The following is a guest post submission.
Nowadays, it is very fashionable to be “green” or what others call “environmentally friendly”. A lot of people do it for the sake of mother earth and for the future of the next generation. It is a very noble thing to do and so we must all do our part to be green, even in little ways. One fashionable green thing that I can share is a t shirt printing technology called Rehance. It is a process that uses a specially formulated water based ink to print designs on shirts, which is free from the usual chemicals used in dying or applying designs on a shirt. Rather than having to apply plastic or latex paints to cover the fabric, Rehance dyes the fabric by absorbing colors at a molecular level. T shirts with latex or plastic paints will eventually crack, wash out and go back into the environment through a waste water system.
The Process of the Rehance Technology
Rehance allows you to print and design lively colors on dark shirts using water based products. When using the technology of Rehance, it changes the fabric on the molecular level so that the shirt keeps its natural feel and therefore enables it to stretch and breathe.
The fabric is usually dyed with this technique before it is cut and sewn. The Rehance process will pre-shrink the garment so that it will remain the same size as it was when you purchased it new. Rehance generally works well with cotton and other fabrics that are stretchable.
Do Your Part to Save the Environment!
Traditional printing on shirts is usually done with plastisol inks, which contain PVC and phthalates. This type of paint contains environmental poisons, which are not just bad for the environment but they are also very harmful to our bodies. A lot of people would generally use plastisol over water based products because it can print a light color on a dark shirt better that water based paints. It is essentially the same idea as placing a piece of tape on a wall and painting it. Plastisol inks will eventually crack and peel.
This is where Rehance comes in handy. Rehance takes away the need to use plastisol ink by being able to dye fabric instead of painting on it. A shirt can be printed with light designs using the Rehance technology and then dyed over with another color, leaving the printed design intact without covering it with dye. The trick behind the process is that the “printed” area is sealed to make it resistant to any other dyes that will be used. As a result, the original design print will be visible on the shirt without having been dyed over.
Since the dye is absorbed by the material of your shirt, the dye will not crack or fade easily during washes. It will also leave your shirt breathable, making the shirt more comfortable to wear. I think the choice is clear that you should choose to use water based inks such as Rehance.
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