The unprinted tees have to fit five main criteria:
- Comfort: They have to fit nicely. The chosen tees are incredibly comfortable. I go through many tee shirts in order to find the ideal tee to print on.
- Feel: They are super-soft and thin, if not, they have some great attribute that makes them worth passing on to you. After extensive testing (by myself;), the selected Fresh Prints have been found to only get softer and better.
Quality: They must keep their composure through years of wear (in progress). - Ethics: The way workers are treated matters immensely. All shirts meet either sweatshop free standards or equivilent ideals.
- Environment: Personally this is my most important criteria. Currently, we offer 100% organic cotton, and a "mix" shirt that contains a total of 13% recycled and organic content. The search is still on, eventually 100% of the tees will be 100% good for the earth.
100% Organic Cotton, American Apparel This is my all-time favorite shirt to wear. It's structurally perfect, I love its' length and whenever possible, lay my face on one because of how soft it is. From cotton to printing, everything is made in the U.S.A. The cotton orginates from certified transitional and organic cotton farms in the San Juaqin Valley in California. It is then manufactured, sweatshop free, at American Apparel Los Angeles, CA.
Then, I order some on my alternatively powered computer, and they're shipped
to SustainabiliTee, non-toxic printed, washed in earth-friendly suds,
and hung to dry in amazingly fresh smelling ocean breezes. Ready to
wear and super-soft, it's sent to you in recycled/reused packaging. This last part is true of all SustainabiliTees.
Plus, they're the most earth-friendly tee I have found that fit the above criteria, so, it's definitely numero uno in my book.
Bamboo and Bright Organic Cotton by Me to WeThe Bamboo shirts made by MetoWe is so fine! It's flawless, and is very hard to wrinkle. It's so soft, and so, so...different. It hangs very nicely too. The Organic cotton is soft, and the shirt comes in incredibly bright colors. More info coming soon.
Eco-Heather by Alternative Apparel
I love the feel of this shirt. The fit is boxier, but the vintage feel is really incredible. Though these shirts are made in other countries, they have a great
worker treatment statement so as to ease our minds. Low impact yarn dyed, these cool shirts have a unique look and feel because of their color and knit. Other than their unique traits.
Since the recycled and organic cotton only compose 13.5% of the total shirt, it's not my ideal, but hey, at least they're working on it.
Thrift PrintsOne of my absolute favorite things to do is go thrift shopping. I go out to local stores (find one near you,
here!) and sometimes find the perfect printable tee. To make it even better, one of the shops is a non-profit that donates to animal shelters!
