Plus, there are lots of colors and designs to choose from, giving you the option of choosing clothing you feel comfortable in without hurting the environment.

What is Water Based Ink?

Water based ink is a safe, clean alternative to printed t-shirts. Most shirts are layered with an image made from plastic that begins to break down almost instantly once the shirt has been washed. When an image is added to a shirt using water based ink the organic cotton itself is actually dyed, and the design on the shirt will be preserved even with repeated washings.

Choose Your Summer T-Shirts Printed With Eco Friendly Ink

The result is a breathable shirt that can be washed and worn time and time again without changing the way the shirt looks or feels. Eco unique t-shirt printing allows you to have access to dozens of different prints while limiting your exposure to any of the harmful chemicals present in plastics. If you are already eco-friendly, then you know plastics are not only bad for you personally, but also a poor choice for the Earth.

Organic Cotton

Organic cotton is also the ideal choice when choosing printed t-shirts. Organic cotton is grown from organic seeds in soil that has not been treated with chemical pesticides or fertilizers. Organic cotton t-shirts won’t shrink, even when dried on a high heat setting. Choosing clothes that are good for the environment doesn’t require that you give up your favorite colors, or that you wear clothes that are uncomfortable.

Eco Friendly T-Shirts Made With Organic Cotton

Organic cotton t-shirts that have been printed with eco-unique t-shirt printing techniques allow you to choose styles that fit your personal tastes perfectly. The dye sets in the fibers of the t-shirt, and won’t wash out even with repeated washings. The stretch of the shirt won’t be affected, either, so the t-shirt will be soft and flexible without damaging the image that is printed on the shirt.

Ape-Gear was created by an artist who was tired of having other peoples visions, designs, or bland corporate logos all over his stuff and so with a take charge attitude, he said;

“hey, if they can do it, why can’t I ?“

We bought a wonderful onesie for our baby boy, the onesie was titled “Fight or Dance”

"Fight or Dance" Onsie by Ape-Gear of Austin, Texas

"Fight or Dance" Onsie by Ape-Gear of Austin, Texas

If you like the look of the Ape-Gear designs then visit Ape-Gear.com

The event took place on Wednesday the 10th of March and we went along with Mom, Sharen, to see the wonderful line up of organic clothing from a range of excellent designers.

The Organic In The City Fashion Show - Dallas, Texas

After sampling some delicious appetizers courtesy of the Blue Mesa catering group we moved into a fabulous runway room and experienced a cutting edge sustainable and organic couture fashion show. This was the Texas Discovery Gardens’ second annual Organic in the City Fashion Show and Auction and it shows signs of growing into a huge event.

Organic Clothing Galore!

We enjoyed an evening of fashion and the event was opened by WFAA’s Gloria Campos, it was a treat to say hello to her in person at the pre-show appetizer mingle too! The shows iconic symbol is an elegant lady with butterfly wings and the show included the icon herself striking a pose almost identical to the logo, let’s just say the whole production had been very well rehearsed!

The Iconic Butterfly Model

The hour long show featured several organic designers which included the talented Ross Bennett with a new collection that made green fashion elegant and fun, and Lindsay Weatherread with a look at her exciting new collection described as “origami for the body.”

Ross Bennett - Featured Organic Designer

At the end of the show there was a really neat live auction where everyone was invited to bid on the clothes we had just seen on the runway. The proceeds benefited the Texas Discovery Gardens’ new hands-on educational initiative. Throughout 2010, the Texas Discover Gardens’ educational initiative will teach sustainability and organic principles in part by assisting area organizations to start their own butterfly gardens, and also by continuing to develop their 7.5 acres of gardens into educational butterfly gardens and native habitat examples.

Butterflies are beneficial insects and vital pollinators that indicate a healthy, holistic ecosystem and the show featured designs by the El Centro College’s Fashion Design students, their beautiful silk screen printed designs sold very quickly and for high dollar amounts, it was really exciting auction and the students were nearby to experience the thrill.

The Butterfly Designs Were Auctioned for Charity

Guest speaker Susanne Taylor (of Susanne Taylor & Associates) talked about the latest in organic clothing and how important it is to incorporate sustainable thinking in all aspects of our lives and we are looking forward to next years Organic In the City fashion show already!

You can read more about the wonderful event at the links below;

http://www.texasdiscoverygardens.org/fashion_show.html

Ross Bennett Facebook Page – Lots of Design Images

Lindsay Weatherread Facebook Page

Step 1: Gather up Your Used Plastic Bags

2/ You will need the following, an iron, an ironing board, a pair of scissors, some paper (wax paper or parchment paper works best).

3/ Start by setting up your ironing board in a well ventilated area, open all the windows and setup a fan to direct fumes away from you, and lay a sheet of paper down to cover the ironing board.

4/ Choose a plastic bag to start with and if it has handles cut them off, also cut a strip of plastic from the bottom of the bag to make it open ended.

5/ Fold the plastic bag in half and then fold it in half again, this will give you an 8 ply piece of plastic, i.e. it will have 8 layers. Place this on the paper on the ironing board and lay another sheet of paper on top to completely cover the piece of plastic.

6/ Start applying heat from the iron to the paper – plastic – paper sandwich! Keep the iron moving to provide an even heat, do this for 10 – 15 seconds and the plastic should then be “fused” together. Watch this video below for a tutorial of how to fuse your plastic bags;

7/ Once you have a decent collection of fused plastic sheets you can start to design some clothing, or a bag or anything else you can think of! Check out Urban Woods Walkers coat creation below;

A Large Piece of Fused Plastic Fabric

Plans for a Reused Plastic Coat!

The Finished Fused Plastic Fabric Coat

The Wonderful Finished Plastic Coat

Please use caution whenever around a hot iron and when ironing plastic, always make sure you have the plastic completely covered with paper before applying the iron.
We hope you were inspired to go reuse some of those old plastic bags and perhaps turn them into something beautiful and wearable…

The Manchester Craft and Design Center is in the heart of Manchester City Center. I was still slightly jet lagged and in all honesty ready to collapse in front of a television, but I persevered with our artistic adventure and was very happy with what I found…

Inside the old Manchester building were a huge collection of small stores owned and operated by local artists. I think we spent about 2 hours looking at all the amazing hand crafted “one of a kind” creations and artwork. My favorite store was easily the little organic, hand printed clothing store owned by Nell Smith.

Nell Smith hand prints all of her clothing and uses the softest organic cotton you have ever felt! My favorite creation was a bright white organic bib with a cool little giraffe and a simple statement;

“HELLO!”

I bought several things that day, and my VISA card was about to explode, but my prize find was the organic bib and I was super excited to give the bib as a gift to my wife. Well needless to say, Katie was extremely happy with the baby bib and we were both excited to add it to our ever growing bag full of baby stuff. (Hopefully a little one will be with us soon!)

Anyway, to cut a long story short, our Nell Clothing baby bib traveled with us in our luggage all the way back to Texas where it was added to our baby pile. We were mortified to discover the next day that one of our dogs had chewed it to pieces!

After some frantic web searching I found Nell’s store on Etsy and was extremely happy to see that she ships internationally. I whipped out the VISA for one last spending spree and once again, a cute organic bib with a little giraffe was heading our way on a plane!

The “Hello Giraffe  – Organic Cotton Bib” costs about $13.50 and Nell will ship to pretty much anywhere.

Nell describes the bib as;

Uber cute 100% organic cotton bib, hand printed with love in my Manchester-based studio. Perfect present for a special little someone.

My wife and I agree with every word of the description and we can’t wait to let it loose on our first baby!

So what are you waiting for? Go get yourself a unique, hand printed organic cotton piece of artwork, and unleash it on your little ones!

Check out more of Nell’s creations;

http://nellclothing.co.uk/store

http://www.etsy.com/Nell

Read Nell’s blog;

http://nellsmith.blogspot.com/

I Like Vegetables - Organic Women's Fitted T-Shirt
Buy this product at CafePress

Organic Women's Fitted T-Shirt
Buy this product at CafePress

Organic Women's Fitted T-Shirt
Buy this product at CafePress

All of the above t-shirts are available in both Men’s and Women’s sizes, fitted and un-fitted, so what are you waiting for? Declare your love of all things green with a t-shirt that fits your green spirit!