It’s Earth Day, and we’re here to celebrate the beautiful world that creates opportunities for relationships and memories that make life an incredible place to be. 🌏

How? 

By sharing our best practices for ensuring our fashion and footwear is sustainable and eco-friendly, allowing our children and generations to come to continue to enjoy the beauties of this world! 💕

The traditional battle between fashion and environment

Time and time again, studies have shown the negative impact traditional clothing companies can have on the environment. 🚫

From textile dyes that pollute water sources to high carbon emissions that impact climate change—not to mention excess waste—consumers are turning a critical eye to the fashion industry. For example: 

• Textile dyes are responsible for 17-20% of global water pollution 💧
• Many synthetic fabrics—such as those found in the increasingly popular athleisure clothing items—contain microplastics which can prove harmful to wildlife and humans alike 
• Over 53 million metric tons of clothing are sent to landfills annually, with less than 1% of clothing items being recycled 🗑

At Sockprints, we’re committed to changing that relationship—convinced that clothes and the environment can coexist harmoniously with the right choices. ♻️🕊☮️

 

Creating sustainable clothing choices

Headquartered in southern California, we love our oceans. But we also enjoy the other things nature has to offer, too, including beautiful mountains, streams, trees, and more. And we’re here to preserve those natural resources for ourselves and future generations. 🌊🌲⛰

That’s why, when we made the decision to start this company, we wanted to be different from the other clothing companies out there by relying on quality products with wholesome items that would last as long as the memories they capture. 

When it comes to minimizing our eco footprint 😉, we at Sockprints adopt three key principles that have helped us ensure a great product, sustainably. 

 

The importance of natural cotton blends

When it comes to comfort, cotton is king. Breathable, hypoallergenic, and warm, cotton has been a staple of wardrobes for years for a reason. 🌱

But over time, a move to cheaper-to-manufacture synthetic and polyester fabrics has replaced this durable item—and at what cost? 

Polyester and many synthetic materials take more than twice the amount of energy to produce than traditional cotton, require use of atmosphere-damaging carcinogens in the treatment process, and can take over 200 years to fully breakdown. 😱

Sockprints utilizes natural cotton blends and canvases, ensuring products that are just as comfortable and durable as they are sustainable. 

 

Utilizing eco-friendly inks 

Plastic-based inks are common in the apparel industry, known for their ease of use and versatility when mass-produced. However, studies are showing that many of these inks contain harmful chemicals—for both the environment, and our bodies, too. 

The ink choices we make today matter more than ever in developing safe, eco-friendly products that are as sustainable as they are comfortable, which is why Sockprints avoids traditional dye sublimation or silk screening processes with our printing and uses exclusively eco-friendly apparel inks that can be applied directly to your products. 

The result? 

The ability to print almost any image, clearly, sustainably, and in a way that’s more resistant to fading over washes and time! It’s a win-win-win! 🌈

Avoiding mass production

One of the largest criticisms faced by the fashion industry is the large amount of unused, unpurchased clothes that go to waste—whether in a landfill, or through burning which negatively impacts our earth’s ozone layer. 😰

Because we specialize in personalized, unique, print-to-order products, Sockprints avoids the typical traps many apparel companies fall into when products fail to sell one season and must be thrown out. No mass-produced fast fashion—just quality, made-to-order products for you and your gifts, memories, and special occasions! 😊

Additionally, one of our largest inventory items—socks!—are actually the most requested clothing item by local homeless shelters. As a result, we regularly donate our socks to give back to the community and make sure that none of our apparel goes to waste! 🧦

When it comes to the environment, we can all do a little to help a lot. We’re proud to support environmentally friendly practices that make this earth a better place to be—both today on Earth Day, and every day! 🌎

Happy Earth Day! 

Want to learn more about our eco-friendly printing processes? Check out our FAQ page, here!