For all you people who print T-shirts using American Apparel’s organic line, and tell me you wanna switch cuz you’re not a fan of Dov Charney, the CEO of American Apparel, but feel you have no alternative –
There is one now, thanks to T.S. Designs in Burlington, North Carolina. If you’ve seen those Ts with the nutritional-facts-esque label (right) on ‘em, that’s T.S. Designs.
The company started making organic Tshirts in North Carolina about 1.5 years ago, in part to reduce the transportation footprint. The Ts are made at Mortex in Wendell, North Carolina; print and dye process is done in Burlington.
“Currently the organic cotton comes from Turkey, but we are working to grow it in NC,” sez Eric, the CEO, who I luckily met at the Grist party last month :)
Interestingly, T.S. Designs does also offer the American Apparel line. Eric sez that while he doesn’t approve of Dov’s actions, he feels the alternative’s “made off shore, organic cotton apparel.”
But he assures me that these North Carolina Ts have nothing to do with American Apparel. They have a slightly heavier weight, and a slighly looser cut — I’m wearing a small in the picture. BTW, I really need to figure out how to take cuter pics of myself if I’m gonna keep doing this. Micki can do it; why can’t I?
And lastly — for the biodiesel fans out there — Eric’s also the brewmaster for the Burlington Biodiesel Co-op :)
If you want a good look into what TS Designs is all about, I would suggest watching the news clip they have on their site, it’s very informative and has a lot of info on how they try to reduce water consumption, are utilizing biodiesel fuel, and how they even have a 2000kw tracking solar array as a power backup. And they’ve been doing this for a while now (the video is from 2004).
http://www.tsdesigns.com/movie/TSD%20on%20NC%20%20Now.wmv
Comment by TOMAS — December 9, 2006 @ 9:56 am
Thanks for the link, TOMAS! :) The lil video took a lil while to load, but it was inspiring :)
Comment by Siel — December 10, 2006 @ 12:03 am
You may also want to check out Royal Apparel’s new organics line. They are made from 100% certified organic cotton grown in the U.S. and they also produce their products in the U.S.A. Their quality is great and the organic styles come in a variety of colors which are really great! A much needed alternative to American Apparel and Dov Charney.
http://www.royalapparel.net/catalogue/
Comment by Michelle — March 28, 2007 @ 3:37 pm