This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.
Here is a short story on the birth of a green promotional item and how a family-owned business became an Ecopreneurist in their own right.
Sublimation X, is the promotional product division of CL Activewear, an apparel manufacturer specializing in dye sublimation. (Sublimation is a technology which involves printing colors, logos and patterns directly into a cloth’s fiber.)
A family owned business and long time innovator in dye sublimation, CL Activewear started an effort to get away from strong chemical dyes and to develop products using earth-friendly materials and water-based dyes over 5 years ago. Their plant also began recycling all their waste material during this same period.
Indeed as CL Activewear became more efficient in their processes, then found they needed less space and moved their plant to a smaller facility to use less energy.
In early 2008 CL Activewear became aware of polyester fabric made from recycled plastic bottles (PET or Polyethylene Terephthalate). After research and testing of the fabric CL Activewear introduced their first eco-friendly cycling jersey in January 2009 to the promotional items market as well as the cycling industry.
The jerseys are 99% recycled or organic (they are working at 100% by making changes to the thread and zipper used), light weight and naturally cooling. They come in many styles and colors.
This is a great idea for any Ecopreneurist running large scale biking events, city events promoting the use of bike riding to reduce emissions or gas consumption, or even an idea for race teams looking to go green.
Sublimation X is also currently designing other garments with recycled polyester – including running jerseys – to be introduced over the 2009 season. More on that as information is available.
If you want to learn more about these jerseys visit the Sublimation X website or contact us at info@proformagreen.com.
Adventures in Green Marketing 
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