
Less than two weeks ago, Taylor Swift released a film promoting her latest album and propelled a small Maine T-shirt company onto an international stage.
“The Official Release Party of a Showgirl” includes footage of the pop superstar wearing a faded vintage T-shirt supporting the rescue, rehabilitation and education program for endangered sea otters at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Immediately that Friday, Oct. 3, her fans began raving about the 1990s T-shirt on social media, noting that Swift loves otters, as does her fiancé, NFL player Travis Kelce.
The next day, staff at Liberty Graphics, a small original T-shirt printing company about 30 miles east of Augusta, recognized the otter design and began emailing each other.
“This is huge!” wrote Olivia Walker, a Liberty Graphics salesperson.
The otter imprint was among hundreds of T-shirt designs that Liberty Graphics purchased from Harborside Graphics. The Belfast company went out of business about 25 years ago and had produced the T-shirt for the aquarium about 30 years ago.
Liberty Graphics found the design in its archive, refreshed the image and will start screen printing T-shirts next week for a fundraising campaign that will benefit the California aquarium.
The campaign launched Thursday with a goal to raise $1.3 million. It surpassed that mark by 8 p.m. and continued climbing.
The T-shirts will be available for a limited time as a thank-you gift with donations of at least $65.13 through the aquarium’s website. The money will support the sea otter program and other ocean conservation efforts. The company said it will make a small profit on each shirt.
Liberty Graphics is poised to become the latest beneficiary of the Taylor Swift Effect —when even a tacit endorsement by the mega influencer can lead to viral sales or trends initiated by Swifties.
Liberty Graphics has a work order from the aquarium that could keep its 50 employees busy for months — even years — to come. Headquartered in the rural town of Liberty, the company also sells its nature-oriented T-shirts online and at retail outlets in Camden, Freeport and Portland.
“It’s definitely not something we were expecting,” said Matt Enos, multimedia manager at Liberty Graphics. “We’re a small business. It’s not often you get an opportunity for this kind of exposure. You can’t put a price on it.”
The Eras Tour sold $2 billion in concert tickets worldwide in 2023 and 2024, and U.S. fans spent about $1,300 each on tickets, outfits, merchandise, food, drink and travel, according to the research firm QuestionPro.
WORKING WITH MONTEREY BAY
Liberty Graphics contacted the aquarium first thing Oct. 6 and began working on a plan to reissue the T-shirt for the fundraising campaign.
“We were in communication with the aquarium immediately Monday morning,” Enos recalled. “They were already being inundated with calls.”
The aquarium also has received a wave of $13 donations — Swift’s favorite number — to support the sea otter program and other ocean conservation work.
“Swifties, you truly walk the talk,” the aquarium said on its website. “We tracked down the original artwork — first printed in the 1990s — and are bringing it back to say thank you, sustainably.”
The imprint shows two whiskered sea otters floating belly up, surrounded by information about their characteristics and habits, and illustrations of their favorite foods, including sea urchins, clams and crabs.

Liberty Graphics will produce the T-shirts with “PVC-free, water-based ink that’s better for the planet and our ocean and 100% cotton material that doesn’t shed microplastics in the wash,” the aquarium said.
“We’re also ensuring packaging and shipping materials are plastic-free,” the aquarium said. “The original shirt they produced held up 30-plus years, making this an anti-fast-fashion statement.”
MUTUALLY HELD VALUES
Founded in 1978 by Tom Opper and a community of local artists, Liberty Graphics was purchased by its employees in 2021.
The agreement between Liberty Graphics and the aquarium highlights social and environmental values they share with Swift, Enos said.
“Part of what we do is educate people about the natural world,” he said. “Our values meld perfectly.”
Enos said the T-shirts won’t be available for sale through Liberty Graphics’ website or retail stores.
How long the shirts will be available and how many Liberty Graphics will need to print is unclear. The company can produce about 1,000 shirts per day, he said, so they can handle a substantial amount.
But if they can’t, Enos said he wouldn’t be opposed to seeking help from local Swifties.
“It probably would be a dream job for some of them,” he said.
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