RELEASE DATE: March 29, 2022 at 9 a.m. EST
DIRECTED BY: Ruvi Leider for CS Global
PRODUCED BY: Jonathan Reed & Monica O’Hara for CS Global
WRITTEN BY: Monica O’Hara & Anita Comtois for CS Global
WITH SUPPORT FROM: TOM FORD International and Lonely Whale
STARRING: American fashion designer and film director Mr. Tom Ford, and prize judges Don Cheadle, Stella McCartney, Susan Rockefeller, Livia Firth, Trudie Styler, Melati Wijsen, Danni Washington, Saskia van Gendt, Audrey Choi, Steven Kolb, Ellen Jackowski and Liz Rodgers.
RUN TIME: 4 minutes
SYNOPSIS: The TOM FORD Plastic Innovation Prize finalists, who have created remarkable alternatives to thin-film plastic polybags, are revealed by American fashion designer and film director Mr. Tom Ford in this remarkable new production. The film showcases the scale of the thin-film plastic pollution problem and how leaders and innovators across industries have come together to solve our mounting plastic waste crisis.
Introduced by members of the esteemed Judging Panel, this film showcases how entrepreneurs and innovators from across six countries, including Kenya, India, the UK, U.S., Canada and Iceland, are engineering new alternatives to thin-film single-use plastic that will be scalable, biologically degradable and market-ready through the support of this Plastic Innovation Prize. Finalist submissions underwent rigorous review by the Scientific & Technical Advisory Board and Prize Judging Panel and were selected from amongst 64 applications from 26 countries and 6 continents.
The TOM FORD Plastic Innovation Prize is poised to claim the largest commercial shift away from thin-film plastic, catalyzing meaningful innovation on biologically degradable replacements for thin-film.
The video can be viewed on www.plasticprize.org.
Thin-film plastic makes up 46% of the ~11 million metric tons of plastic that leaks into our ocean each year, a figure that is expected to nearly triple by 2040.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
CHARLOTTE BLECHMAN
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, TOM FORD
CBLECHMAN@TOMFORDINTERNATIONAL.COM
BRIE CROSS
VP, PUBLIC RELATIONS, KCD
CROSS@KCDWORLDWIDE.COM
DITTOE PR
LONELYWHALE@DITTOEPR.COM
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About TOM FORD
Tom Ford was born in Austin, Texas prior to moving to New York City and Paris to study design. In 1990, Ford joined Gucci as the company’s chief womenswear designer before becoming Creative Director in 1994, ultimately becoming vice chairman. Under Ford’s leadership, Gucci became one of the largest and most profitable luxury brands in the world, with sales increasing from 230 million dollars in 1994 to 3 billion dollars in 2003. Ford resigned from his post in 2004 and announced the creation of TOM FORD in April 2005. Today, the brand offers a complete collection of Menswear, Womenswear, Accessories, Eyewear, Beauty and most recently Underwear and Timepieces. Presently there are over 100 freestanding TOM FORD stores and shop-in-shops in locations around the world. In addition to his achievements within the fashion industry, Ford is also an award-winning screenwriter, producer, and film director. Tom Ford has redefined luxury. He is a visionary and his success has been recognized by a number of international awards, highlighted by winning seven Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards, including their prestigious Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 and The Menswear Designer of the Year in 2015. In 2019, Mr. Ford took over as Chairman of the CFDA. Ford currently lives in Los Angeles.
About Lonely Whale
Lonely Whale is an award-winning non-profit whose mission ensures plastic waste does not find its way into the ocean. Founded in 2015 by Adrian Grenier and Lucy Sumner, Lonely Whale is powered by a mass community of people working together to create a healthy planet – our definition of a utopian future.
Lonely Whale has spearheaded impactful global movements resulting in: the elimination of more than 20 billion single-use plastics, including straws and water bottles; more than 330 products launched that are made with ocean-bound plastics through the only global network of ocean-bound plastic suppliers; and youth from 90 countries accelerating a dawn of new leadership – youth leadership – on ocean health. Lonely Whale’s latest venture is their partnership with TOM FORD International for the launch of the TOM FORD Plastic Innovation Prize, addressing the 180 billion single-use, thin-film polybags used by the fashion industry every year.
Lonely Whale’s work has been recognized by Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas and Most Innovative Companies, Cannes Lion Awards, The Shorty Awards, The ADDY Awards, The Webby’s Anthem Awards, SEAL Awards, the inaugural P4G Circular Economy Award sponsored by the Danish Government, HALO Awards and the prestigious 2021 UN SDG Action Award. In 2021, Lonely Whale joined the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), the World Economic Forum’s platform for advancing progress in the fight against plastic waste and pollution, as well as transitioning governments, businesses and society towards a sustainable, circular economy for plastics. Lonely Whale is a proud supporter of the UN Environment’s #CleanSeas campaign.
To learn more and support, visit www.lonelywhale.org or follow @LonelyWhale.
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