New York City's Secret Neighborhood

This blog post was written by Lola Moreno, a 2025 Marine Plastics Ambassador.

The New York Seascape spans 16,000 square miles of  the Atlantic Ocean, stretching from Cape May, NJ to Montauk, NY. The New York Seascape houses an incredible amount of biodiversity. Despite this, many New Yorkers aren’t aware of the beauty that exists just off the shore of their city. I, too, didn’t know much about the New York Seascape until I interned with the New York Aquarium, housed in Coney Island, which is one of the gateways to the New York Seascape. As an intern, I conducted beach cleanups and talked to Coney Island community residents. I realized that there was an overwhelming amount of plastic polluting our waters. I learned how plastic pollution, paired with New York City’s antiquated sewage system, exacerbated the floods that Coney Island is vulnerable to. Because of this, I created Coastal Club, a hoodie line inspired by the New York Seascape. Through Coastal Club, I want to remind people of the beauty that exists within the waters of New York. I want people to be able to recognize the fragile biodiversity of the New York Seascape, and how we are responsible for making efforts to keep our waters clean. As a Marine Plastics Ambassador, I want to raise awareness to New Yorkers on the importance of the New York Seascape and how plastic pollution negatively affects us and our environment.

I started Coastal Club with a vision of creating a wearable reminder of the beauty of the New York Seascape. I started the design process by choosing a color palette and researching the different forms of life that exist in the New York Seascape. I started designing the hoodie in July, and I finished in September. I decided to illustrate different forms of marine life in a circle around a slogan that says “Protect the New York Seascape.”

During the upcycling sewing workshop.

In order to plan the upcycling sewing workshop, I collaborated with Zihan, a fellow Marine Plastic Ambassador who created Sewing Up The Climate Gap. We both have projects related to fashion and textiles, so we decided that hosting a textile related workshop would fit our projects well. We collaborated with Can International in order to find a venue for our event. Throughout this entire process, I ran the Coastal Club Instagram account in order to reach a wider audience.

A piece that was made during our upcycling sewing workshop.

Here are some of Coastal Club’s milestones:

  • Hosted a sewing/upcycling workshop with 20+ attendees.
  • Collaborated with Sewing Up The Climate Gap (a fellow Marine Plastic Ambassador Zihan’s project) and Can International to host this sewing workshop
  • Reached 3,000+ individuals on social media

Throughout the process of creating Coastal Club, I experienced many setbacks. To begin, it took a lot longer than anticipated to design my hoodie. I originally set out to design it within a month, but it took around 3 months. I learned the importance of pacing and attention to detail meanwhile designing my hoodie. Additionally, while planning for the sewing workshop, we experienced some logistical challenges. Finding a venue to host it was difficult. Thankfully, Zihan knew Can International could aid us in this process. During the promotion process, we feared we were not reaching a wide enough audience. We struggled to promote our event. In the end, we found ways to spread our reach and attract more attendees. After these setbacks, I have learned that consistency and dedication are the most important parts of effectively creating a project. No matter how many setbacks one might reach, with continued dedication and consistency of work, something will come out of it.

Another design that was made during our upcycling sewing workshop.

Moving forward, I plan on continuing designing hoodies for Coastal Club. I want to donate profits from hoodies to organizations that address the issue of plastic pollution. I hope to host more community events in the future in order to continue educating others about the New York Seascape. There are also possible collaboration projects coming in the near future. Anyone interested in keeping up with Coastal Club can follow @coastal.club_ on Instagram.