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Mexican band Mana fighting for sea turtles with new clothing

Mana members Alex Gonzalez (from left) Fher Olvera, Juan Calleros and Sergio Vallin pose during an interview in New York. AP file photo

NEW YORK — Mexican rock band Mana is expanding its fight to save endangered sea turtles with a clothing line.

The band, known for its environmental activism, is stepping into the fashion industry with Ritos del Sol, a line of eco-friendly jeans and T-shirts for men and women.

A percentage of each sale will be donated to the group’s Selva Negra Foundation, the nonprofit it created in 1995 to raise awareness and take real action to save endangered species and help underserved communities around the world. It offers four lines — Selva Negra, Cosmos, Laberinto de Concreto and Inframundo — with designs that go from abstract prints inspired in flora and fauna to skulls and a skeleton’s ribs.

The musicians said the idea was presented to them a couple of  years ago by the designers at a Puebla, Mexico, clothing factory owned by a cousin of vocalist Fher Olvera.

“The clothing that he makes uses 25 percent of the water that the factories normally use in Mexico,” Fher said. “They are also good to their employees, it’s fair trade, and they work in indigenous communities not only in Puebla but in Oaxaca.”

Drummer Alex Gonzalez said  Olvera came up with the idea of supporting sea turtles in Mexico. All four band members were involved in the designs of the T-shirts.

“At the end of the day, it had to be clothing that we wanted to use, both on and offstage,” Gonzalez said.

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