Here at TS Designs we are all about sustainability. We focus on sustainability in our product, our business practices, and our final impact on the environment. However, there is only so much we can do, the rest of the environmental choices are up to the consumer. In a 2007 report commissioned by the Danish EPA, an environmental assessment was conducted on six textile products—one of those was the cotton t-shirt.

The report concluded that it is the consumer of the product that ultimately has the greatest impact on the environment—first by choosing an organic product, and then by washing as little as possible, drip-drying, and not ironing.

So if you have ever wondered what you can do for the environment, you can make informed decisions on how you launder your t-shirts. Here at TS Designs, we recommend you wash your clothes with cold water using environmentally friendly detergents and line-dry. According to the study, the consumer can reduce primary energy consumption by 70 percent by not tumble-drying. It is also important to simply wash less. The study concluded that by halving the amount of times you wash your t-shirt increases the life of the t-shirt by 50%.

If you want to reduce your impact, wear your t-shirt more than once before washing it and limit your use of your clothes dryer. Eric Henry, president of TS Designs said, “We are making a sustainable product, but the consumer in the long run has the greatest influence on the impact to the environment on how they care and dispose of it.”

To read the full report, click here.

Both Tom Sineath and Eric Henry here at TS Designs are committed to reconnecting their employees back to local food. It is better for them, their wallets, and the environment. TSD will be moving ahead with their community garden this year after a successful first year under the management of Glenn Kern. Glenn will be returning, but there will be a lot of changes for this season. This year, instead of volunteering, all employees will be required to work a half hour a week in the garden—they will be paid for their time, of course.

TSD lost the hoop house during a recent windstorm (see photo above), but that opened the door to bring in chickens. Ben Wright from Peacehaven Community Garden and Will Hooker, head of the Permaculture program at NC State, will help with the chicken endeavor. The plan is to start with about six chickens, which will be allowed to graze in the fallow rolls of the garden, contained in a fence, within the fenced garden.

Tom is working on updates to our greenhouse (see photo above), which should be complete by the end of January. After taking a refresher course at the fall conference of Carolina Farm Stewardship in Black Mountain, Eric is planning to dive into heirloom tomatoes this year. Partnering with Weston Monroe from Peacehaven, they will start the seeds next month in the greenhouse.

There will also be other changes in the garden this year, including improvements to the watering system, putting in individually controlled soaker hoses for each row. The deer fence will also be improved. Last year there were continuous issues with sections coming down, deer never got into the garden, but it is just a matter of time if the problem is not corrected. It should be a bumper crop at TSD this summer, come by and have lunch with us!

The folks at Peacehaven Community Farm in Guilford County recently put in a yurt from Blue Ridge Yurts. They are testing the yurt to determine how to best use their land with as light an impact as possible. Some of the future uses for the yurt that they are considering include meeting or office spaces and storage uses.

Our friends at the Abundance Foundation recently completed their “Office of the Future,” a fossil fuel-free workspace. The office runs off of a 510 watt solar array, a 30 watt solar air heater, and they plan on putting in a solar air conditioner for the summer. It was made out of local materials and they also used soy spray insulation and low VOC paints. In the photo above, they are sporting their new red TS Designs shirts on a snowy afternoon in front of their office in Pittsboro, NC.

Dr. Jack Martin recently completed his first semester class from Alamance Community College’s Green certificate program, the first in the state. The program focuses on “Alternative Energy Technology,” and trains students in concepts of environmental sustainability, renewable energy, and wind-solar-hydro power systems. Dr. Jack’s classes were taught in the large conference room at TS Designs.

Sheryl from Twisted Limb Paperworks converted some of our organic cotton scraps to paper. A combination of manila folder folders and the t-shirt scraps were used to create cards. The T-shirt scraps were in the Hollander beater for seven hours before they were broken down enough. Usually, her recycled paper is in this beater for only an hour. Twisted Limb Paperworks sustainably produces handmade 100% recycled paper. Below is a photo of a mold for the paper pulp.

The Downtown Burlington co-op grocery took several hundred pounds of scraps and packed them into the open side of a rolling partition wall, then covered the side with chicken wire to hold the scraps in. The wall is now sound absorbent, drastically improving the acoustic quality of the building.

Eric Henry receive the Sustainability Champion Award from Sustainable North Carolina. The SNC Awards honor businesses, organizations, and individuals who have demonstrated leadership in promoting a sustainable economy in the state. Eric was one of two individuals who were selected as Sustainability Champion, an honor which recognizes individuals whose efforts are advancing sustainable “triple bottom line” approaches through creative leadership and dedication.

Eric is standing between Chuck Swoboda, CEO of Cree, and Katy Ansardi of Sustainable North Carolina after accepting his award.

Tom has been working with 19 students from Professor Will Hooker’s Permaculture Design Studio class at NCSU to develop a landscaping plan for TS Designs. This plan will include a conversion of our landscape to more edible plants like nut and fruit trees, berries, grapes, etc. So far we have built 3 trellises and planted pecan trees, magnolia, choctaw, pawnee, kiwi, and much more. In the photo above, the students are hanging up their designs to be critiqued. Stay tuned for updates on how everything is growing.

Tom has been working with 19 students from Professor Will Hooker’s Permaculture Design Studio class at NCSU to develop a landscaping plan for TS Designs. This plan will include a conversion of our landscape to more edible plants like nut and fruit trees, berries, grapes, etc. So far we have built 3 trellises and planted pecan trees, magnolia, choctaw, pawnee, kiwi, and much more. In the photo above, the students are hanging up their designs to be critiqued. Stay tuned for updates on how everything is growing.

Tom has been working with 19 students from Professor Will Hooker’s Permaculture Design Studio class at NCSU to develop a landscaping plan for TS Designs. This plan will include a conversion of our landscape to more edible plants like nut and fruit trees, berries, grapes, etc. So far we have built 3 trellises and planted pecan trees, magnolia, choctaw, pawnee, kiwi, and much more. In the photo above, the students are hanging up their designs to be critiqued. Stay tuned for updates on how everything is growing.

With all the discussions going on about potential changes in healthcare and energy costs on the rise, we at TSD are looking back at how we started working to mitigate those upcoming challenges years ago.

Not a day goes by that we aren’t asked why our t-shirts cost more. Our NC-made, organic cotton, responsibly-printed/dyed shirts are about $12/piece versus an overseas-manufactured, conventional cotton, PVC/phthalate-printed shirt at about $8/piece.

Part of the journey to be a more sustainable company is understanding your real cost, to people, planet, and bottom line. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which businesses do not have to recognize all their external costs and consumers don’t understand how those costs are ultimately passed on to them. Here’s to the hundreds of our clients who have figured it out, and support us with their business.

TS Designs is proud to help sponsor Vote for Land 2009, a $3000 grant program put together by our friends over at Great Outdoor Provisions to aid in the protection of the lands, water, and wildlife of North Carolina.

This year’s winner is the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust. Coastal Land Trust works with the state and other organizations to permanently protect Masonboro Island, the largest undisturbed barrier island along the southern part of North Carolina’s coast and host to a vast array of wildlife.

On March 24th, TSD was honored by Apparel Magazine as one of five Sustainability All-Stars at its Tech Conference West in Irvine, CA. The winners were chosen based upon having taken significant steps toward incorporating sustainable best practices in their businesses.

TSD won this honor alongside sustainability innovators American Apparel, Greensource, Levi Strauss, and Patagonia.