The shirt that plants trees in Guatemala

“Change yourself”. One word, in italics, in black ink. It is the writing that can be read on the “Tree-shirt”, the t-shirt, designed by Flowe, which plants trees in Guatemala. “A provocative message, a bit like saying ‘Change yourself and the world will change with you,’ he explains Ivan MazzoleniCEO of Flowe, an electronic money institution set up by Banca Mediolanum which has always been committed to the issues of innovation and economic, social and environmental sustainability.

“Preserving the environment is no longer enough, we must make sustainability fashionable, take an active part in combating the climate crisis” continues Mazzoleni. Hence Flowe’s idea, in collaboration with Luke&Pole – a clothing brand created in 2016 by four guys from Modena – to launch the “Spread the Tree-shirt” project – a play on words between a t-shirt and a tree, so that, through the diffusion of the T-shirts, a sustainable chain is created, with the aim of generating a forest and doing good for the planet. In fact, for every t-shirt sold, which can be purchased for €24.99 on the Luke&Pole website, three trees will be planted in Guatemala.

The t-shirts are all in organic cotton, GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified, undyed to avoid coloring processes and reduce chemical agents and water consumption. For 360-degree sustainability, even the packaging is “zero plastic”: the t-shirts are packaged only in a cardboard box, not coloured, recycled and recyclable.

A tree does not only mean CO compensation₂

Each year, planting a tree rewards around 20 kilograms of carbon dioxide. But “In Guatemala a tree is not just a tree” explains Mazzoleni. In a land where intensive cultivation is threatening, “planting trees helps the local population counter the multinationals who aim to expropriate the land from farmers, to make us monocultures. One above all: the oil palm”.

Through the use of pesticides, intensive monocultures completely wipe out other types of vegetation, reducing biodiversity and killing fauna. The land, within a few years, becomes poisoned and unproductive. And the multinationals advance, buying more land.

“Generally the multinationals – explains Mazzoleni – surround the plots of the farmers making life impossible for them, even just to get to the field, until the farmers give up and sell the land for pennies. With that money they try to emigrate to the United States by Mexico, but very often they are rejected and return to Guatemala poorer than before”. This is why Flowe, in collaboration with ZeroCO2 – a startup that has been involved in reforestation with a high social impact for years, especially in Guatemala – is actively involved in the donation of trees.

Most are fruit, but other species are also planted, precisely to ensure biodiversity. “By giving trees to communities, who own the land but don’t have the money to buy trees, we give them the resources to hold on. It’s not just about offsetting CO₂“.

More than 67,000 trees planted

The T-shirts in collaboration with Luke&Pole are just the latest of Flowe’s initiatives in favor of the environment. Benefit company, BCorp and Carbon Neutral, Flowe is actively committed to spreading a culture that generates greater awareness in daily choices. “We are the first to have designed a credit card associated with the account which is 95% wood and 5% recycled plastic,” explains Mazzoleni.

“We chose wood because we want to give a sense of contact with nature and trees”. With every issue of a new card and every 100 total payments, added up among all users, a tree is planted in Guatemala. The growth of each tree can be monitored through a QR Code that ZeroCO2 assigns it when it is transplanted from the nursery into the ground.

To date, Flowe and ZeroCO2 have planted more than 67,000 trees in Petén, helping more than 800 local families. In June this year, a representative from Flowe, together with the ZeroCO2 team, visited the nurseries. “We lived together with the farmers and their families. We realized what it means to live there and what the difficulties are” continues Mazzoleni.

A sustainable chain in favor of the planet

The idea of ​​creating a large chain, Mazzoleni explains, was inspired by the film “Pay it forward – A dream for tomorrow”, where Trevor, a 12-year-old boy who lives in a difficult context, is stimulated by a professor’s question, addressed to the class: “What does the world want from us?”. Since then Trevor has guessed that to change the world for the better, it would be enough to do good deeds, asking those who receive them to in turn do an important favor to three other people.

“I saw the film – explains Mazzoleni – and I said to myself: it would be wonderful to apply this social experiment also to the cause of reforestation. And this is where the Tree-shirt project was born”. An object to give to the people you love, with the prayer that in turn whoever receives the shirt gives another one, in order to start a chain that can generate a positive impact for the planet. “We would like the T-shirt to become the symbol of a movement of people who care about the fate of the planet”, like a large sustainable chain, is Flowe’s wish.