We love beautiful things.
But we also believe that making beautiful things shouldn't come at the expense of the planet.
When we started looking more closely at the fashion industry, we were shocked by the amount of waste, pollution and overproduction involved in making clothing.
We knew we wanted to do things differently.
Not perfectly because we're definitely still learning but more thoughtfully.
For us, sustainability isn't about ticking a box. It's about looking at every part of what we do and asking: “Can we do this better?”
The materials we choose are a big part of our sustainability journey.
We work with natural and recycled fibres wherever possible, including organic cotton, linen, hemp and recycled denim.
We look for materials that are durable, comfortable and produced with more responsible practices, because sustainability starts long before we pick up a screen printing squeegee.
We want the things we make to feel good, look good and, hopefully, be loved for a very long time.
We love colour, A LOT! So finding a way to create those vibrant prints without relying on harsh chemicals was really important to us.
We use water based inks, mixed by hand using eco-friendly pigments from Magna Colours.
They allow us to create the bold, playful colours we love while being a more considered choice for our studio, our customers and the environment.
Because we don't think you need nasty chemicals to make something beautiful.
Screen printing does require water, particularly when we're cleaning our screens.
So we've looked at ways to make this part of the process more efficient.
We clean our screens using a high pressure water gun and filter the water throughout the cleaning process, helping us reduce unnecessary water use and waste.
It's not a perfect system, but it's a step in the right direction.
And that's really how we approach sustainability, small improvements, one process at a time.
We're not interested in producing mountains of clothing just because we can.
We work in small batches, test new designs and listen to our community before deciding what to make more of.
This helps us reduce overproduction and unnecessary stock, while giving us the freedom to experiment with new ideas.
We'd much rather make something people genuinely love than make thousands of things and hope they sell, Less waste, More creativity... Sounds pretty good to us!
Our sustainability journey is also one of the reasons we're becoming a collective.
Working with other creatives gives us the opportunity to share ideas, skills and resources, while exploring new ways of making and reusing materials.
It's also opening the door to exciting new directions, from screen printing on paper and creating limited edition art prints to future homeware and other thoughtfully made products.
We're interested in creating things that have a purpose, have a story and can be enjoyed for years, not things designed to be quickly replaced.
We're not going to tell you that The Green Print Collective is perfectly sustainable.
We aren't. We are a small, growing business, and there is always more to learn, improve and question.
What we can promise is that we're paying attention, we're researching materials, questioning processes, listening to feedback and looking for better ways of doing things. Because we believe sustainability isn't about being perfect, it's about caring enough to keep trying. And we'll keep doing exactly that.
