There are a lot of businesses that can print your design on shirts, and most of them offer some type of environmentally/socially responsible option. Here at TSD, we do a few things that set us apart from the rest:
Shirts
The shirts we print on are made just for us by our partner and supplier Mortex, located less than 100 miles away in Middlesex, NC. We have three t-shirt lines to choose from: one organic cotton, one recycled, and one made from local cotton.
In addition to being made from sustainable materials, our shirts are also of superior quality. All three lines are ringspun with taped neck and shoulders and sewn with double needle stitching, resulting in a super soft feel and durable construction.
Printing Process
The ink of choice for most screenprinters is called plastisol. Chances are you've got a shirt screened with plastisol ink in your warddrobe right now: the print feels solid and rubbery, and over time peels away in the wash. These inks also typically contain PVC (which emits dioxins during manufacture and disposal) and phthalates (which can cause negative health effects), which both leech into the wastewater stream after multiple washes.
We use a specially-mixed, super low-impact water-based ink in our printing process. Our inks leave no residue on the shirt, meaning they'll never crack or peel or wash out and you can't feel the print at all. And our REHANCE process allows us to print vibrant water-based designs on dark shirts, something most other printers can't do.
Walking the Talk
We do our best to not only make a sustainable product, but run our business in a sustainable way. TS Designs is run on a triple bottom line business model, one that strives for social justice, environmental stewardship, and economic prosperity, also known as People, Planet, and Profit.
We showcase a wide array of sustainable intiatives on our property and host green certificate classes through our local community college as part of this philosophy.
TSD has also won numerous awards for our sustainable business practices. The latest was the NC Sustainability Champion award won by Eric Henry, president of TS Designs.
Transparency
We bend over backward to give as much information about how our company operates in the most easily consumed way possible. With all the green washing out there, you can feel assured that we'll tell you pretty much anything you want to know about what we do.
The right option for you
REHANCE
Cotton of the Carolinas is a collaboration of farmers and manufacturers across the state dedicated to growing, making, and selling its t-shirts in the Southeast.