Photo credit: Matter of Trust

Hooters’, the restaurant chain with the famous, ahem, or some might say infamous, wait staff, will soon be more than just a scantily clad atmosphere in which to enjoy hot wings and guzzle beer.  Hooters’ ladies have been enlisted to donate their used (torn, and therefore unwanted) pantyhose to help clean up the Gulf oil spill.

The company has deemed the program “Project Pantyhose” and expects to gather around 100,000 pantyhose nationwide.  According to Hooters’ press release:

“The laundered pantyhose are used to make booms which are stuffed with hair, fur and fleece to absorb the oil.”

The hose collected will be shipped off to non-profit organizations and environmental agencies. The program will last 4 weeks to help make a 15 mile strip of booms.  And the chain claims the 100,000 pairs of dainties could help suck up 1 million gallons of oil. (In the picture above, see donated shrimp sacks filled with donated “pool noodles” for flotation, and crammed with pantyhose stuffed with the absorbent materials, all linked together to make a boom along the Alabama coast.)

The Ohio River valley could be one of the major contributors in the effort, being home to around 30 locations – including in Indiana, which hosts the most. Most major cities in our region are  home to a Hooters’. So, ladies, let’s rip those stockings and save some wildlife!

- by Andy Freudenberg, ohioriverradio.org contributor

(From Kristin Espeland Gourlay, ohioriverradio.org editor:

Hirsute, and hoping to send oil in hot pursuit?  You can participate, too.  Visit Matter of Trust, an organization that welcomes….

“ALL salons, groomers, fleece farmers, hairy individuals, & pet owners [to] sign up to recycle hair, fur, fleece, feathers, nylons… WE ARE ACCEPTING SIGN UPS, thousands coming in every day to support recyling of this renewable and useful fiber!”

Found a unique way to help mitigate the Gulf oil spill crisis?  Let us know!)