Can’t bring yourself to toss that ultra-soft, threadbare T-shirt you’ve had since the early 80s? Does your throat catch when it comes time to check out at the grocery store and you’ve forgotten your cloth bags? Do you feel a sense of dread that teeters on compulsion when faced with having to buy retail? Then just relax, because you’re in some pretty awesome company with
Alex Eaves. The mastermind behind
Stay Vocal’s principle has been inspiring people to reuse and regenerate since he was a kid; if he could influence folks to pay attention at that age, it’s no wonder how he’s become a go-to guy for the growing reclaim movement,
collecting awards and accolades along the way.
"Every day, I live and breathe reuse. It's how I dress: from vintage USA made Chuck Taylors to used jeans to the shirts that I sell. It's how I cut my hair: I donate it to charities who reuse it, like Matter of Trust. It's how I shop: I never leave home without my reusable bag and mug (which is good, because I drink A LOT of coffee)."
Alex’s long-time obsession with sports, music, skateboards and T-shirts created an amalgam of reuse potential that eventually spawned the popular
Green America certified ReUse apparel company known as
Stay Vocal, whose mission has recently spread to redirecting young minds toward embracing this philosophy. His soon-to-be kids workshop will seek to change how children think about product regeneration (not so much toward recycling since that’s still the act of throwing things away). The “Reuse Pro” will drive home his message by having his young audience craft reusables like toilet paper tubes into animals, puppets, presents, etc. they can easily make with or without their parents.
Homeless dogs have also firmly planted themselves on Alex’s radar as he
incorporates animal adoption in his mission to reach and teach about giving products and pets a second chance. I guess you can say Alex is somewhat of a magician the way he breathes new life into what others throw away. But he’ll be the first to tell you that what he does has nothing to do with illusion and everything to do with awareness. Some immediate campaigns Alex is undertaking include encouraging Dunkin’ Donuts to offer discounts to patrons who bring their own reusable cups to reduce ever-increasing environmental damage from polystyrene foam cups; and marketing his
“Water Saver” T-shirts as a way to offset the 400 gallons of water it takes to grow the amount of cotton used for a single new T-shirt.
All this only scratches the surface of Alex’s penchant for pioneering the reuse concept until it becomes commonplace rather than innovative. See what else he has up his reproduced sleeve on
Stay Vocal’s Facebook page (where there’s a 10% off purchase coupon waiting for you),
Alex’s Facebook page (where you can see him make more amusing faces) and
Twitter.
