EXPLORE. LEARN. EVOLVE.

LET’S CHANGE THE WAY WE THINK

It seems like talk of climate change is all over the place. Whether or not you are someone who believes humans are the cause or not, the fact is that the climate is changing. We like to keep things fact based around here and let the data speak for itself. So here are some interesting and alarming facts related to the garment industry.

• Greenhouse gasses aren’t inherently bad, but too much of them can do serious damage to our ozone layer which protects us from harmful radiation and UV exposure. The fashion industry is ranked second (right after coal) in producing harmful greenhouse gasses and pollution that negatively effect the environment.

• The industry of fast fashion has exploded over the past decade. Just in the year 2015, the world threw away more than $450 billion worth of clothes. In the span of 15 years (2000 - 2015) the world population grew by a fifth while clothing production doubled due to the “Fast Fashion” industry that has been created by retailers in order to drive their sales up. Marketing efforts by retailers have consumers wanting cheap clothes that they can wear one or two times and then donate or throw out. Only a very small percentage of the clothing that is donated actually goes to people who need them and the rest ends up in landfills.

• It takes over 2,700 liters of water throughout the process of growing cotton to dying in order to produce a single garment. Using organically grown cotton reduces the amount of water and harmful pesticides that are needed in order to grow cotton.

• Washing and drying your clothes uses a ton of energy! Try to wear everything two or three times before you actually wash them. If everyone did that, we could drastically reduce our energy consumption.

WHAT STEPS ARE WE PERSONALLY TAKING?

• Ink Pusher only buys and prints on garments from brands that have high operating standards. These brands support fair wage workers, source more sustainable fabrics, and are at the very least WRAP certified (Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production) which means workers receive fair compensation and random spot checks are performed on the factories to make sure that higher standards and working conditions are always being met.

• We use brands of inks that are consciously trying to create more sustainable formulas and leave out the harmful phthalates that many inks contain.

• Every shirt is printed by hand, no additional energy is used to operate an automatic printing press.

• We reuse boxes (as much as possible). We use some of our own branded boxes in some cases and encourage our clients to return/reuse them on their next order if they’re still in good condition.

• Each member of our team practices energy saving solutions such as washing and drying our clothes only when necessary.

• Our packing slips and order forms are sent digitally whenever possible.

• Any shirts with misprints or manufacturer defects are used as rags to clean screens and general clean up around the shop until they can’t be used anymore.

• The squeegees that we print with are custom made by us and designed to last much longer than any other traditional wooden squeegee.

• We filter and recirculate our water usage to drastically reduce our water usage and eliminate any solids or potential pollutants from going down the drain.