I wouldn't want a customer to wear a discharge shirt without washing it first. the active chemical could reactivate with body moisture and irritate the skin.
I wouldn't want a customer to wear a shirt printed with under cured white plastisol. It would smell and be releasing the peroxides that are usually in them, and could irritate the skin.
Thanks - I appreciate the explanation.
I mentioned some time ago on the forums (in the Lounge) that I have a screenprinted tshirt given to me that still smells of a chemical after owning it for about 8 years.
Someone on the forums replied that it may not have been cured properly. It's a black Hanes 50/50 tee with white plastisol ink. The other shirt next to that picture (the gold one) has started peeling and I assume it's coming off in my wash? It appears to be a mix of plastisol ink and some type of "puffed" ink, as the ink is raised on the spikes around the cat's arm.
Also, Richard, please let me know if you check your PMs through the forum here. I'm currently at work and away from personal email.
However, I can send you that info you requested immediately using the PM system on the forums. I won't be near personal email until late tonight.
Thanks!
AB
_______________
Richard,
I just sent you an email from a wireless device of the information you needed. That's the cool thing about having coworkers with fancy phones around.
AB
Last edited by AdriaticBlue; May 29th, 2007 at 12:48 PM.
[Ink Manufacturer] PolyOne (Inquire about their Wilflex QuantumOne Non-PVC and Plast-O-Meric WTR Water-Based Inks)
AB
Just to correct this info:
After re-checking my correspondence received from the PolyOne corp and revisiting their site, their Plast-O-Meric inks are plastisol, not water-based.
Their QuantumOne ink (Non-PVC / Non-Phthalate) is also plastisol and their Wilflex Oasis ink (Non-Formaldehyde) is a water-based discharge ink. There are so many that it was easy for me to get confused.
Btw, has anyone used any of the Aquatex water-based inks by the Lancer Group?
It appears that the queries that started this thread were, in the end, unable to be answered with any clarity. Despite my best efforts, and those of others who have posted, to hone the questions down to their essence in an effort to draw some useful factual information, no further responses from anyone with industry experience or expertise have been forthcoming.
The only reasonable conclusion I can draw from this is that the organic apparel industry is still in relatively early stages, and that time and expertise in the mainstream T-shirt/screenprinting industry will not provide satisfactory basic factual answers to the questions posed. And why should they, when you think about it?
I guess what is needed is some expert advice from unbiased people with grassroot specialist experience in the ORGANIC cotton industry - probably quite rare specimens (and let's not even think about the organic hemp and bamboo industries,which are positively arcane by comparison!).
If any such person is out there (sounds like a lonely signal beamed out into space in search of extraterrestrial life!) and happens upon this thread, the posts herein are evidence that I am not the only one who would be very grateful for some informed specialist advice on the areas queried.
In the meantime, I think the best advice that has been given thus far is to ascertain everything possible of any relevance to clients about any organic produce one is offering. That still leaves the problem - a big one, it seems - of effectively discriminating between myth and reality in order to decide on a realistic set of criteria to apply when choosing a supplier. Trial and error seems a long, potentially expensive road to take, but in the absence of reliable factual information there currently appears to be no other practical alternative.
It has been a bit frustrating Ross to get some concrete answers, I know.
What I have decided, since I like knowing of options and believe that flexibility for some things can be rewarding, is to take a look at not only screenprinting companies and those who manufacturer screenprinting inks at the upcoming Printwear Show, but to also visit Dye Sub, ChromaBlast and DTG printers, and any others I've never heard of.
This has got to open up a wealth of options and perhaps I may have to undergo a change of heart and cease limiting my choice only to water-based ink screenprinting.
Whew! I'm completely exhausted after reading this thread! The ping-pong match was interesting to say the least.
I'm in a similar boat, wanting to be as environmentally friendly as possible (without compromising economic viability). I stumbled upon AdriaticBlue's thread re: plastisol vs water-based and then onto this one. Thanks for your discussions - they're of great assistance, and are helping me realize I'm not as far behind as I thought I was. I don't mean YOU'RE behind - I mean the printing industry seems to still be developing re: inks that are more environmentally benign.
I offer one comment to Ross in relation to the "sweatshop" issue of organic cotton t-shirts. I found one company, HaeNow, that is not only certified organic by Skal of Holland, but their manufacturing plant in West Bengal has been given a clean audit from Oxfam-Benelux and Amnesty International, UK. I'm not sure if that helps you or not, but it's helped me frame my questions to other t-shirt manufacturers.
Thanks for the ink links to PVC/phalate-free and formaldehyde-free products! I'm going to chase these up. One thing I have going for me is that I want my designs to be subtle; only 1-2 shades darker than the t-shirts they're on. So, water-based may be ok. My problem comes when I want to do DARK shirts - and discharge printing seems nasty. I love the REHANCE idea, but it's just too expensive for someone like me who's re-selling wholesale to giftshops. I'd have to WHOLESALE my shirts for $20 or more!
Anyway, thanks for sitting through my first official post! Perhaps we can chat more about all things environmental as we head down the road less traveled. I'm looking forward to it.
Cheers
ah yes, prcisely the fab dialogue a green architect and I had recently, we were so happy to find designers even in different fields who are focusing on the same issues, what is sustainable, where does the base material come from...oh, how nice all cotton! Continental Clothing Company - Fight Child Slave Labour
We as citizens of the worlds I do believe are responsible for spending the time researching and then doing the best we can with a conciousness...there is a lot of marketing going on...oooh bamboo! Yes I do promote it's sustainability to our clients but I also explain, it's not the cure all...it is shiped by huge polluting freighters vs. organic american grown cotton thatneedn't be shipped across the seas to me, where are they getting the new bamboo farms to meet the growing demand by the entire textile and building markets? Are we seeing deforestization happen to meet our happy little socially responsible desires??? We may but for now, I do spend a vast amount of time in research and development as the director of sourcing for our little studio and I am committed to doing the best we can, with eyes wide open to the pros and cons of everything marketed in the eco friendly INDUSTRY....
Any waterbased ink would be an eco friendly alternative.. the solids after the ink is cured are biodegradable.. Plastisol is PVC and BAD here's a good article... http://waterbasedscreenprinting.com/http://
also a good couple of waterbased suppliers noted at the end of article..
But keep in mind that plastisol from t-shirts as waste is not something to call Al Gore about.. there are alot of PVC industries out there that dump billions of t-shirts worth of pvc's every day..
I wanted to chime in here because I have been concerned with this for the last couple of years. More about my own health. Have been using plastisol for the last eight years (since my business started..). I've tried using water based ink but I think the solvents they use to allow the ink to dry faster are worse than plastisol// I'm waiting for a TRUE WATER ONLY BASED INK.
I heard of a recent article in national geographic that stated plastisol ink does in fact cause health problems for the wearer of the shirt. I have not been able to find the article. Some printers I met on a music tour last spring talked to me a lot about the article . I guess "they" have found plastisol causes cancer..
If the wearer of the shirt is in danger it is safe to assume that we as printers are also in danger. The article would have been released between feb and june of 08. Again I have yet to read this article but have heard about it from two people.. one in Arizona and one in New York.. if any of you can find it please post..
With all the new data coming out about plastics PVC's (water bottles, baby toys, shower curtains, new cars etc.) I think it's safe to assume that plastisol-PVC is some pretty messed up stuff to be around. IE leaching stuff into the air that will give you cancer or screw you up in one way or the other. THAT NEW CAR SMELL coming from the ink is not a good thing. For now I use ALOT of ventilation.. along with the fan on the dryer I use two squirrel cage fans tied into the same duct as my belt dryer to keep the air moving out of the shop.. one by the flash and one at the exit end of the conveyer dryer.
I won't stop using plastisol yet. I LOVE IT. and the solvents in waterbased seem worse health wise.
So keep the lids on your ink, filter your drains! and don't throw any uncured plastisol away!
but check out these waterbased suppliers.. both would fit your needs..
The further into ecofriendly and ethically sound Tshirt printing and manufacture you get, the more convoluted the path to some real answers.
And as you point out, some of the claims of big businesses re fair trade practices are just so much corporate spin. Researching this stuff is, it seems to me, an endless maze of blind alleys. One source claims this, another that, and whitewash and deceit is everywhere. You can but try...
oh and by the way Continental clothing is in NO way a fair trade organization.
Why do you say that?
Here's what their website says:
Fair Trade Practices
Under the organic standard, farmers and agricultural workers are protected by stringent social criteria (see appendix 1b), total traceability across the entire supply chain, but also by the ban on the use of poisonous pesticides and defoliants which can severely damage the health of farmers and families. These standards also free poor farmers tied into third world debt to chemical companies on the ‘pesticide treadmill’.
Is any of that not true? Are there other things I should be aware of? I'm seriously considering switching to Continental for my bamboo shirts.
Re: Any eco-friendly screenprinting alternative? 
- I mean the printing industry seems to still be developing re: inks that are more environmentally benign.
