The shirt design is from the 90s, but the aquarium brought it back after seeing Swift’s impact and the mass interest.
MONTEREY, Calif. — A California aquarium brought back a vintage sea otter tee Thursday and raised more than $2.1 million after “Swifties” hunted down the design.
The fundraiser and re-print of a decades-old Monterey Bay Aquarium T-shirt design comes after pop star Taylor Swift wore it in the movie release “Official Release Party of a Showgirl.” It was also featured on an Instagram account highlighting parts of Swift’s wardrobe.
The design is from the 90s, but the aquarium brought it back after seeing Swift’s impact and the mass interest.
“We saw a wave of $13 donations to support our sea otter program and other ocean conservation work,” the aquarium wrote in a statement.
Swift’s favorite number is 13 and it’s often featured in her music. Donations of $65.13 or higher will get the reprinted shirt as a thank you gift.
In six hours, fans blew the $1.3 million goal out of the water. The fundraiser rapidly grew to $2.2 million by 3 p.m. ET Friday and shirts had to be placed on back order due to high demand.
“We were in the archives, digging through. We were contacting former aquarium staff members, all trying to find out more,” Liz MacDonald, one of the minds behind bringing the shirt back, told KSBW. “It was really a whole group effort to bring the aquarium and Liberty Graphics together so that we could make this happen.”
The re-released shirt is produced by Liberty Graphics and will use polyvinyl chloride-free, water-based ink on 100% cotton material shirts. The aquarium says this combo is “better for the planet and our ocean,” and won’t “shed microplastics in the wash.”
They’re also packing and shipping the tees in plastic-free materials.
Swift has other potential easter eggs toward the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but it’s not clear if it’s intentional. Some songs include titles or lyrics that coincide with the names of some otters at the aquarium, like Ivy, Ruby and Opal.
Her fiancé Travis Kelce has also said his favorite animals are sea otters on his and his brother’s podcast.
Sea otters are considered endangered globally, according to International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
Fundraisers like the one the Monterey Bay Aquarium is hosting can help ocean conservation and other efforts for sea otters.
“Intentional or not, by putting our sea otter conservation work in the spotlight, this has brought a new era of support and awareness to the Aquarium’s long history of ocean conservation,” the aquarium wrote in a statement.