After Pop Star Appears in 30-Year-Old T-Shirt, $3.3 Million Raised in an Instant

Taylor Swift Wears 30-Year-Old Sea Otter T-Shirt
Millions Pour Into Aquarium’s Sea Otter Conservation Fund

After American pop star Taylor Swift appeared wearing a vintage T-shirt featuring a sea otter, more than $2.3 million (about 3.27 billion KRW) poured into the sea otter conservation fund.

According to reports from AP and other foreign media on the 17th (local time), this unexpected promotional effect began when Swift appeared in a video celebrating the release of her new album, "The Life of a Showgirl," wearing a sea otter conservation T-shirt from the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. The T-shirt was last produced by the aquarium in 1992. On the front, it features an illustration of two sea otters lying on their backs floating leisurely, along with information about sea otters.

The sea otter T-shirt from the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, USA, re-released as Taylor Swift appeared wearing it. Photo by AP Yonhap News

After the video of Swift in the old T-shirt was released, the aquarium was flooded with inquiries about purchasing the shirt. Eventually, the aquarium decided to re-release the T-shirt for the first time in over 30 years as part of a fundraising campaign for sea otter conservation. The T-shirt will be mailed to anyone who donates at least $65.13 (about 93,000 KRW) to help injured or orphaned sea otters.

Sea otter. Pixabay

The aquarium reported that less than eight hours after accepting pre-orders, donations exceeded the target amount of $1.3 million, and in less than two days, the total surpassed $2.3 million.

However, it remains a mystery how Swift obtained the T-shirt. The last time the T-shirt was released was in 1992, when Swift was three years old. Although Swift has visited the nearby Carmel area with her fianc? Travis Kelce, the aquarium stated that they do not know whether the couple visited their store.

The company producing the T-shirts is also celebrating the sudden surge in orders. The T-shirt manufacturer, based in Maine, is a small company with 50 employees that typically produces 1,500 T-shirts a day. However, starting next week, they are expected to be busy handling the influx of orders. A company representative said, "We didn't expect a problem this big, but it's a pretty good problem to have."