Olympic "I'm From Earth" T-shirts

Coca-Cola has given every Olympian at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games a special "I'm from Earth" Coke T-shirt. The shirts are made from a blend of cotton and recycled PET (the plastic used in our bottles).

The “I’m from Earth” slogan stands for two things: the effort to conserve the planet's resources and the Olympic message of unity.

The shirts have been made exclusively for the competitors and attending staff from all participating national teams. We created T-shirts for the approximately 15,000 athletes, coaches and other team officials participating in the Olympic Games (August 8-24).

The estimated 7,000 athletes and coaches who will take part in the Paralympic Games (September 6-17), also in Beijing, will receive “I’m from Earth” sun visors made using recycled PET.

We made the commemorative shirts to raise awareness about the many ways plastic beverage bottles can be reused. On the back of the T-shirts is an image of five Coca-Cola contour bottles -- that’s the “5 Inside” symbol (because five PET bottles were used in each finished T-shirt). The visors were made with one PET bottle.

And I thought you’d be interested in this: We created one very custom-made T-shirt -- to fit 7-foot-6 Olympic basketball star Yao Ming!

I’ve mentioned past Coca-Cola Olympic collectibles such as the set of commemorative bottles from Lake Placid and pin sets from throughout the years. These shirts could become the next big collectible for years to come.