Following last week’s post on using organic embroidery thread, we received a lot of questions about where to find organic embroidery thread. Here is a great supplier, Fiberactive Organics. For years, company CEO Julie Moore has offered genuine certified organic thread and in dozens of colors! It is all GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified,…
We recently produced a 100% organic cotton cap. Not only was the fabric made of organic cotton, but the embroidery thread was also certified organic! A few thoughts… Like many “green” alternatives, you can’t just substitute organic thread for conventional embroidery thread made from rayon or conventional cotton and embroider away. On the other hand,…
There is a bill currently in the CA legislature on the topic of polyester microfibers. They have proposed legislation mandating by 2020 that garments with 50% or more polyester or other synthetic fiber warn you to wash them by hand and not wash them by machine. This is on the heels of studies indicating that…
One of the Mirror Image artists and I stood in the middle of the crowd at Farm Aid. As many of the 20K people in attendance filed past us, we took note of what they were wearing. Simple, simple and simple was the conclusion. What did we see? One color designs for the most part,…
Two quick points on this cover of this issue of ECOTEXTILE: 1. ECOTEXTILE is an excellent source for information on the sustainability end of the business. You can get headlines via email for free or subscribe for the full articles. 2. There lead article this month make a great point regarding sustainability, both environmental and labor claims…
April 22 is Earth Day. Happy Earth Day! Earth Day started in 1970. There are some real great proponents of environmentalism in our industry. Some simple advice on Earth Day: – use the greenest products you can and when you use them, do it responsibly. A great example is to use roll adhesive which will…
There are a wide variety of types of canvas bags out there in the world. They are all waiting to be decorated by the screenprinter. There are specifications of all the fabrics in terms of weight, weave, etc. In my many years of buying canvas totes and even working directly with companies that are manufacturing…
We’ll do a longer post after the show, but check out some environmental products if you are still at the Long Beach ISS show: American Apparel has baby shirts that are organic and other organic items as well. Econscious has organic shirts, hats and my favoite of their products, really nice organic hoodies. Rutland Ink…
Why a car in an environmental post? We rented this Audi A1 to make our factory tours while at the FESPA in Germany. Great sporty car, no problem doing 110 MPH or more on the Autobahn. However, its diesel engine also had this baby getting almost 60 miles per gallon. It also has innovative environmental features such…
This sign for the Fair Wear Foundation was outside a t-shirt shop selling pretty typical tourist shirts in Heidelberg Germany. I asked the owner about the Fair Trade shirts and whether any consumers there cared about that. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, “yes, of course.” I think that in the…
