With a mission to create global public awareness of the threat posed by high-carbon-footprint living, Carbon Teeshirt Limited’s climate and carbon-neutral Ts sport a simple footprint design on the front and footprint-reducing message in back. Making their way into celebrities hands during last year’s Emmy Awards and onto the Discovery Channel’s Planet Green series, all within its first year of business, the T-shirts help the company achieve its earth-focused initiative while employees strive to set an example, getting a handle on their own planetary impression.

Friendlier fashion

After more than 10 years spent fashion-styling celebrities in LA and NYC, Carbon Teeshirt CEO Christopher Davies returned to London in 2007 to establish personal styling agency, POA style. Later that year, he met with business partner and “eco-aficionado” Michael Makris where they cooked up the CarbonTee concept. “With my fashion background, Mike’s business acumen and a shared passion for all things green, we decided on our flagship design, which would be the green footprint design on the front of the T and the slogan on the back,” Davies remarks.

The Ts are made using carbon neutral manufacturing facilities in India from low-impact organic cotton, and are distributed through carbon-neutral warehouses and offices in London that only use renewable green electricity. (All images courtesy Carbon Teeshirt Limited.)

With green on the brain, the team needed a vehicle on which to deliver its sustainable mantra. “Our relationship with Continental Clothing started as soon as I sourced its EarthPositive line,” says Davies. “Their line was exactly what I was looking for manufacturing and fashion-forward wise, but crucially, Continental also shared the same beliefs and environmental concerns as CarbonTee.” Although the young company claims no eco-certifications of its own just yet, every one of its Ts comes from Continental Clothing Company, which holds qualifications to spare. Certified by the Soil Association—the organic-certification body from across the pond—its 100 percent organic cotton T-shirts meet the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). A comprehensive international standard for organic textiles from farm to finished product, GOTS also addresses ethical issues, considering a company’s employees and the surrounding community. Continental takes that point a step further with Fair Wear Foundation factory audits to tackle the social injustices potentially found in manufacturing.

Through its partnership with Continental, Carbon Teeshirt is also able to provide Oeko-Tex 100 Standard certified garments and adult organic-cotton T-shirts manufactured using sustainable power. This renewable energy, generated from wind farms and solar power, is part of what makes the process climate neutral, meaning that industrial greenhouse-gas emissions are reduced to pre-industrial levels. The EarthPositive line has also achieved a 90 percent reduction in the CO2 emissions and is being used as a case study in the Carbon Trust’s carbon assessment for apparel.

Eco ethos 

Also crucial to the company’s philosophy were methods to sync up with its message. Accordingly, it looked to a nearby screen printer with water-based ink capabilities for its footed-front and back-side slogans: “How Big is Your Foot Print” on adult Ts and “My Foot Print is Small” for the kiddos. “Our screen printing process consists of using water-based inks, which do not contain lead or any heavy metals, nor any ozone-depleting chemicals, such as CFCs, HCFCs or volatile solvents,” states Davies. “After our screen-print run is completed, our screen reclamation is done by water via jet spray. So by using this process, we are keeping to our eco credentials and pleasing our global eco consumer base as well.”

The company’s expansion plans include a new website offering up more than 16 styles and 12 new eco-designs on CarbonTees for all ages, and Davies is looking into 100 percent organic cotton clothing labels and sew-on embroidered badges made from organic cotton for future endeavors. The company is also beginning to merge manufacturing and apparel decoration, broadening the Continental partnership by employing its private-label service so that its Ts, water-based screen printing, labeling and hang tags will be all come from Continental.

Another important affiliation is Carbon Teeshirt’s partnership with the ecological Plant A Tree Today Foundation (PATT). “For every CarbonTee we sell, they will plant a tree on one of their numerous global eco-projects from our donations,” reports Davies. “This is a great charitable effort to be involved in and I would recommend this activity to fellow apparel decorators.”

Perhaps even more impressive than its green concept and execution is the company’s completely car-free status; that is, nobody at Carbon Teeshirt drives a vehicle, ever. “We have reduced our own carbon footprint at headquarters by never driving automobiles and only using bicycles,” Davies points out. “But we use Virgin trains, the UK rail network, for longer distances when we have business meetings.” Employees also take care to avoid printing anything they can cut, paste, store and later access as a computer file. “If we do have to print for any exceptional reason, such as contracts, we always use chlorine-free paper which contains a higher percentage of post-consumer recycled materials and we always print on both sides,” reports Davies. “Plus our labels are Forest Stewardship Council-certified to guarantee they come from sustainable sources.”

Turning down the heat a measly one degree reduced its annual heating bill by nearly 10 percent, a fantastic financial and green saving, says Davies. “Hardware wise, all computers are turned off when not in use, and re-using envelopes, jiffy bags and cardboard packaging by simply blocking out a previous label with a new one has also worked out great. Obviously, all of our trash bins are clearly marked for plastic bottles, cans, paper, card, food and glass.”

Green and seen

The company also sources Continental’s bamboo and organics collections for its flagship line and new couture line, which features illustrations by London-based fashion illustrator Echo Morgan. Carbon Teeshirt and Morgan previously teamed up to produce limited-edition CarbonTees for the Emmy Awards, given away to celebrity attendees and included in the official Emmy gift bag.

Within a month of opening shop, Carbon Teeshirt was well on its way toward the goal to provoke thought about daily impact, doing so in a much larger context than initially anticipated. “During our first four weeks in business, the CarbonTee was selected to appear on Planet Green, the Discovery Channel’s network which launched last June. This was a massive exposure boost as now we had a potential audience of 50 million Americans who would see our product and message during the carbon-footprint segment of the daily show, the G Word,” Davies explains. The G Word producer contacted Davies a few days following distribution of his global press release and shortly thereafter, Davies parleyed this appearance into another one. He got in touch with the Grammy’s eco-event organizer and landed the CarbonTees on the Battleground Earth show, in which hip hop star Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and rocker Tommy Lee compete to green up their act during a 10-episode tour. “This brought our message to an even bigger audience with crucial product placement that we could never afford in our first year of trading,” he reports. “I couldn’t believe my luck; the CarbonTee was beginning to become a brand.”

To other apparel-industry green beings out there looking for their 15 minutes, or to simply get noticed, Davies’ best advice includes attending eco-trade shows for a wealth of networking opportunities. “Also, network with fellow eco-companies on Plaxo, Facebook and LinkedIn, as this will expand your global business opportunities and get your brand noticed effectively for free,” he adds. And, of course, staying up on the clothing industry’s green moves as a whole—such as the British government’s major initiative launched during London fashion week—never hurts.