Silverstick clothing is printed with water based inks. They don’t contain toxic chemicals such as lead or heavy metals so do not harm the environment or human health. Our inks are plastic free and certified by Oeko-Tex and approved as inputs to the production of garments by the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS).

We reduce our printing footprint by printing our clothing a stones throw from our base in Lewes. So our garments are transported only a very short distance to be printed. We print by hand and each garment has one stroke of ink rather than the standard two stroke. We like this as it achieves a more natural look to our prints and also our ink use is more efficient as a smaller amount is needed per garment. And because our inks are water based we can clean our printing screens with water rather than using solvents which plastic based inks require.

Using water based inks means our prints are really comfortable to wear as they have a soft handle, stretch well and are fully integrated into the fabric. We know you are putting our clothing to the test every time you head outdoors on an adventure. So, at the start of every print run, we put our printed garments through a series of processes to ensure they will be durable to wash and wear. And we colour sample each design so the dried print colour matches the original we chose.

Water based inks are not easy to use because they dry very quickly, can clog up printing screens and are harder to colour match. We are very lucky to have a printer very close to us who is dedicated to sustainable printing. Previously we could only use water based inks when printing dark colours on to a light garment. But by working together and using high quality inks with superior pigments, we are now able to print on both light and dark garments with our water based inks.

It has taken a lot of hard work but we have achieved a greener way of printing that you the wearer and us the maker can be very proud of.