Our partnership with SANCCOB shows how ethical retail can be a lifeline for endangered species and for the communities who craft our bracelets.
As the world unites on 8 June to celebrate World Oceans Day, we’re taking a moment to honour not just our oceans, but the powerful, people-centred solutions helping to protect them. At Relate Bracelets, we believe that ethical retail can spark meaningful change for people, for wildlife, and for the planet we all share.
For more than 15 years, our sustainable model of handmade cause bracelets has supported over 100 impact-driven organisations. Every bracelet creates earnings for township-based seniors and young adults while raising funds for causes close to our hearts, like SANCCOB, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds.
“There’s power in small actions when people are placed at the centre,” says Relate Bracelets CEO, Dalit Shekel. “Our partnership with SANCCOB shows what happens when community, purpose, and sustainable business come together.”
One of our most urgent causes is the protection of the African penguin, the only penguin species native to Africa and now critically endangered, with fewer than 10,000 breeding pairs remaining in the wild. SANCCOB is a global leader in seabird rescue and rehabilitation, and we’re incredibly proud to support their work through the sale of our dedicated SANCCOB bracelets.
So far, together with our supporters, we’ve raised close to R500,000 for SANCCOB, and we’re committed to do more.
“Their conservation efforts are grounded in heart, grit, and science,” says Shekel. “It’s a privilege to help fund their work and to raise awareness about this urgent crisis.”
Beyond fundraising, this partnership helps amplify conservation advocacy. In March 2025, SANCCOB celebrated a landmark win in the Pretoria High Court, securing a 10-year no-fishing zone for sardine and anchovy fisheries around six African penguin breeding colonies after a year-long legal battle supported by BirdLife South Africa.
“Taking legal action was never our first choice,” says SANCCOB CEO Natalie Maskell. “But with the penguin now critically endangered, we had to act. This court win is a critical milestone, and we remain focused on strengthening protections going forward.”
We believe that responsible retail can do more than create beautiful products, it can fund real conservation, drive local employment, and inspire a global movement for good. Our SANCCOB bracelets are just one example of how small actions can create ripple of change.
“In a country rooted in Ubuntu, our shared responsibility extends to wildlife,” adds Shekel. “Through partnerships like this, we show how business, community, and conservation can walk hand in hand.”
In a typical year, SANCCOB rehabilitates up to 2,500 seabirds, including around 1,500 African penguins, as well as endangered Bank and Cape cormorants, gannets, albatrosses, petrels, and other marine birds. Their work is vital, and thanks to the collaborative efforts of our purpose-driven partners and the supporters of our bracelets, we aim to make a lasting impact to safeguard their future.
If marine conservation lies at the heart of your business goals, we invite you to partner with us in support of SANCCOB.