Check out these three Etsy sellers that have some amazing t-shirt yarns. All are cut in one continuous line from old tees and transformed into yarn.

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The Green T-Shirt Design Challenge is a chance to show off what being green means to you, all on an organic t-shirt. Says Threadless:

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Vantage Apparel is one of the leaders in our industry for eco-friendly apparel, with a special focus on organic cotton t-shirts and eco printing.

Vantage knows a lot of organizations want to make a big splash this year around Earth Day but also that some of those organizations may not have a budget for a big time design when it comes to organic cotton t-shirts and other apparel items.  So they are making it easy for you.

In a move I can only say is very ecopreneurial, Vantage is teaming up with distributors like Proforma to offer a full line of 20 plus Earth Day designs ready to be placed onto all nine of their organic cotton t-shirts and totes.

Schools, clubs, city departments, charities, businesses, etc., for any and all this is a great way for an Ecopreneurist to make a big splash without having to fill the entire swimming pool out of their own pocket.

If you are interested in viewing all the Earth Day pre-graphics in this program you can download the .pdf here. For more information on Vantage visit their website at vantageapparel.com or see the Vantage online catalog  located here.

Please note that the Earth Day pre-graphics program is not mentioned on the website or the online catalog, so if you want more information on the program, including pricing, please email info@proformagreen.com.

Or if you are in the promotional items business you can contact Gina Barreca, Director of Marketing for Vantage Apparel at ginab@vantageapparel.com.

Brian Base, the creator of RideSearch.com, was at the Green Dallas event held this last weekend here in Dallas, Texas. Proforma Green runs the t-shirts for RideSearch.com and both RideSearch.com and Proforma Green had been asked to participate in the event by the City of Dallas.

Well Brian was wearing a shirt we ran for him for the 2008 Plano Green Living Expo back in April (another event we both attended as vendors) and I noticed something.

The RideSearch.com shirts are natural cotton shirts. This means they have no dye in them, they are the color of untreated, undyed cotton.

What I noticed was that these shirts fade, although I am not sure fade is the correct word. As I mentioned the natural shirt, whether organic or regular cotton, are called natural because they have no dye in the shirts. So really there is no color (dye) to fade from the shirt, it is just the natural wear of the cotton.

And it seems that over time these shirts go from a sand tan color to more of a lighter parchment color.

I never really thought of it before but because the shirts have no dye in them they just act like what they are, natural cotton, and the “fading” is a result of their nature.

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Yesterday, Sean let me know about a little giveaway they’re holding, and I immediately agreed to participate.  It’s pretty simple: just register at GLI, and sign up for their excellent GreenIdeas newsletter. Once you’ve done that, submit a comment on this post with your GLI site username (they’ll need to confirm that you did in fact register, and came from sustainablog). In two weeks (that’s October 7th), we’ll pick and announce a winner from those of you who signed up and left a comment here. That winner will receive a Green Living Ideas/sustainablog t-shirt (made of organic cotton, of course!).

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Ah yes, the souvenir t-shirt… too silly to wear, but what do you do with it?

I know Leslie’s probably going to be rocking us with recycled t-shirt projects from Generation T for quite some time, but I’ve also been racking up a few t-shirt craft ideas that I wanted to share. (Yes, we seem to have “fads” among the CAGW writers sometimes. First jeans, now t-shirts. Next up: socks?)

Specifically, I’ve been looking for t-shirt crafts that do NOT rely on fusible web. Since I wrote my two-part post a while back on how to think through the “green-ness” of your craft supplies using fusible web as an example, I’ve been less than enthusiastic about ever adhering the yucky stuff to a piece of fabric ever again. (In case you missed it, here’s the part on craft supply safety and the part on craft supply environmental impact.) I have one t-shirt quilt already planned, with the fusible web already purchased, but after that I’m done.

So what to do with cherished t-shirts after that?

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350.org is spreading the word far and wide about the importance of the number 350 and you can help! Together with Craftster, Etsy, Craft Magazine, Burda Style and Thrifty Fun — 350.org has launched the Creativity 350 partnership and contest to draw creative energy and attention to 350.org’s goal of reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million to stave off dangerous climate change.

The contest is in two parts; a 350-themed craft contest and a 350-themed T-shirt design contest. For the craft contest, you are invited to craft any project that creatively expresses the importance of the number 350, using any crafting technique. For the T-shirt contest, you may create an original T-shirt design that creatively expresses the importance of the number 350.

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Do you find yourselves searching for a green holiday gift that’s hip, relevant, and makes a difference in the fight against climate change? Well, look no further than WE ADD UP. WE ADD UP is a brand new global warming awareness project! It’s a global count of people committing to help fight global warming by taking simple steps in their everyday lives that make a big difference. WE ADD UP is an organic t-shirt campaign and every organic tee is custom hand-printed with a number - that number represents your unique position in the sequential global count! So if you were the 500th person to get counted in, the number on your shirt would be 500. The backs of the shirts feature different action messages - simple things that anyone can do to decrease their carbon footprint, like Bike, Unplug, Drink Tap, Organic, Mass Transit, Shower Together, Recycle, Buy Local - there are over 20 different messages to choose from for the back of your shirt. The design of the WE ADD UP tees is simple, clean, and appealing for both men and women - and all the tees are made of certified organic cotton that’s grown and sewn in the USA. The WE ADD UP line makes it incredibly easy and fun to get counted in the fight against global warming - and it lets us know that simple changes do make a big difference because WE ADD UP!

Be sure to check out the WE ADD UP website at www.weaddup.com — it’s a great site and very educational as well. You can read all about WE ADD UP’s Green and Giving Program - a portion of the proceeds from WE ADD UP shirts is given back to the planet and WE ADD UP even offers carbon-neutral shipping. A WE ADD UP shirt is one of the most unique and meaningful gifts out there - it represents a commitment to the environment and it’s a way to spread awareness at the same time.

Happy Green Gifting, Everyone!

As a recently-established brand, they first focused
on making sweatshop-free t-shirts (printed with water-based inks), but
will soon be offering their popular styles on organic cotton,
furthering their commitment to bettering the planet. By signing up for
the company’s e-mail newsletter, you are entered into a monthly drawing to win a free Wisdom Tee.

WT’s
first three designs, sporting text statements, have been featured in a
wide variety of media outlets and still get oodles of attention.
"Buddha is my homeboy," "peacemaker," and "one planet, one karma" are
still available in the company’s online store, as well as four new
designs. Three of the new graphics available feature artistic images of
the most well-known social and spiritual legends: Mother Theresa, Dalai
Lama, and Ghandi.

Last but not least, the company’s first organic
cotton shirt for men and women displays a delicately simple list of
inspirational and centering words, no doubt representing the purity of
the organic cotton the tees are made of. Prices range from $28-$36 for
women’s t-shirts and $26-$34 for men’s styles. Ten percent of all money
made from purchases is donated to Kiva,
a non-profit website that loans money to small businesses in developing
countries, "helping the world’s working poor make an important step
towards economic independence."

Founded in 1992, Maggie's Organics has been one of the pioneers in the organic clothing industry, and has won awards from Co-op America, the Organic Trade Association, the Natural Products Expo, and more. Originally started as a marketing company for organic tortilla chips, it was suggested that adding cotton to crop rotation would help produce better corn for chips. Of course, once the cotton crop was picked, someone had to sell it.

After learning the harsh facts of conventional cotton cultivation and garment manufacturing, we began making garments a different way - using our farmer's Organic cotton. We started with socks, and then added tee shirts: simple products that would encourage the use of Organic fibers. Upholding our commitment to social responsibility, in an industry dominated by sweatshops, has forced us to find viable alternatives. By partnering with Jubilee House, a community development organization, and pledging our sewing contracts, we've been able to inspire the creation of "Maquiladora Mujeres", a 100% worker-owned Sewing Co-Operative in Nueva Vida, Nicaragua.

The Nicaraguan cooperative sews the majority of the tanks and t-shirts for the Maggie's line. Other sewing co-ops established by other organizations make the rest of the collection, documented on their website. Well-known for their socks, Maggie's offers versions for men, women, kids, and baby ranging from $6-$29. Maggie's organic baby line, started in 2006, features bodysuit and cap sets with adorable graphics for $25.50. Plain and printed camisoles for women come in a variety of colors for $15-20. Short- and long-sleeve tees, polos, and criss cross tops for both men and women come in a myriad of colors for $11.20-$26. Making sure not to waste resources, slightly irregular items are also on sale at a discount.