB Sustainable Seafood T-shirts here at Whole Foods Market in Wayland.  We also will haooliy place special orders for other UBB products you’re interested in purchasing.