Down to Earth
Trash Talking with Alison Teal
Finding a cute, flattering & on-trend bikini is like finding a unicorn, a near mythical encounter. But what if you could find one in real life that not only made you look good but also did good for the world? Well, now you can with Odina.
Alison Teal is taking on trash, one pink bikini at a time! Credit: Alison Teal
Odina blurs the lines between fashion & function to design super chic swimwear from post-consumer recycled materials like plastic bottles & nylon fishing nets. In fact, 10 plastic bottles go into 1 Odina suit. That means 10 plastic bottles that won’t end up in a landfill or the ocean. And Odina doesn’t stop there.
10 plastic bottles go into 1 Odina suit.Everything from the recycled cotton hangtags to the reclaimed wood displays has an eco aspect. Plus, it’s all made locally in California. No wonder surfers, swimmers & sun-worshipers have been scooping up the brightly colored, expertly cut bikinis by the armful since the company launched in 2010.
Some of those fans, like Alison Teal, take their support to the next level. The 31-year-old filmmaker & self-described “female Indiana Jones with a cause”
totes a pink surfboard made out of soy (no, really) & roams the world in her signature pink Odina bikini producing short films to shed light on the ocean pollution crisis. (And it is a crisis: 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year.) Teal became Odina’s first“ambaslete,”
or ambassador-athlete, 6 years ago. “The first time I tried on one of their bikinis, I felt like an eco-warrior queen,”
Teal says. “The cuts make you look good, but they’re also functional—the suits stay in place, no matter how massive the wave you’re riding.”
Odina is on a mission to transform trash into two pieces! Credit: Alison Teal
8 million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year.
Like Odina, Teal’s passion for protecting the ocean didn’t happen over night. At 2 months-old, the age at which most of us were being strapped into our car seat for the first trip to Grandma’s, Teal was being bundled on her parent’s back & hiking Ausangate, the highest peak in Southern Peru. Surprising? Not really. Her dad was a National Geographic photographer & her mom launched the first yoga adventure company. Her “unconventional”
childhood is part of what inspired Teal to become an eco-activist who travels the globe in a bright pink bikini made of recycled plastic bottles.
Now Teal works to save our seas. “Whether it’s by buying a eco-chic bikini or using a refillable water bottle at the gym, small actions have a large impact,”
she says. Here are 3 easy ways you can clean up your act:
• Impress the kombucha guy by showing off your cutely conscientious reusable tote bags at your local farmer’s market (grocery stores count too!).
• Stash utensils in your desk drawer so you can pass on the plastic forks. Bonus points if you bring a travel mug to your fave coffee shop or smoothie bar.
• Tell your server to skip the straw when mixing your happy hour cocktail (or two).