PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 22, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — United By Blue (UBB), the sustainable fashion brand from Philadelphia, announced today their latest development into the world of NFTs with their first drop titled “Clean Up The Ocean.” This drop will be live Wednesday, December 23, on Nifty Gateway and will include four different NFTs spanning three different highly coveted artists in the digital space (Andy Best, Julien Tabet, and Ted Chin), as well as the launch of Eddy Earth, the brand’s newest mascot. The four tokens all have community-driven elements associated with the purchase and will function to serve the planet and global waterways, as well as their respective owners.
“I couldn’t be more excited to drop our first NFTs alongside three incredible artists on Nifty Gateway. For me, it was important to find a way for United By Blue to participate in the opportunities that web3 and NFTs offer in an authentic way,” says Mike Cangi, UBB’s Co-Founder. “First, I wanted to be authentic to our brand and our customer; I wanted to find a platform that was actively seeking solutions to the carbon emission concerns of blockchains. Nifty Gateway allowed us that opportunity. Not only is NG carbon negative through the purchase of 2x carbon offsets*, they are actively building a new minting process that will further reduce emissions by up to 99%. Second, I wanted to be authentic to the NFT community; I wanted to make sure we were entering an artist-driven space alongside incredible artists who believed in our mission of sustainability. I am humbled to have the talents of Andy Best, Julien Tabet, and Ted Chin for our first NFT drop. Lastly, I wanted to be authentic to our mission; I wanted to make sure that this wasn’t just a futile experiment in technology, but rather a way to amplify and accelerate our impact.”
The three pieces from Best, Tabet, and Chin are all centered around our prized waterways. Best’s piece titled “Baja” will be an edition of 20 with a drawing lasting one hour starting at $600. Tabet’s piece titled “End of Cycle” will also be an edition of 20 with a drawing lasting one hour starting at $600. For every NFT purchased from Best & Tabet, 500 pounds of trash will be removed from oceans and waterways through United By Blue cleanups. Chin’s piece titled “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” will be a 1 of 1 auction starting at $1. For every $1 bid, United By Blue will commit to removing 1 lb of trash from oceans and waterways through their cleanup efforts. (Ie. if the final purchase price is $10,000, this NFT will remove 10,000 pounds of trash from waterways.) And finally, the Eddy Earth NFT will be a two-hour open edition piece for $250. For every Eddy Earth NFT purchased, 100 pounds of trash will be removed from oceans and waterways through United By Blue cleanups. In addition to the massive impact that Eddy brings for the ocean, anyone who holds an Eddy Earth NFT will also have access to exclusive benefits, rewards, and surprises from United By Blue including a first edition Eddy Earth hoodie for all holders on 1/1/2022, early access to United By Blue products, events and NFT launches, free shipping on all future orders, and surprise product gifts directly from Eddy.
“If we have a successful drop on Thursday, I think we will be able to commit over 25k pounds of trash removed from oceans and waterways. For context, in one night that would be more than 2x the amount of trash we removed during our first year in business back in 2010,” Cangi followed.
Join United By Blue for their first NFT drop on 12/23/2021 at 6:30 p.m. EST only on niftygateway.com.
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More Details:
What: United By Blue is a sustainable lifestyle brand that removes a pound of trash from oceans and waterways for every product purchased.
Where: 444 North 3rd St, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Social: @unitedbyblue Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Website: unitedbyblue.com
Contact: Mike Cangi, [email protected]
*Nifty Gateway’s Commitment to Becoming Carbon Negative
“Our plan is to calculate our emissions using the following site, which will allow us to estimate our total carbon footprint over time. At the end of every month, we will purchase offsets for 2x the amount of carbon footprint Nifty Gateway created from blockchain transactions that month, and thereby in theory Nifty Gateway will become a net remover of carbon.
In addition to buying offsets, we are already building a new NFT minting system that will be significantly greener. To be clear, trading NFTs and storing NFTs on Nifty Gateway does not affect Nifty Gateway’s carbon footprint. This is because these actions happen on our internal ledger, which means they are off-blockchain transactions. However, when we mint a creator’s NFT and put it on the blockchain, this is an on-blockchain transaction and does increase Nifty Gateway’s carbon footprint. To that end, we have been developing a new minting system that will utilize EIP 2309 and make our minting process approximately 99% more efficient. We are already hard at work and look forward to deploying our new minting system in the weeks ahead. Once launched, Nifty Gateway will have a materially smaller carbon footprint and need to purchase even less offsets to remain carbon negative.
But that’s not all. Recently, we helped raise $6.5 million dollars for Open Earth Foundation via The Carbon Drop. All of the proceeds of this drop will go towards the development of blockchain technology for climate accountability. We’re going to continue to look for ways like this in which Nifty Gateway can have an even greater impact on our community and the world around us.”- Nifty Gateway. More on that here.
About United By Blue:
United By Blue is a sustainable lifestyle brand driven by the belief that every living creature is united by the blue of our world’s oceans and waterways, and we all share the responsibility to protect them. Our pledge unites our beliefs with our business: For every product purchased, we remove one pound of trash from oceans and waterways through company-organized cleanups. To date, United By Blue has removed nearly four million pounds of trash from waterways alongside the help of 16,000+ volunteers at over 250 company-organized community cleanups. All apparel and accessories are responsibly made using sustainable materials such as organic cotton, recycled polyester, and bison fiber. United By Blue products can be found in more than 1000 outlets nationally, in our stores in Philadelphia & Chicago, and online at unitedbyblue.com.
United By Blue NFT Page:
https://unitedbyblue.com/pages/nft-faq
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About The Artists
About Andy Best
Starting with sketching, pastels, and oil paints in his Grandmother’s studio as a child, Andy remains a lifelong student of the arts. To foster his passions into a profession, he attended film school at the Art Institute of Portland, turning commercial filmmaker and photographer upon graduation. Early collaborations include work with Sony, Nike, Adidas, Toyota, Google, Intel, T-Mobile, DJI, GoPro, Mountain Hardware, Columbia Sportswear, Leatherman, and Eddie Bauer. As his career progressed, he was afforded opportunities to travel the globe – working with tourism boards, speaking, shooting independent documentary films and global marketing campaigns in partnership with organizations authentic to the outdoor adventure travel space: Instagram, Facebook, Yeti, Black Diamond, SmugMug, Gerber Gear, GoreTex, Dometic, LaCie, Lonely Planet, Goal Zero, and more. This growing body of work led him to his biggest achievement to date; working with National Geographic. In 2016, he began contributing to National Geographic Adventure, proceeding many years working with media outlets like Outside Magazine, BackPacker Magazine, The Guardian, and numerous online publications. His work is purpose-driven, and he aligns himself with conservation-minded brands and nonprofit organizations like the Nature Conservancy, Sea Legacy, Protect Our Winters, and more. In 2021, Andy was invited to join the Explorer and Photographer Talent team at National Geographic, where he hopes to continue telling meaningful stories on a greater scale.
About Julien Tabet
Julien Tabet is a French Digital Artist, well known for his creative and surreal images of the animal kingdom. His work is a mix of poetry, humor, and fantasy. Partnering with Adobe and Photoshop for several years, he creates his digital works by mixing illustration and photo manipulation. He re-imagines the laws of nature, taking inspiration from the particularities of each subject he works with to sublimate them in a unique way.
About Ted Chin
Ted Chin is a digital artist and photographer from Taiwan now based in San Francisco, USA. He is most well known for his Photoshop composite art. Ted’s work can be described as a fantasy world with a touch of surrealism, sometimes with spirits of nature. Ted has been working within digital production for the last six years, producing work for countless clients across the globe. His most recent accomplishment is the Adobe Photoshop 2021 splash screen cover artist. There are things in the world that inspire childlike wonder and awe, and it is Ted’s passion to recreate and share them with the world.
Related Images
Image 1: NFT Art in Drop 1 from United By BlueFrom Left to Right: Andy Best, Julien Tabet, and Ted Chin
