Clothing for ocean lovers

A recently established brand that produces clothes and accessories is dedicated to helping preserve and protect the seas. Alix Norman meets the people behind it

“Salty Souls,” says Milada, “is for the rebels. It’s for the adventurers, the ocean lovers, the true sea souls!”

A new eco-clothing brand designed specifically for thalassophiles, the brand launched out of Cyprus just four months ago. It’s the vision of 39-year-old Milada Jungvirt Yilmaz and 26-year-old Theodoros Koutsavakis, who share of deep love of the Big Blue, and are passionate about protecting the environment they adore.

“We’re both ocean lovers,” explains Milada. “We grew up literally next to the sea, and it’s always impacted our lives. Theodoros runs a diving school and is a scuba diving instructor. I grew up in Sydney Australia, and learnt to surf almost before I could walk!”

Both are avid divers, and – as is so often the case – both are driven by a need to protect the marine environment. But, unlike sometime environmental warriors, the duo were willing to take their passion for the oceans a step further, creating a Europe-wide clothing brand that’s dedicated to helping preserve and protect the seas.

“As lovers of Mother Nature, we wanted to build a clothing and accessory brand that created awareness about the importance of the seas and oceans,” Milada explains. “We want to have a positive impact on the planet, especially the seas we love so much. So we created a unique line of sustainable and wearable gear, ethically produced and custom designed by ocean lovers for ocean lovers. It’s the passion that drives us!”

Salty Souls was born in February this year, launched out of Protaras and offering a product line which includes t-shirts, hoodies, buffs, and tote bags all emblazoned with various ocean positive slogans (including ‘beach. please’ and ‘très salty’) or catchy marine motifs. And what makes the brand truly special is its dedication to the environment, both through production and awareness.

“At Salty Souls we feel it’s part of our mission to get people to question the origin of the products they buy,” says Milada. “So many consumers still purchase from mainstream brands, companies who focus on profit over sustainability, and create toxic waste that flows into the oceans. But our clothes are designed and manufactured with the seas in mind. Every single one of our products is made using 90 per cent less water than clothing made by traditional manufacturers,” she reveals. “There’s no use of chemical pesticides in the production, and all our products are 100 per cent vegan.

“Yes,” she adds with a smile. “Clothing can be vegan too! All our items are certified by PETA. And all our printing is done using water-based ink,” she explains. “Which means they don’t contain any toxic chemicals, but are instead comprised of naturally occurring substances.

“We’ve also,” she continues, “specifically chosen to use 100 per cent organic cotton – certified by the Organic Cotton Standard, which guarantees the presence of 95 to 100 per cent organic material, and tracks the flow of the raw material from source to the finished product – for our t-shirts, and a mix of 80 per cent organic OCS Certified Cotton and 20 per cent recycled RCS Certified Polyester for our sweatshirts. In fact, each sweatshirt recycles five large plastic bottles during the manufacturing process!”

It’s effecting these small changes which make a huge difference, Milada believes. “We all need to be mindful of our effect we make on our environment and strive to do more to lessen our impact. And whether that’s beach or ocean clean-ups” – an activity both Milada and Theodoros organise on a regular basis – “or raising awareness of the marine environment” – Milada runs the popular Instagram account @underwatergirlscyprus, which aims to empower female divers and raise awareness of the ecological issues affecting our oceans – “every little helps. We both feel that it’s our responsibility to adapt the way we do business, to ensure that our oceans and our planet are still there for the future generations of ocean lovers.”

In the space of just four months, Salty Souls has gone from small and local to Europe-wide. “Many of our designs sold out almost immediately,” says Milada. “And we were surprised to find that we had customers from all over the continent, from Germany, Austria, Sweden, and Italy where we’re building a strong following.

“Of course the majority of our customers are still from Cyprus, and we often see people wearing our products on the beaches here,” she continues. “At first, it was just our friends sporting our gear. But now we’ll often come across total strangers wearing one of our t-shirts or buffs – and that’s amazing! After all the effort we’ve put into making this a truly eco-friendly, sustainable brand, it makes us both feel so proud and grateful to see so many people – friends and strangers – joining this community of thalassophiles.

“Cyprus has always had such strong links to the sea, and there’s a really great community of ocean lovers right here on the island; people who support each other and actively work to protect our seas. We’re already partnering with the Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre” – a Cyprus-based non-profit organisation which works to ensure the protection and sustainable use of marine and terrestrial resources through scientific research, advocacy, education and consultation while promoting conservation through progress in political, cultural and social change – “by donating 5 per cent of all our sales to this amazing organisation. So every purchase not only helps to protect our seas, but actually gives back!

“Salty Souls is our legacy!” she concludes. “And I’d like to think it’s more than a brand. It’s a community that’s growing all the time. A salty soul is an ocean lover, someone who is brave, free and as wild as the sea. A person who has the exact amount of salt in their veins as in the ocean,” she laughs. “That’s us to a T! Maybe it’s you, too?”

For more information, visit https://thesaltysoulsshop.com/, the Facebook page ‘The Salty Souls’, or the Instagram account @the_saltysouls