IMAGINE GreenWear Launches Organic Cotton, Seaweed-Based Screen Printed Apparel

IMAGINE GreenWear — a manufacturer of apparel for private-label, wholesale, and promotional markets, and a division of Fairfax, Va.-based Sundog Productions LLC, a provider of custom dyeing and screen printing services — is launching its Fall line of 100-percent organic cotton apparel that is screen-printed with eco-friendly seaweed-based dyes as an alternative to traditional plasticol or water-based inks. The company reports its seaweed-based dyes use little energy; have high absorption rates resulting in minimal color runoffs; contain no heavy metals; and leave no toxic residue on material. Graphics and illustrations are dyed directly into the apparel so that the dyes penetrate and bond to the fabric, preventing grin through or cracking.

The Fall line includes apparel for babies, children, women and men; and each garment is printed with a design on both the front and back.Imagine GreenWear President Mark Fishbein said he hopes the company's propriety dyeing process will change the multi-billion-dollar imprinted sportswear apparel industry, which currently uses a large amount of toxic chemicals and dyes. "Our approach is to take organic apparel, use the most green processing that we can, and sell it as 'normal' merchandise that happens to be organic and Made in the USA — not the stereotypical organic garments with environmentally friendly slogans."

The company, which has been in business for one year, does all of its cutting, sewing, screen-printing and dyeing at its facility in Fairfax, and has a staff of in-house artists who decorate the company's garments in addition to purchased specialty items and blanks. Fishbein said the company has outgrown its current 30,000-square-foot (ft2) manufacturing space and is moving in December to a 40,000-ft2 facility, and plans to hire additional employees. In addition, Imagine GreenWear is in the process of getting Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certification for the new headquarters as well as its entire manufacturing process.