PACT Helps Sierra Student Coalition Expose Coal and Themselves

SAN FRANCISCO, April 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PACT, an underwear brand that blends design and sustainability with support for powerful social and environmental causes, proudly supports the Sierra Club Student Coalition's "Campuses Beyond Coal" initiative.  Today, PACT announces the public availability of their latest collection, "Beyond Coal," which supports this movement to educate about coal's dangers to environmental and public health.

Students from coal-powered campuses, as well as those protesting in solidarity, have already used the underwear line in conjunction with organized events such as "flesh mobs", where students spontaneously strip down to their PACT underwear, and a race to renewables, a cross-campus underwear run, to advocate for the use of cleaner fuel sources. Included in these actions, Miami University students staged a pants-less rally in front of their campus coal plant on March 31st, while University of North Texas students shook off their shorts in front of their administration office on April 1st.

On April 4th, Miami University of Ohio announced it would immediately begin reducing the amount of coal burned on campus and eventually eliminate it altogether, validating the demands of Miami students who had worked for months to pressure the university to improve local health by abandoning coal.

"These college campuses are burning coal in spite of the fact that they are building tomorrow's leaders, who overwhelmingly look to cleaner technologies to power their future," said Mary Anne Hitt, Director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign. "This is another admirable example of student advocates putting upward pressure on those in power to transition to cleaner, renewable sources of energy."

"PACT shares these students' vision of a cleaner future, so we saw "Campuses Beyond Coal" as a great opportunity for lending our support," said Jason Kibbey, Co-Founder of PACT. "We were thrilled to offer this print first to the student coalition members, and now to the public, which shows the harm that coal can have while also reflecting the Sierra Club's optimistic message that we can solve this problem."

The "Beyond Coal" line represents a partnership between PACT and the Sierra Club, with PACT arming Sierra Student Coalition members with bold, mission-oriented underwear that envisions a coal-free future to help them make a statement about dirty energy. Ten percent of the proceeds from the "Beyond Coal" line will go to support the efforts of the Sierra Club to educate the public on the toll coal can take on our human and environmental health.

The underwear line, which became available today at wearpact.com, features two prints created by world-renowned designer Yves Behar of FuseProject and ranges from $18-$24. The prints represent clear skies, offering a vision of a cleaner future no longer dependent on coal.

About PACT:

PACT is an apparel company launched in 2009 by Jason Kibbey and Jeff Denby offering design-driven, sustainably manufactured, premium underwear connected to powerful social and environmental causes. PACT creates partnerships with nonprofits and donates 10 percent of each underwear purchase to support these organizations' work. PACT underwear is made of responsibly grown and manufactured organic cotton, transported in zero-waste packaging and delivered with a minimized carbon footprint, demonstrating the company's ongoing commitment to style, sustainability and social consciousness. For more information, email us at [email protected].

About The Sierra Student Coalition:

The Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) is a broad network of high school and college-aged youth from across the country working to protect the environment. The SSC is the youth-led chapter of the Sierra Club, the nation's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization.

SOURCE PACT