Over the last few years, the word green has become an all-too-popular buzzword that gets thrown around without much discretion or accountability. Specifically in the world of industry, it’s somewhat counter-intuitive to be considered green while thriving on production and consumption; however, there are some companies, big and small, that are doing great things and taking big strides toward participating in the movement.

1. Bank of America
A bank is typically considered the epitome of Old Business but Bank of America is no doubt doing their part in offering a necessary service while always considering the wellness of the Earth. Even as business increases dramatically, they boast a 32% reduction in paper use and a number of internal practices that earn them a green star; an internal recycling program that recycles 30,000 tons of paper per year, an employee incentive package that gives $3,000 cash back for buying a hybrid car, a new building that uses the heat from the groundwater to heat the building during the winter and other eco-upgrades that will power the facility while using half the electricity of its counterpart.

2. 7 Planet
Spawned in the Great Northwest and centered on the concept of Mindful Commerce, 7 Planet is the first chain of green general stores. Their niche is simple; they believe that one should only consume when they are in need and when pressed, one should purchase the most mindful product available to them. Having done the research and believing in their cause wholeheartedly, they offer a collection of general organic and green products from handpicked suppliers that all follow strict environmental guidelines and ultimately share in the 7 Planet mission for Mindful Commerce.

3. University of Colorado-Boulder
The students at the University of Colorado-Boulder deserve recognition because of their 40-year history as a notable soldier in the green movement. Independently organized, funded and operated by the students alone, the University’s Campus Environmental Center has an abundance of programs in place that aim to reduce the school’s strain on Mother Nature. Between boasting 1 bike for every 3 students, and the fact that their football games are zero-waste events (everything is recycled or composted), it is no wonder they’ve earned the Sierra Club’s top ranking for Cool Schools.

4. Hewlett-Packard
As one of the major tech companies in the world, it’s a difficult task to balance your role as a supplier, as well as, an environmentally conscious entity. However, Newsweek named Hewlett-Packard the number one “green” company amongst America’s top 500 largest corporations because of its efforts toward a reduction of GHG emissions associated with its supply chain and its elimination of toxic substances from its products. HP’s perfect rating was the cumulative result of their Environmental Impact Score, Green Policies & Performance Score and their Reputation Survey that considered a wide variety of environmental factors.

5. Figlio Restaurant
Although the larger corporations seem to get more praise and/or attention for “changing their ways” and going green, the owners of Figlio, a restaurant in Ohio, have proven that small businesses can turn green into green. This Danis family restaurant started small with an internal recycling program and installing energy saving light bulbs but eventually grew into a bit more expansive vision by buying local produce to limit their dealings with long-distance suppliers that burn more fuel in their shipping operations. In addition, they’ve purchased clean energy credits that will offset the GHG emissions from their business by transitioning to a wind/solar powered energy program.

6. Starbucks
You would think that a company vending paper cups on every possible street corner carried little regard for the environment; however, Starbucks Coffee is in surprisingly good graces when it comes to being green. No it’s not a “green” company but it certainly holds itself accountable through its partnerships with many environmental groups such as Conservation International and The Earthwatch Institute that might normally be naysayers toward this type of corporation. Between emphasizing maximum efficiency in its global supply chain to reduce its emissions and the fact that they save roughly 78,000 trees per year by using recycled paper, Starbucks is a corporate giant that is refreshingly mindful of its ecological impact.

7. Nanosolar
There is a lot of talk about companies that are utilizing green technologies but even nobler are the companies that are creating green technologies and services – providing an option that would not exist otherwise. Nanosolar, for example, deserves praise for its progress in making solar power a viable and affordable alternative to electricity produced by coal and natural gas by way of innovation. They are able to apply a microscopic layer of solar cells onto surfaces; avoiding the use of silicon and offering comparable energy output at a fraction of the price.

8. Harbec Plastics
Owner and founder Robert Bechtold was hip to the green-game before it was ever even brought to the mainstream. Long ago he tried to find investment for his company to transition into more sustainable practices but was continually denied funds because it wasn’t considered necessary. These days, in a more eco-friendly era, Harbec Plastics makes tools and molds in New York in a facility powered by wind and natural gas turbines and humming with hybrid cars and trucks for daily operations. In all, these modern advancements that were originally denied have reduced the company’s annual carbon dioxide emissions by 750,000 pounds.

9. Ecodrycleaner
Leave it to the folks in Portland, OR to take a rather mundane standard practice and refine it for the environment’s sake. Though you may have thought that the dry cleaning industry had gone as far as it could go, the Ecodryleaner model uses sustainable practices from the ground up as they refuse to use toxic solvents of any kind and employ highly efficient cleaning equipment that recycles solution in an effort to reduce waste. In addition to the eco-friendly chemicals that propel their business, they have also opted to run their facilities with the ultra clean power of the wind.

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There is a wonderful thing happening in our country these days and no matter which side of the isle you stand, you should care. This wondrous event is related to all the attention and talk about going Green. Whether you agree or disagree with the existence of Global Warming, there is certainly no harm in saving the environment and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. One way to do your part is by no longer using plastic or paper shopping bags. Your alternative is to turn to reusable shopping totes. There has been quite a lot going on within this debate for the last few years.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. consumes 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion). And in 1999, 14 million trees were cut to produce nearly 10 billion paper grocery bags used by Americans in a single year. And both of these items take a very long time, if ever to fully biodegrade.

Many European countries may levy a charge for having your groceries bagged in plastic and some individual U.S. companies are following suit. Perhaps the best is example is San Francisco. As reported by ‘The Independent’ of the U.K., “San Francisco has become the first American city to ban plastic bags from large supermarkets and chemists’ shops (Pharmacies).” As this trend continues to grow around the world this is the time to take a harder look at shopping totes and reusable bags and the potential of this market.

I believe the arena for custom shopping totes and other tote bags is still in its infancy. If you think about it, just as with most decorated apparel and other accessories there are countless groups that love to show their identity with a logo or slogan. So why not do that at the supermarket, where you may already be showing off your favorite teams colors. As a decorator you may even consider approaching the actual stores to address the reasons they should be selling shopping totes. For one they may know of the impending doom to our old way of carrying groceries. Secondly it would seem like a great idea to put their own branding on the totes. This will give them much more exposure than plastic or paper because once you bring a tote home and remove all your items, they are not immediately headed for the trashcan. With the number of Americans that already love to show off their favorite team, vacation spot, musician, or faith on a t-shirt – you can bet they will make that same move when being required to use a reusable shopping tote.

This article provides a brief history of Hanes. This includes everything from the founding of the company, its evolution, impact, products, and some of the more common uses of these products today. Hanes is one of the best know household brands in the United States and has been in existence for over 100 years. The company long ago established themselves as one of the largest names in their industry.

In 1901 J. Wesley Hanes founded a company called Shamrock Mills, later changed the name to Hanes Hosiery. A year later Pleasant Hanes formed the company P. H. Hanes Knitting Co. Around the 1920’s both companies continued to progress from making undergarments to marketing t-shirts, sleepwear, fleece, and knitted shorts. Finally in 1965 the companies merged. This was believed to be the only merger between two companies with the same family name. Over the next 20 years Hanes continued to acquire and create new brands now under the parent company Hanes Brands Inc. Hanes is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

A statement from the Hanes Brand Inc website confirms the brands’ reach: “In a recent survey, Hanesbrands can be found in eight out of 10 American households, and they are sold in hundreds of stores, plus Web and catalog. What’s more, our brands hold either the number-one or number-two U.S. market position by sales in most product categories in which we compete: First in T-shirts, fleece, socks, men’s underwear, sheer hosiery…”

Hanes sells a variety of apparel essentials. Some of these are sold under the Hanes and Silver for Her labels. These products include: t-shirts, shorts, sweatshirts, hoodies, sport shirts, tank tops, fleece jackets, and a whole lot more.

Hanes does not mark the exterior of any of its apparel. This feature makes the brand great for embellishment such as embroidery or screen-printing. Most of the Hanes items found in the wholesale apparel industry work the best for screen printing, with sport shirts being good for both embroidery and screen printing.

Whether your outfitting a school group, kids camp, team, or simply like durable and comfortable apparel Hanes is a great choice. The Hanes brand carries a great reputation, history and durability that rival any of their competitors.

Terry cloth, also know as terry, is a fabric with loops that can absorb more water than a traditional cloth. There are many types of terry cloth in the market today. These range in size, strength, touch, and fabric used in the cloth. Most terry cloth is used in the form of towels. Some of the best towels come from Turkey. There are seemingly endless products within the terry family. These products may include: Grommeted Golf Towels, Rally Towels, Beach Towels, and Bath Robes.

Towels are a woven fabric made of Cotton or a Cotton-Polyester (Cotton-Poly) blend and are a usually loop or pile pattern. Special looms called Dobby Looms are used to weave the fabric into the finished product. Modern looms are fully computerized and make the job much easier than it was in the past.

Early in the history of Terry cloth nearly everything was made by hand. Due to the time it took to make this cloth towels were usually reserved for the wealthy. Towels were generally smaller and most were hand and facial towels. These were made of natural woven fibers. The make-up of these natural fibers made this early cloth much less comfortable to the touch than what you will find today. By the end of the nineteenth century, weaving became automated and the terry cloth industry was changed forever.

After the mechanizing of looms we started to see a greater variety of materials being used and a greater market for towels because they were less expensive. This also created a large market for Bath Towels for the first time. Like most textile cloth throughout the manufacturing process everything is bleached a bright white before it is dyed its final color. This is almost always done to the fabric in large rolls or yards before any weaving or other alteration takes place. Terry cloth is woven on a dobby loom, which means that it has two steps or processes. The first one is referred to as the ground warp and forms the body of the towel or cloth. The second one is called the pile warp, which forms it forms the terry loop or pile.

Terry cloth of any type does not lend itself well to screen printing. The primary reason for this is due to the rugged and tough surface of the cloth, as well as the repeated punishment from hot machine washing and use. In order to get a good print it is best to work with a fairly flat surface, which terry cloth is not. When we do see printed terry, it is often a single color print for something such as a sporting event. A printed Rally towel works well because they are usually not used for very long and are inexpensive. Embroidery is the solution for decorating any terry cloth. The same reasons that make it unsuitable for screen printing are responsible for making it a great fabric for embroidery or monogramming. The fabric is generally so tough that it does not require an embroidery stabilizer like backing. Furthermore if you are hosting an event in which you would like a nice gift or promotional product, the embroidered towel will be a hit. Not only will you get a long life span from an embroidered terry cloth item, but its cost relative to embroidered shirts makes it an attractive item.

There are many types of terry cloth and many more uses for it. While we mostly think of the terry cloth as a bath towel there are dozens of terry cloth products for all types of uses and you should not have any trouble find your terry solution.

Embroidery Backing, which is also known as Embroidery stabilizer, is one of the most important components to producing a high quality finished product. In this writing I will provide a background for working with Backing. I will outline what Backing is, tips, how it is used, various applications for Backing, and the types of Backing available.

Embroidery backing is a non-woven product that is applied to the back of a garment before a design is sewn onto the other side of the article. It may be made of 100% cotton or a mix of Cotton and Polyester. The basic process to a non-woven is to press the materials together under immense pressure and then force them through rollers until they become a cohesive solid. They will continue to be rolled until they resemble large rolls of paper.

Backing is something that anyone doing embroidery for more than a day is probably using. Backing, being a stabilizer, helps fuse or hold the thread/stitches to the fabric. It is sometimes sold in large rolls to commercial embroidery shops. Backing is also sold as cut squares in bundles.

The first thing that most people will consider when sewing an item is “How well will this fabric sew?” This is also the question you should be asking yourself. Not only should you ask which type of fabric is being sewn, but also thread type, size of the embroidery, stitch density, stitch length, and stitch speed. All of these things are factors to consider when choosing a backing.

The age of your embroidery machine may also play into the stitch speed and would influence your choice of backing. Try different backings until you find what suites your setup. You need to also make sure that the fabric you are sewing on is stretched tight on your hoop and that you are hooping the entire piece of backing. This helps improve the stability of the sewing surface and again contributes to a cleaner and finished embroidery output.

There are more than 15 different types of backings available in rolls and sheets or bundles. Among the different types of backings are: tear away, cutaway, and wash away. Most embroidery backing will be made for industrial or commercial machines, but there are always great alternatives for personal embroidery machines.

Tearaway is the most popular choice of backing due to the fact that jobs can be finished faster and cheaper. With a cutaway you must cut the backing with scissors, which can be tedious at best. Tearaways must be able to withstand being punctured by the embroidery needles several times while the design is being sewn. They must also be able to be torn off the back of the garment without causing damage to the design.

Cutaways are usually considered the second most popular backing. This backing is most commonly used when working with a lightweight or stretchy fabric. Cutaway is sturdier than a traditional tearaway and therefore will provide more stability in your thin or stretchy fabric. This will also help achieve a better output of your design because it will help stabilize the sewing surface. One thing that you must always be aware of with a cutaway is the cutting. Once you are done with your garment and it comes time to cutaway the backing pay attention to what you are doing. It can be very easy to snag or accidentally cut your finished product with your scissors.

The next several backings fall under the Specialty Backings area. There are many different backings that will fall in this area I will discuss a few.

Cap backing are generally tearaways. With a backing like this is a preferable to have a clean tear due to the nature of the caps. The backing is needed to support the crispness and clarity of the design, sound familiar? There’s special consideration needed when working with low profile or unstructured caps. Some may think that a hat is fairly sturdy and therefore does not need backing, do make this mistake. Cap backing also helps keep the caps frames in place and prevents the registration or alignment from slipping.

Fusibles backing is the next one. This is backing that can be permanently applied to the garment with an iron or other heat source. Fusibles are used on items that are hard to hoop such as, fleece, leather, and some athletic wearables. Fusibles can be chemical sprays and are generally less preferred.

Puff backing is a specialized stabilizer that is lofty or puffy but still has some rigidity to it. It is used to create a raised, profiled, or three-dimensional look. It is most commonly found in caps. Many collegiate or professional sports team will employ a puff backing in order to achieve a higher looking and higher priced end product. Puff should be tested with your fabric/surface to ensure that it will hold up to the rigors of repeated thread puncture.

Black Backings are less common but do serve a specialized purpose. If you are applying a logo to a leather jacket, dark sweater, or black sweatshirt this backing is your choice. The black backing will have less show through than a garment with white backing.

Toppings are the last one I will cover. Toppings are a type of spray film that prevents stitching from sinking into the patterns of fabrics like pique knit, yarn knit, terry cloth and others. Topping is not necessarily a traditional backing. It is sprayed on the top of the garment to achieve its affect. One of the many product names given to Toppings is Solvy. Most toppings are water-soluble or polyethylene.

As you can tell by now there are many options for backing that can make your job easier and your product better. Using backing in your embroidery operations is a must. While this article is a very basic overview of backing it is a good idea to use the limitless resources available to gain a better understanding of backings. Attend trade shows, subscribe to the free magazines and online groups, and get in touch with your peers.

This is the first in a series of articles relating to the history of the t-shirt in the United States. The first manufacturers, trends and how all that has led us to today’s modern tee.

The t-shirt as we know it first came to the USA during World War I. This was the result of US soldiers taking notice of the lightweight cotton undershirts European soldiers were wearing, while the US soldiers were sweating it out in wool uniforms. Mostly worn under a soldier’s uniform it did not take long until they became an external garment. Worn primarily by navy men for the first thirty years of the 20th century, they became standard issue for all military servicemen in World War II. T-shirts issued during the WWII were white, thus presenting a problem to the Marines who realized that the color made them an easy target. The Marines were not about to give up their t-shirts so they came up with a clever way to disguise them. The Marines used coffee grounds to dye their t-shirts in the battlefield, and were later issued sage-green shirts. Once the war was over they brought them home and the t-shirt was here to stay.

The t-shirts worn in the early 20th century (i.e. 1913-1938) were weighing in at around 1.5 – 2 ounces. Today’s t-shirts can weigh up to 8 ounces, but most will fall in around 5.5 ounces. Early champions of the t-shirt movement included Hanes T-Shirts, Fruit of the Loom and Sears Roebuck. Fruit of the Loom did not start to knit t-shirts until around 1938. These early versions had some very odd names such as, &quote;Skivvies&quote; and &quote;jimshirts.&quote; In 1938 Sears introduced a t-shirt for 24 cents and they gave it the name &quote;gob&quote; shirt (old nickname for a Sailor) and was marketing this shirt as an outer garment or under shirt. The t-shirts produced by these companies were basically replicas of early military issued shirts and had a wider neck and shorter sleeve than today’s full cut shirt. They were also much tighter fitting and this style lasted into the sixties.

Around 1955 with celebrities, Marlon Brando, Elvis, and James Dean being seen in a t-shirt and jeans the youth of America started to scoop-up t-shirts. It was about this time that the t-shirt was no longer considered simply a navy t-shirt but a mainstream product and one that was selling fast. It was also around this time that the t-shirt style began to resemble what we know today. The neck of the shirt became tighter, next the overall length longer, but the shorter sleeve remained for a time. This can be attributed to the fact that the t-shirt was considered a man’s garment. Modern day t-shirts have no end to the number of styles available. You will find all different styles and cuts for men, women, children, and even infants. Blank t-shirts, screen printed, heat transferred, embroidered, airbrushed, tye-dyed, there truly is no end to what can be done with this amazing clothing item. From 500 million shirts sold in 1985 to well over a billion in 2005 the t-shirt is a big part of our world.

This topic will be continued.