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One Easter Egg dropped by Taylor Swift His new album is proving to be a boon for sea otters in the film Northern California,
The pop star wore a vintage Monterey Bay Aquarium Otter Conservation T-shirt to the release party of her new “The Life of a Showgirl” album, leaving her avid fans looking to purchase the shirt that was last produced in the 1990s.
After the aquarium received calls about purchasing a T-shirt depicting two otters swimming on their backs, it decided to re-release the apparel Thursday as part of a special campaign to raise $1.3 million, a nod to Swift’s favorite number, said Liz McDonald, the aquarium’s director of content strategy.
MacDonald said the aquarium met its goal of raising funds for its sea otter conservation program in less than eight hours and sold an average of about $100,000 every 15 minutes.
“Yesterday afternoon when we hit the goal we of course had a little Taylor Swift dance party in the office,” he said.
According to its website, the aquarium began accepting back-orders and as of Friday afternoon it had raised $2.2 million.
How Swift acquired the T-shirt that was last made more than 32 years ago — when she was just 3 years old — remains a mystery.
she and fiancee travis kels The visit to nearby Carmel has been documented, but MacDonald said the aquarium is not aware that the pair visited their shop.
McDonald said the staff had fun guessing whether the T-shirts contained more Easter eggs.
When Taylor announced the release of her new album on Kelce’s podcast “New Heights” a few weeks ago, there was a little joke between the pair about how he loves otters and likes to send them videos of the cute sea creatures.
“One of my favorite theories is that we have a sea otter in our exhibit named Opal and she was named by fans through an online poll, and I wonder if Taylor Swift might have been one of the people who voted for the name Opal,” McDonald said, adding that Opal is the birthplace of Kells and Opalite is the name of one of Swift’s songs.
Whatever the reason, Liberty Graphics, the employee-owned company that prints aquariums and T-shirts, is enjoying the moment.
“They’re a company based in Maine that was just as surprised as we were, but they’re also very happy to have the opportunity to be a part of this amazing moment that does so much for sea otters and ocean conservation,” McDonald said.
Liberty Graphics will use 100% cotton in T-shirts and water-based ink, which is more ocean-friendly and sustainable, he said. McDonald’s said donors who give at least $65.13 in its latest fundraising campaign to help injured and orphaned otters will be sent a T-shirt.
“We are also working to ensure that plastic is not used in packaging,” he said.
The company, with 50 employees, typically produces 1,500 shirts a day, said company manager Matt Enos.
Enos said that starting Monday, the company will likely have to focus most of its resources on fulfilling T-shirt orders from Swifties.
“We certainly didn’t expect it to be something this big, but it’s a great problem to have,” he said.