Green imprints on wearables

Recently I had a client ask me about green methods of imprinting on an organic t-shirt. This is a great question because we can quickly make our organic cotton garment not quite so eco-friendly if we apply harsh or toxic inks in the imprinting process.
Screen-printing is by far the most common method of imprinting t-shirts. In this process screens are “burned” using a chemical emulsion. Inks are then pushed through the screens to transfer the ink onto the garment. When you are done printing the garment the screens are washed down with a solution so that the screens can be reused. Ink that is left on the screen after the shirts are printed is collected but much is washed down the drain. Today’s inks are getting better. Most are low VOC which is safer for the workers.
Embroidery is another common imprint method, but it is not practical on large areas. A company logo on the front left chest of a shirt would be great, but it’s not cost effective to do a full back or full chest imprint with embroidery. Other than the electricity used to operate the embroidery machine, the only other environmental impact that I could see is the dyes that are used to color the threads. I couldn’t find much info about that subject.
Direct to Garment printing is quickly increasing in popularity. It’s basically like an ink jet printer that you have in your office, but it prints directly onto the shirt. The inks are low VOC and because you don’t have to burn screens it’s much more kind to the environment.
There are some really cool designs being created by laser engraving on fabrics. The laser just “burns” into the very top layer of the fabric. It doesn’t affect the strength of the fabric and has a really cool tone-on-tone look. The only environmental impact I can see is the use of electricity.
“Green” is still in the eye of the beholder. But I hope the information listed above provided some good food for thought. If you have any suggestions or info I welcome your comments.
Julia Wright, MASOwner, Wright Choice Promotions