Eco Friendly Water Based Inks Organic cotton custom T-shirts - eco embroidery & print

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We were the first to put our money where our mouth is and moved exclusively to working with eco-friendly water based inks in 2007. Back then, most people thought we were crazy. Isn't it more difficult? Yes. Aren't there some prints you can't do? Yes. Fast forward fifteen years and most people get it. We don't want to use inks that contain harmful ingredients and require solvents to clean them. We want to create products that we can be proud of and that you can feel confident that they'll fit your brand values.

No plastisol inks, no harmful discharge printing, no compromise!!

All of our processes are certified to conform to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and we have recently been upgraded to 'Brand' Status.

The inks that we use are certified to:

OEKO-TEX Eco Passport Class 1

ZDHC (zero discharge of harmful chemicals) Confidence Level 3 (the highest level)

GOTS Approved Input

Sometimes we use inks that aren't GOTS Approved Input but we

no harmful solvents required for cleaning screens

Not all water based screen printing inks are equal. Discharge printing inks are water based but they include highly reactive chemicals that bleach out the T-shirt colour in seconds, whilst adding the ink of the print in place. Discharge inks, even those that don't contain formaldehyde have to contain incredibly harsh and reactive bleaches in order to work.

Our recent annual waste water test showed that our water was 6000 X better quality (in terms of chemical reactivity) than that needed to achieve GOTS certification. Real vindication that our eco-friendly stance makes a difference.

inks cannot contain harmful chemicals such as PVC or APEO’s (Alkyl Phenyl Ethoxylates)

formaldehyde free

solvent free?

do not contain ozone-depleting chemicals such as CFC’s and HCFC’s, aromatic hydrocarbons or any volatile solvents. They don’t contain lead or any heavy metals. In fact, Permaset Aqua inks do not contain any toxic chemicals at all! Not even white spirits like other water based inks on the market.

We use Brother GTX inks for all our digital printing - both Direct-to-Garment (DTG) and Direct-to-Film (DTF). The inks are water based and both GOTS-certified inputs and Oeko-Tex accredited.

They score highly on the AATCC wash test, showing that they are fully washable and durable, unlike many of the cheaper DTG inks.

They definitely aren't the cheapest but they look good, wash well and are similar enough to screen printing to be considered a good alternative. We recommend digital printing for small print runs (less than 50), anything with fine gradients and full colour artwork or prints with a large number of colours in them. The look and feel of the print is pretty similar to screen printing too - with prints onto white garments or any white prints, I don't even think you could tell the difference.

We made the move to using 100% eco-friendly water based inks in 2007 and haven't looked back.

We also offered a free technical service to fellow print companies to encourage and support them to move over to eco-friendly water based inks too. Over the years we've helped print shops all over the world to make steps towards sustainability.

Current R&D projects include inks made from seaweed, a new Glow-in-the-Dark ink, chromatic inks and playing around with adding scent. Every year there are new sustainable products and products

Good question. Water based inks can be difficult to use. They air dry and can clog up the screen during printing. It takes a bit of getting used to but it's worth it.

There are limitations - water based inks aren't appropriate for multi-colour screen prints with lots of colours as the inks would dry in the screen before every screen was set up and tested. Luckily, DTG printing can generally take over where screen printing reaches it's limits.

Traditionally, water based inks were not as hard-wearing and durable as plastisol inks and weren't as opaque but things are different now.