From Waste to Weatherproof: The Story of Dri Umbrellas

When a VICE documentary about ocean plastic rocked Deirdre Bird’s world in 2017, she didn’t just scroll past the problem—she decided to do something about it.

The real lightbulb moment came unexpectedly, on a rainy commute, as her flimsy umbrella broke and landed in a trash can.

A quick glance at the label—"100% polyester"—sparked a question that would grow into a mission: Why aren’t we making umbrellas out of recycled ocean plastic?

From that one moment of clarity, Dri Umbrellas was born—a sustainable brand creating durable, ocean-bound plastic umbrellas that protect people from the elements and help protect our oceans.

In this interview, Deirdre shares how a simple act of curiosity turned into a Kickstarter success, how Dri is creating fair-wage jobs in Southeast Asia, and why she believes individuals—not just corporations—hold the power to change the world.

What was the lightbulb moment - origin story of Dri Umbrellas?

Back in 2017 I watched the VICE documentary, "Garbage Island: An Ocean Full of Plastic." The film left me shocked and absolutely horrified - I couldn't believe we’d let our oceans get to this dire state, and that the problem is only getting worse.

I did further research to see what was actually being done about this issue, and while I learned that brands like Adidas and Nike occasionally incorporate recycled ocean bound polyester yarn into limited-edition shoes and clothes, there wasn’t much else. I felt compelled to act - I just didn’t know how.

The following week I was commuting to work when my umbrella flipped inside out in a gust of wind. I cringed as I heard one of the ribs crack, knowing the umbrella was now useless.

As I threw the umbrella into the nearest trash can, I stopped in my tracks when I saw the tag - "Made from 100% Polyester". 'Polyester is just plastic in fabric form', I thought to myself. 'Why couldn't these umbrella canopies be made out of recycled polyester?

What about recycled polyester...made from ocean plastic?' With the train rushing into the station, I stood rooted on the spot, experiencing my own very cliche entrepreneurial "AH-HA!" moment.

I could protect our oceans by building durable, high-quality umbrellas from
recycled ocean-bound plastic.

And that’s exactly what we’re doing.

What is the mission and vision of Dri Umbrellas?

Dri's vision is to protect our ocean from plastic pollution by upcycling plastic waste bound for our oceans into long-lasting, durable products.

Dri's wider mission, however, is to empower people by reminding them that their individual actions and buying decisions truly matter in the face environmental issues.

It's human nature to feel helpless in the wake of seemingly insurmountable problems like climate change and plastic pollution.

However, throughout the course of history we've learned time and again that individual action is the only thing that builds the momentum needed to fuel societal change.

Whether corporations and governments want to join this fight or not, we as individuals have the freewill to make climate-conscious decisions for ourselves and our households.

We can choose buying decisions that have a positive impact, rather than ones that contribute to the pollution of our planet. Dri will always focus on empowering the individual.

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How does Dri impact lives and/or the environment in a positive way?

Every year an estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic enter our oceans. It's devastating marine life, creating serious human health problems, and decimating entire eco-systems.

In order to halt the influx of this plastic flooding into our oceans, Dri pays local workers fair wages to gather plastic from the beaches of Southeast Asia, where the majority of plastic flows into our oceans.

Those workers bring the gathered plastic to a local recycling facility, where the plastic is sorted, shaved into flakes, and turned into pellets.

The pellets are sent to a fabric mill, which turns the plastic into polyester yarn, then sheets of polyester fabric.

That polyester fabric is sent to the umbrella factory, where it is hand sewn onto an umbrella frame.

This supply chain creates dozens of fair wage jobs and lifts up local economies all along the way. It helps many women with little education gain financial independence for themselves and their families.

How have you funded the company thus far?

Dri was mostly bootstrapped for the first three years of the business, along with a $10k grant from the beauty brand Biossance.

In 2023 we officially launched our umbrella product line via Kickstarter campaign, and raised over $29,000. I hadn't initially considered crowdfunding, but reflecting on it now, it ended up being perfect for Dri.

I have a big family and incredible friends who over my years of research and development said they would absolutely buy an umbrella, so it was much better to have them pre-order so I could use the money raised to pay for the inventory run, rather than go into debt or seek out investors just to get us off the ground.

Another perk of crowdfunding is that rather than having to remind friends and family individually that the umbrellas were available for purchase on the website, (and hoping they got around to it during their busy schedules!) the Kickstarter innately created a sense of urgency given it was only active for 30 days.

You definitely have to put a lot of time, effort, and money into creating a crowdfunding campaign, because it is no longer "build it and they will come".

There are thousands of campaigns live at any given time, so it's important to make yourself stand out.

However, if you already have a loving community around you, crowdfunding is a great method to drive all those people to a single place, for a limited time, to purchase your product.

What tools do you use to run your company?

Shopify, Mailchimp, Asana, Quickbooks, Hubspot, Google Calendar, Gmail, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Powerpoint, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X (not super often but have an account), and soon-to-be TikTok.

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Disruptors for GOOD podcast: Disruptors for GOOD is an informative podcast that explores the emerging trend of social entrepreneurs. Our guests tell stories of how they are using their skills and expertise to create an impact on the world.

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