No Boat Tees
Continuing with the concept of recycling t-shirts here are three different companies. The common factor is narrative.
The products are more than garments. They have more value than your average tee.
Holstee ( www.shop.holstee.com)
These t-shirts are made from 100% recycled polyester, made in the US. They use eco-packaging and are involved in paying forward to support small businesses in developing countries.
Their designs also consider sustainability through functionality,practical details ( wallet pockets on the tee), mulitple uses (fin scarf) contribute to extending the products life span.
T-Cycle ( www.t-cycle.co.uk)
Promoting cycling and re-cycling, this company printed on locally sourced reclaimed tees.
The print designs ties in with the prints ideas I have created from The Noun Project. The standard bicycle icon is layered to produce beautiful prints. Icon Up-cycling.
You can send them your t-shirt to be printed onto to help spread the bicycle message.
Re-Shirt (www.re-shirt.net)
This project encourages the circular reuse of T-Shirts.
Donating a Tee with it’s story,gives you the knowledge that it’s value is increasing as it journeys through wearers. The t-shirt is over-printed with a code and re-distributed. The new owner can then log on to the code and add to the story. The older the t-shirt the more cultural value it gains, with the story recorded on-line for the future.
Re-shirt is about saving water and giving water, and by re-purposing t-shirts it reduces the amount water used in cotton manufacture and contributes to projects.
These companies are turning a corner in garment manufacture, moving from linear methods to cyclical, cradle to cradle methods.
With transparency becoming more important for businesses survival, the giving back element adds to the strength of their narative.
