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Going 100% Organic with Organic Embroidery Thread

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,…

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! April 22nd has been the annual day since some folks started it in 1970. After witnessing the terrible Santa Barbara oil spill Senator Gaylord Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media. He persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited…

Believing What You Read (or not…)

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…

Pecha Kucha

Pecha Kucha. Roughly translated from the Japanese, it means “chit-chat.” It is a cool idea, sort of like speed dating for ideas and thinking. You show 20 slides and talk more than for 20 seconds for each. Pecha Kucha nights happen in about 700 cities around the world. More ideas, what a good idea. The featured…

Happy Earth Day!

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…

Reflections at the End of the Trade Show Season – Part III

Here is my third post, some final refections as the busy trade show season is mostly over. The biggest trends of the past ten years have been related to digital printing and to concerns about the effects of printing and garments on the environment. Developments in the environmental realm seem to have slowed down, but still…

ISS Long Beach – Green Products and Organics

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…

Check that Label, the Ethics of Garment Manufacture

In this day and age, it is not really a good excuse to plead ignorance about where your shirts are made. There is usually some information on the label, and then there is this thing called “the internet” where you can do either a little or a lot of research. In the coming weeks we’ll…

Farm Aid 2014 Here We Come

About to hit the road to run the merch at Farm Aid 2014 in Raleigh. Farm Aid is a concert with Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp playing every year for the benefit of saving family farms. They get some help from other musicians (Jack White this year should be a must…

Web Wednesday – Continental Clothing

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…