Gisele Caroline Bündchen

Gisele Caroline Bündchen(born July 20, 1980) is a Brazilian model and occasional actress. According to Forbes, she is the highest-paid model in the world and also the sixteenth richest woman in the entertainment world, having earned $33 million in 2007 and $35 million in 2008 alone, adding to her estimated $150 million fortune. She is also listed on Guinness Book of World Records as the world's richest supermodel. Bündchen has been the face of more than 20 brands internationally and has appeared on more magazine covers than any other model.

After militating for the conscious use of the world’s water, Gisele Bündchen goes green with her Ipanema Collection.

The Ipanema 2009 plastic sandals collection goes for the SOS Mata Atlantica, a program supporting the gallery forest (the vegetation surrounding rivers and streams), still water related because this forest participates in the protection of water. Gisele and Grendene (the mother company of Ipanema and Melissa) have developed a special project with SOS Mata Atlantica – each Ipanema sandal sold will help plating 25,500 saplings from 100 different species (15ha of Brazilian Atlantic Forest). (more pictures and the promotional video of the campaign, plus the making of right after the jump)



Granted, it's not exactly sandal weather right now. But spring is right around the corner -- so it's not too early to keep your eyes out for some warm weather footwear. And as long as you're at it, why not do a little something for the planet?

It seems that what supermodel Gisele Bundchen was thinking. She's not just wearing a new sandal designed to raise awareness about water conservation -- that's all she's wearing. The new Ipanema sandal (which Bundchen designed) was created to support a campaign called Y Ikatu Xingu, which is working to protect the Xingu watershed in the Amazon basin. And what's even more exciting, is that Gisele is featured on the website -- wearing sandals, some water, and her birthday suit.

After all, nothing gets people more pumped up about saving the planet than naked celebrities.





The Ipanema site in itself has got a touch of green – while it charges , there’s a little seed growing into a branch with leaves. The sandals look far more attractive in the pictures than they do in reality. Her face/name and the project do the selling for these plastic sandals. Do you consider buying Ipanema for the forest’s sake? (via)




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