There’s a new sun safety resource in town! Made from recycled fishing nets and other discarded waste material, our UPF 50+ Broad Spectrum Rash Guards, available now, are a must-add to your adventure collection!

You’re probably wondering why a sunscreen company would want to offer rash guards with the potential to cut down on your sunscreen use. The answer is simple:

“Rash guards and clothing are an important part of keeping your skin and our environment healthy,” says Autumn Blum, our founder and dedicated environmental activist.

At Stream2Sea, we love all marine ecosystems. We believe that, in addition to using appropriate clothing and of course applying our safe sunscreen, imperative safe sun measures include sunglasses, hats, and seeking out shade during the hottest periods of the day. According to the EWG, sunscreen should be your last resort, and while we believe that’s going a little far, we do agree that it’s important to protect yourself from the sun in a way that’s safe for you and safe for our planet!

So we developed a rash guard that will help you do just that. You’ll look stylish, protect your skin and feel great knowing you’re helping encourage operations to seek out and remove ghost nets from our oceans! Go forth and explore all your favorite locations under the sun!

There is a caveat with all synthetic clothing materials: you must wash wash your rash guard responsibly after you return from your adventures. Though we strive to create products that have the health of the planet in mind at every step of the way, the fact remains that the material our rash guards are recycled from may contain microfibers that can be harmful to ecosystems. Every time you wash clothes containing these microfibers, thousands of minuscule fibers, often plastic, can be released into your washing machine and, eventually, into our water supplies, food, and bodies. Yuck!

Hand washing is the best option to make your rash guard last the longest, and reduce the potential for micro fabrics. But if you are short on time, our friends at Cora Ball have come up with a solution to guard against washing machine microfiber pollution. You can use their microfiber-catching laundry ball when you wash anything from your Stream2Sea rash guard to your favorite workout pants and feel better knowing that you’re keeping as many microfibers as possible out of our waterways.

The laundry ball, designed to mimic the way that coral can grab small things in the water, picks up the microfibers in your washing machine, collecting them so you can more safely dispose of them later. You’ll get the best results if you wash on cold!

We hope you consider this helpful solution to the microfiber problem, so that our rash guards—and the rest of your adventure wardrobe—won’t contribute to the billions of microfibers that end up in waterways every day. If you don’t opt for a Cora Ball, please hand wash your rash guard to reduce the possibility of microfiber run-off.

We can’t wait for you to add our UPF 50+ Broad Spectrum Rash Guards to your sun protection routine, and we hope you continue to make EcoConscious wardrobe and skin care choices!

Remember, all streams flow to the sea!

Get Your Rash Guard & Neck Gaiters!