COTTON: Conventional vs Organic

Conventional cotton farming uses about 1/3 lb of chemicals per shirt produced. These toxins are a danger to farm communities and end up in water run-off. Additionally, the cotton seed is then fed to cattle and used to make cotton seed oil. Organic cotton, however, is grown WITHOUT the use of harmful chemicals, pesticides and fertilizers. For more information about organic cotton visit OTA.

INKS: Typical vs Eco-friendly

While it’s important to replace conventional cotton with organic, it’s equally important to use eco-friendly inks and dyes. The most common ink used for screen printing has been plastisol for many years. Today, many screen printers are using more water-based inks because traditional plastisol inks have contained Polyvinyl Chlorides (PVC’s), among other chemicals and toxins. Many will make the argument that use of water-based inks alone solves all the environmental issues and are better than traditional inks such as plastisol. In many ways this can be true, but we feel it’s important to understand that improper handling of even water-based ink can be environmentally harmful. We always strive to use the most eco-friendly screen printing ink and process possible for each application. Additionally, we have worked with suppliers to replace traditional cleaning solutions and screen printing components with environmentally-friendly and biodegradable alternatives.

DYES: Traditional vs Low Impact

The traditional dye process not only involves many toxic chemicals, but the processing can be very harmful to the environment. We do everything we can to make sure our suppliers use low-impact dyeing and finishing methods which follow stringent international standards by organizations such as ETAD, Control Union (formerly known as Skal) or the newer Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS).