Fans of US punk rockers, Social Distortion have the chance the buy T shirts and hoodies which have been upcycled from old merchandise garments, as the band embark on their current Born To Kill tour in Europe.
Blanks have been taken from Universal Music Group's merchandising division, Bravado who have upcycled more than 400,000 unsold T shirts from other artists' past tour which were left in a Nashville warehouse. In fact, Social Distortion are the first band to use these blanks from Bravado for this clever idea.
These garments have been shipped to Tangier, Morocco by Bravado. They are then broken down by a textile manufacturer, Hallotex, converting into a new thread.
Speaking about this, Social Distortion frontman, Mike Ness (in picture) said using the recycled banks as tour merchandise was a "no brainer". It will feature the leopard head from the band's Born To Kill album cover, along with their own logo of a skeleton holding a martini glass and cigarette.
"I'm very proud of it", Ness stated. "We can talk about it all day long... complain. But... now we're getting proactive, and that feels good".
Speaking about this, Bravado have said that they intend to make approximately 280,000 recycled cotton blank T shirts and hooded sweatshirts for musicians to sell on their European tours.
Speaking to Reuters, Bravado President and CEO, Matt Young said: "We wanted to give the artists the options to have this product available for them to use... it sets... you apart by using these blanks, but also makes a difference".
Adding that these new items are "a little bit more expensive", Young also revealed that this initiative was inspired by Maggie Baird, mother of singer Billie Eilish. Both mother and daughter have been very outspoken about the environmental causes and sustainability.
"It could be anywhere from 10 to 20% more for the actual raw T-shirt to be made. But that's only because we haven't hit the scale yet", he said.
He added: "By doing this and getting more people to do it and having more partners that start doing it, the price will get to be the same as a new piece at some point".
