A California aquarium was flooded with calls about buying the T-shirt showing two otters floating on their back and decided to re-release the garment.
SAN FRANCISCO — A Northern California aquarium has made waves in sea otter conservation, raising over $2 million in just two days — all thanks to Taylor Swift and a vintage T-shirt.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium found itself at the center of a Swift-fueled frenzy after the pop superstar was spotted wearing a decades-old otter conservation T-shirt in a movie shown during the release party for her new album, The Life of a Showgirl. Swift’s fans quickly began hunting for the shirt, which was originally produced in the 1990s.
As inquiries flooded in, the aquarium decided to bring the design back for a limited campaign aimed at raising $1.3 million — a playful nod to Swift’s lucky number 13 — according to Liz MacDonald, the aquarium’s director of content strategy.
The response was immediate. Within eight hours of launch, the aquarium surpassed its fundraising target, bringing in roughly $100,000 every 15 minutes. Donations of $65.13 or more earned contributors a reissued version of the otter-themed shirt, with proceeds supporting the aquarium’s program to care for orphaned and injured sea otters.
“We had a bit of a Taylor Swift dance party in the office when we hit our goal,” MacDonald said.
By the next afternoon, back-orders had poured in, and the total had climbed past $2 million, according to the aquarium’s website.
No one knows exactly how Swift came across the original shirt — last produced more than 30 years ago, when she was only three. While she and her fiancé, NFL player Travis Kelce, have been seen visiting nearby Carmel, MacDonald said there’s no record of the couple shopping at the aquarium.
That hasn’t stopped the staff from speculating. MacDonald pointed out that when Swift announced her album on Kelce’s New Heights podcast, the pair joked about his fondness for otters and how he often sends her videos of them.
“One of my favorite theories is that Taylor might’ve helped name one of our otters, Opal,” MacDonald said. “Fans picked the name in an online poll — and Opal happens to be Kelce’s birthstone, plus ‘Opalite’ is one of her songs. It all connects in such a fun way.”
The aquarium and Liberty Graphics — the employee-owned Maine company producing the shirts — are thrilled by the unexpected spotlight.
“They were just as surprised as we were,” MacDonald said. “But it’s an incredible moment that benefits sea otters and ocean conservation.”
The shirts are being printed with 100% cotton and water-based, eco-friendly inks. Even the packaging will avoid plastic, MacDonald added.
Liberty Graphics, which typically produces about 1,500 shirts per day, will now be dedicating most of its efforts to meeting the surge in Swift-inspired orders.
“We didn’t plan for anything this huge,” said company manager Matt Enos. “But it’s a pretty great problem to have.”