About Them
Jake and Caroline Danehy founded Fair Harbor. It started when they went on shark tank with their idea and won $20,000 for grant money. They go to Colgate University. Jake being 20 and Caroline being 17 they were able to start this company themselves. If you would read their about us on their website you would learn 
that they loved going to the beach as kids. They grew up in a community that barely had any cars and everyone was barefoot. They were able to walk to the beach without any shoes on; so you could say that they grew up on the beach. With the love of the beach sparked an idea to keep it beautiful.
The Idea
As they got older they noticed more and more plastic was being washed up on the beach. Will their love of the beach and the environment they had an idea to help with the problem but also make some money. Their idea was that they would make swim wear out of the plastic they find on the beach or in the ocean. This is how they decided to do something about the problem
Delivering Value
To make swim wear out of used plastic is a mystery for me, but these two have figured out how to not only make the clothing but also to deliver quality value. Their swim outfits also have some new qualities two them that most companies don’t have yet; like they got rid of the mesh in their swimming shorts for men. We all know how irritating those nets can be. If you would go to their website it looks very updated and easy to use.
https://www.fairharborclothing.com/pages/custom-about-us
Many people, when they think of recycling plastic, assume it gets remade into more plastic (phone cases, lunch box sets, cups, etc.). Fabric is not what immediately comes to my mind at least, so Fair Harbor seems to have a unique market identified by making their clothing out of beach litter. It would be interesting to know the environmental cost of recycling and if it is truly better.
Fair Harbor definitely found a unique market to capitalize on! Today you do not hear of any clothing being made out of plastic, but everyday products. Recycled fabric is becoming a big thing in the apparel and textile industry, so I can tell that this will become a trend in the next couple of years. Very interesting and would love to know the process of plastic becoming fabric.
It’s awesome that these two found a way to solve a problem that helps with something they truely care about. As beach lovers they are not detached from the situation; when they realzed the thing they loved was in danger they didn’t settle for waiting on someone else-perhaps older, more experienced,etc.-but they stepped up and did something about it. This is definitely some creative genius harnessed for practical good!
I feel like I’ve seen their pitch a little while ago. I actually didn’t know it was possible to make clothing out of plastic. I just looked into it and it’s relatively simple. They gather plastics, sort them out, melt it, then push it through tiny holes. This makes a bunch of strands. Then they cut the strands and make a very close resemblance of wool. From there, it’s basically the same process with normal fabric. I would imagine that some plastic t-shirt companies integrate cotton and other natural fabrics to improve costs. I wonder if this company makes 100% plastic clothing or something less.