NEWS RELEASE
UNGALLI CLOTHING CO.
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THUNDER BAY -- Ungalli Clothing Co is excited to announce the winner of the first-ever It’s in Our Hands T-Shirt Challenge for elementary and high school students. The initiative launched back on Earth Day, challenged students to get creative and come up with an original t-shirt design that shows how they care for the environment or how they interpret sustainability. With her creative and impactful design, 10-year-old Sophia Warnick, of Lakehead Virtual School, has taken the top title for the competition.
"The earth matters and we all know it, but we don't always know how to help-- and that is a big problem. We need to start by making small changes so we can all live a happy and sustainable life," says Warnick.
Sophia’s drawing features a cartoon brain with the wording "Help Mother Earth so she can grow and blow your fantastic minds!" Ungalli loved the creativity behind the fun environmentally-themed character, the overall messaging, and how the image itself will translate onto one of its sustainable tees.
"We need earth to learn and to live. The brain is wearing an earth hat because our brains know that we need to care about the earth," continues Warnick.
Sophia's winning design will be printed on Ungalli recycled t-shirts that will be sold in store and online, with pre-orders starting today by visiting: ungalli.com/collections/tshirt-challenge
A portion of the proceeds from all t-shirt sales will be donated to Sophia's school to support a sustainability project of her choice. She is currently brainstorming ideas but has so far come up with a school clothing and backpack drive of gently used items, signage for recycling bins, a water bottle filling station and reusable bottles, bike racks, and even the potential of developing a Cleanup Club.
Ungalli Clothing Co believes that everyone has an impact on the planet every single day. The It’s in Our Hands T-Shirt Challenge was launched on Earth Day as a motivation to get schools, teachers, classrooms, students and families talking about sustainability and the changes they can make. The challenge received over 500-hundred submissions from across the province from children and youth of all different ages. They are now up on display at the sustainable clothing company's shop located in Thunder Bay. "It's amazing to see so much art covering our walls at the store. We were completely blown away by the number of participants in the challenge. There are so many creative ideas and drawings, which made our job as a judge very difficult," says Hailey Hollinsworth, Ungalli Co-Founder."It was also incredible to see classes participate and focus an entire lesson on sustainability. You can see that the topic really resonated with students through the creations."
“These kids are the future change makers of our community and it’s inspiring to see how much they care about the future of the planet. We’re honoured to be able to help them learn!” says Bree Hollinsworth, Ungalli Co-Founder.
As a part of the It’s in Our Hands T-Shirt Challenge, classes were also encouraged to participate and learn about the process of transforming recycled bottles into Ungalli tees. From fabric to print, Ungalli clothing is ethically made in Canada from 100 per cent sustainable materials. Each Ungalli tee saves 10 PET bottles, 41 days of drinking water, seven hours of light bulb energy and 1 kilometre of driving emissions.
