Eco-friendly promotional merchandise
Promotional merchandise can do wonders for your business, especially when you use eco-friendly products such as printed organic cotton T Shirts and tote bags combined with water-based screen printing or promotional pens made of recycled paper. Most businesses already know that offering promotional merchandise as freebies at events or in the office to new and existing clients can assist greatly in terms of promotion, branding, acquisition and retention. However, what many are yet to maximise on is the use of eco-friendly promotional products, which not only reduce your carbon footprint, bus also enhance your CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Now, more than ever, are consumers asking for ethically produced products that do not harm the environment or those who produce them. Consequently, companies are starting to listen, transforming their brand into a socially, environmentally responsible one with an enhanced CSR. In this article. we’re going to take a look at all the many eco-friendly promotional products we have on offer in Garment Printing and the eco-friendly printing techniques to compliment them.
So, how exactly can eco-friendly promotional merchandise promote your business, keep your customers happy and boost your profits all at the same time? The answer, eco-friendly promotional merchandise:
According to a study conducted by Cone Communications, 84% of people asked said that they actively seek out responsible products whenever possible and 90% would boycott a company if they learned of irresponsible or deceptive business practices. Looking at these figures, it’s clear that consumers are much more likely to buy from a company that demonstrates and pays great attention to CSR. There are many ways in which they can do this, for example, by donating to philanthropic causes and foundations, volunteering or following strict ethical and environmental guidelines set by associations such as Fairtrade, the Fair Wear Foundation and the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS).
So, you are doing all of this, but how do you then communicate and actively demonstrate it to your clients? Through your channels of communication such as social networks and mailing list, of course, but perhaps this isn’t enough. The most dynamic, lasting and impactful way to show your customers that you are a socially and environmentally responsible brand is to do so with eco-friendly promotional merchandise. If, at events or in the office, new and potential clients are given free organic tote bags with your logo printed on it, for example, they’re much more likely to remember your brand as a responsible one, and even promote it as such by wearing the personalised printed bag about town. With so much information to take in on a daily basis, an email or social media post can easily get lost or forgotten. A personalised eco-friendly printed T-Shirt or other type of promotional product will act as a constant reminder and transmit the right brand image for your company, leading to great acquisition of new clients and retention of existing ones.Get a quote now!
Garment Printing and corporate social responsibility:
The textile industry in particular has come under scrutiny in recent years, leading to the imposition of strict standards and regulations in terms of the production and printing process and the working standards and pay of the workers. Here at Garment Printing, we are constantly trying to improve our CSR by working with responsible brands such as Continental Clothing, Stanley and Stella, Anvil, B&C collection and American Apparel, to name a few, as well as promoting our eco-friendly printing techniques.
Continental Clothing, for example, has a number of eco-friendly, ethically produced lines such as Earth Positive, Salvage, and Fair Share and within these you can find bamboo and organic T Shirts and tote bags, ready to be printed on and thus transformed into eye-catching eco-friendly promotional merchandise.
Most people don’t realise that a large portion of textile garments are made of plastic and therefore very harmful to the environment. Clothing made of polyester and acrylic have recently been highlighted as some of the worst culprits in terms of water pollution as the clothing sheds thousands of plastic fibres each time it’s washed, which ultimately end up in the ocean.
Some might think that the next best option would be cotton, but unless it’s organic cotton this is not true. Mass produced, regular cotton T Shirts and garments are cultivated with the use of harmful pesticides, GMO seeds and an excessive amounts of water, making this fabric a non-sustainable one.
By choosing to print on an organic cotton T-Shirt or tote bag for promotional merchandising purposes, you are supporting small-scale farmers and their families and helping to reduce water pollution. In fact, the impact of water is 98% less when growing organic cotton as opposed to non-organic cotton, in turn creating an environment free from toxins and the illnesses that synthetic pesticides produce.
Other eco-friendly promotional merchandise printing options:
Water-based screen printing is the most obvious and widely used eco-friendly printing technique, which produces brilliant results when combined with an organic cotton product. Or if you fancy something a little lighter and super soft, you could opt for a bamboo T-Shirt – another sustainable fabric.
If you want something a little more dynamic and fun for your eco-friendly promotional merchandise, consider getting the fabric of your choice dyed and printed before the actual garment is made. Instead of simply having your logo printed, make a bigger impact with a design that covers the entire garment.
Most immediately think of dye sublimation, which is widely used with polyester and therefore not eco-friendly, however, Continental Clothing has a solution. If you order in bulk, it is possible to dye large rolls of fabric to match Pantones, allowing you to select the exact fabric and colour. It is also one of Europe’s fastest bespoke manufacturing service, meaning that they can print and tailor everything to your needs with a quick turnaround. So, how does it work? First, they dye the eco-friendly fabric of your choice, then print on it with the eco-friendly printing technique, such as water-based screen printing, and finally cut and sew the material to make the garment. Easy! This bespoke service is perfect for companies looking to create and offer an original eco-friendly promotional product to give away or sell at events.
We hope that this article has opened your eyes to the many benefits of eco-friendly promotional merchandise and how exactly this can demonstrate your corporate social responsibility to your potential, new and existing clients. Though we’ve only mentioned organic cotton and bamboo, there are a variety of eco-friendly fabrics available, two others being hemp and Tencel. Likewise with the type of promotional product on offer; we have focussed on printed T Shirts and personalised tote bags. However, personalised pens and notebooks made of recycled paper also make a great eco-friendly promotional product.
If you have any questions or wish to order promotional merchandise for your company, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our printing experts for a no hassle quote.
