Some time ago Simon Clifford, president of Tekmar Technical Marketing of Santa Barbara, told a story about aerosol adhesive residue on the floor around a press in a textile print shop that he was visiting. It was so bad that the shop’s resident Golden Lab lay down to rest under the press and then could not get up because he was stuck to the floor.

We don’t know if Simon developed Tekmar’s TEKBOND line of water-based, non-aerosol pallet adhesives because of the dog-sticks-to-floor experience, but we do know that it is a cost-effective, non-messy, “greener” alternative to aerosol pallet adhesives. And we say that in spite of the fact that, as a supplier, we can make much more money from aerosol adhesives because they cost more and more is needed to do the same job.

Tekmar’s water-based pallet adhesives line has some big fans. For instance, Derry Williams of Best Cap in Calgary says that the Tekmar TB-HV adhesive lasts and lasts on the pallet and makes no mess. That probably has something to do with why Best Cap has one of the cleanest shops that we have ever seen.

Doug of Applied Graphics in Edmonton is just as enthusiastic. He says that he likes the fact that Tekmar’s water-based pallet adhesive is much more economical than aerosol. He also feels that because it is non-hazardous and non-flammable it is healthier to use. Furthermore, he doesn’t care for the airborne  particles of aerosol sprays. Doug likes the way that TEKBOND cleans up off the pallet with water and he doesn’t miss the sticky overspray on the floor that always happens with aerosol adhesives. He is adamant that he will never return to using aerosol adhesives.

Tekmar’s TEKBOND TB-HV is applied sparingly to the pallet with a small supplied squeegee. Derry says that Best Cap recently printed 1200 tee-shirts without re-applying the adhesive once. That is why Tekmar is able to claim that a 1-quart container of TEKBOND TB-HV replaces at least 3 dozen cans of aerosol adhesive. The cost saving in product price alone is significant (85% to 90% saving) but it gets even better when you factor in clean-up time of the pallets, press and floor.

TEKBOND TB 10 works on the same principle but is applied by use of a Target spray system. The difference between that and aerosol spray though is that the Target spray system can be controlled to spray sparingly on the pallet without over-spraying all over the equipment and floor. 

So do something good for your shop, your budget and for the environment and call Screenflex about trying Tekmar’s water-based pallet adhesives. The toll-free number is 1-800-661-7766 or email info@screenflex.ca

Now your kid is ready to dive fully protected from the possibility of being poisoned by any lead in the little screen-printed logo on the suit. So strap on the 20 lb lead weight diving belt on your child and let’s go!

Whaaat?!!

Exactly!

One has to ask. Has this legislation been thought through properly?

Thanks to the customer who brought this example to our attention today. His company manufactures wet suits in three places around the globe. It seems that he now has to go to a lot of trouble and expense to switch to lead-free and phthalate-free ink and to have the prints on children’s wet suits certified by an independent accredited laboratory. He quite rightly wonders by what reasoning the 20 lb lead weight belt is exempt. If you have any similar examples, email me at michael.best@screenflex.ca  We might as well get a bit of a laugh out of this, even as we are being forced to comply.

At the moment this is a U.S. issue that only affects Canadian producers of imprinted childrens’ garments destined for the U.S. But as we all know, sooner or later, what happens in the U.S. in our industry will cross the border and happen in Canada as well. Therefore, all Canadian textile screen printers need to pay attention to this issue.

Our industry sources in the U.S. tell us that as of February 10th 2009, printers of childrens’ apparel for the U.S. market are going to have to produce certification that the ink used in every delivery contains less than 100 PPM (parts per million) of lead.

One might assume that users of Wilflex ink could merely point out that it has been free of lead for about 30 years…  so what’s the problem? But apparently, in terms of the new legislation in the U.S., that is not good enough. Certification of the print has to be done by an accredited laboratory, of which there are apparently only 4 or 5 in the entire country. We understand that the cost of certifying a print “lead free” is about $300.00. This is bound to cause irritation. We have already heard of a case where a fist fight almost developed because a printer refused to certify a print on the grounds that the deadline of 10th February had not yet arrived, and the customer refused to take delivery because he would be selling the garments after the deadline at which the law would come into effect.

And furthermore, lead is not the only sticking point in the pursuit of “safe” imprinted garments. Phthalate (pronounced “thalate”) is also black listed now as bad for the health of American children. Phthalate is the component of regular plastisol and some water-based inks that gives them flexibility. Ironically, I.V. pouches and blood storage pouches as well as a multitude of other medical supplies are made flexible with Phthalates.

The Europeans were the first to focus on making textile products Phthalate-free. The U.S.A. followed suit by setting February 2009 as the deadline, however, we have just been told that that deadline might be pushed out quite a bit. Apparently, among other issues, it has been realized that strict enforcement will put most, if not all, of the used clothing retailers and charities out of business.

Regardless of whether there is going to be a deferment of the deadline or not, certain large sporting goods and childrens’ wear suppliers are requiring certification from printers as if the legislation were already in place. There are also have a number of Canadian printers who are protecting their global childrens’ wear business by not waiting to be forced into compliance. They are preparing to switch to Wilflex’s Phthalate-free Epic line of inks.

Wilflex’s Epic Phthalate-free colours have been available for about 5 years. More recently a full range of bases, pigments, and specialty inks like Fashion Soft Base, gels, metallics and High Density Clear have been added as well.

As with all new and far-reaching developments and legislation there can be confusion, misunderstanding and misinformation in the beginning. We will keep an eye on this issue and produce updates and clarifications right here in this newsletter as they become available. In the meantime, if you need more information or technical assistance, call Screenflex toll-free at 1-800-661-7766 or email info@screenflex.ca

If you are going to attend the upcoming Long Beach Show, be sure to visit the Wilflex booth and quiz the experts about this topic.

Some ink manufacturers have just woken up to the fact that governments and customers are beginning to focus on eco-friendly screen printing ink. Now they are announcing eco-friendly ink like they have just invented something new. But as with most new developments in textile screen printing inks, Wilflex is still way ahead of the game, just as they were when they were the first to take lead out of plastisol ink 25 years ago. 

Kathleen’s t-shirt is printed with eco-friendly Wilflex ink that has been available for eight years all over the world!

Wilflex Quantum One does not include phthalates or PVC resin, yet it prints and cures like conventional palstisol-based inks. It also delivers the same high-quality performance and PANTONE colours you would expect from other Wilflex colour systems.

Wilflex Oasis is a line of water-based inks that does not include phthalates, PVC or AEPO’s and it meets the Oeko Tex 100 standard. The Oasis line also includes non-formaldehyde discharge inks.

Wilflex Epic ink system provides you with the most advanced non-phthalate ink technology for market conditions and certification standards that require non-phthalate inks. The Epic system is based on Wilflex’s popular MX mixing system that gives you consistent PANTONE colours.

Want to know more about eco-friendly inks? Don’t waste time with immitators and be careful of salespeople who claim to have “organic”, “green” or “enviro” inks without knowing what they are talking about. Don’t be some no-name brand’s guinea pig, call Screenflex toll-free at 1-800-661-7766 or email us at info@screenflex.ca We know a lot, but if you manage to stump us, we always have the full resources of Wilflex’s experts to back us up.

Oh, one more thing…   we have samples.

He made the point that while people asked for “green” they could seldom explain what that meant. For instance, did they mean “organic”, “non-phthalate”, “non-PVC”, all of those things, or something else entirely? He emphasised the importance of questioning anyone asking for “green” as to what exactly they meant.

California is the first state in the U.S. and, at this time, still the only state clearly defining “green” to some concrete extent by specifically prohibiting certain chemicals effective January 1, 2009. We’ll spare you the chemical names and definitions here, but we can forward the information that we have if you call us toll-free at 1-800-661-7766 or email us at info@screenflex.ca  The important point though is that Wilflex already has three ink types to deal with the various “green” demands that your customers might have.

The Wilflex Epic Series is a non-phthalate ink. Wilflex  QuantumOne is a non-phthalate, non-PVC, acrylic-based ink. Wilflex Oasis is a complete line of water-based inks including non-formaldehyde discharge inks to inks for contemporary fashion-driven textured effects.

As far as “organic” garments are concerned, we are told that very few cottons are organically grown and that at this time the only truly “organic” cotton is grown on a limited scale in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. We suggest that next time anybody claims to have “organic” garments, you ask them where the cotton was grown and to provide proof that it was organically grown.

As we have suggested in another article in this newsletter, beware of the ill-informed or the unscrupulous who will miss-represent themselves or their products as “green”. Beware of Greenfarce.   

Last Saturday morning I was ”greenmailed” at my favourite health food store. The whole operation had Greenfarce’s prints all over it. 

The enthusiastic young eco-warrior at the cash register announced triumphantly that the store’s bagging had gone “green”. She gave me the choice of either paying 5 cents each for the previously free disposable plastic grocery bags or 99 cents for their new re-usable, recyclable,  environmentally-friendly bag. “And better still”, the  check-out activist for an environmentally friendly society warned me, “by April the plastic bags will be like totally gone!”

Not wishing to appear to be an uncaring polluter of the planet in the presence of the assorted health nuts and tree huggers lined up behind me at the cash register, I gave in to the charming greenmailer and paid the 99 cents for the environmentally friendly ”green” bag. I could sense the collective approval of the lineup for my caring and consideration for the well-being of the planet until I drove away in my gas-guzzling 1987 BMW 535i restoration project, at which point my approval rating probably hit rock bottom.

Later that afternoon I was trying to trace the source of a chemical smell in the kitchen at home. Well guess what? It was coming from my new “environmentally friendly” shopping bag. A closer sniff confirmed that it was the thick layer of screen-printed green ink that was putting out the chemical stink.  

I have been around plastisol screen printing ink for 20 years and could therefore tell right away that the ink was not plastisol. After taking the bag to the office on Monday and consulting with our experienced staff, we decided that it was either a thickly-applied solvent-based vinyl ink or perhaps a rubber ink. It doesn’t matter which, because neither are “environmentally friendly”. That made us take a closer look at the bag. The slogans printed along the bottom of the bag urged one, among other “green” slogans, to “support fair trade” , “act locally”, “reduce” and “reuse”.

I called the store’s head office and was eventually directed to the marketing manager who needed very little prompting to admit that the bags were made and printed in China. He said that unfortunately the ink was solvent or petroleum based because a more environmentally friendly ink, such as a soy based ink, did not print well enough on the woven recycled plastic bag. I should have asked if he understood the concept of “carbon footprint” and that the carbon footprint of his environmentally friendly Chinese bag could well exceed the carbon footprint of the old-fashioned flimsy plastic bags. It also slipped my mind to ask why then they did not use a natural fibre bag such as say cotton canvas and screen the green print in one of Wilflex’s environmentally friendly inks right here in Canada. 

If you were the store management wouldn’t you have asked yourself a few key questions before leaping onto the “green” bandwagon? Is this bag an example of what “green” means? Are we turning ”green” into a farce? Does “support fair trade” mean exporting fair-wage local jobs to low-wage China or is that what ”act locally” means? Does “reduce” mean making “green” bags out of woven plastic and then printing on them with solvent or petroleum based ink? Does ”reuse” mean a non-renewable resource like plastic or should it be referring to renewable resources like cotton? You decide.

Nobody with even just half a brain can fail to see the benefits of going ”green”. ”Green” is a good thing. What is not a good thing is that the whole “green” movement seems to be in the process of being hijacked by a coalition of the ill-informed, the shrill and the opportunistic. They need to  come out in the open and be recognized as an organization. The organization needs a name. How about “Greenfarce”?   

If you have any simliar stories or experiences with the “green” movement I would be happy to hear about them. Drop me a line at michael@screenflex.ca