IMAGINE GreenWear Combines Art, Eco-Ethics, and Innovation

Face it: What we do has an impact on our planet, whether for good or ill. As a retailer you have the power to help your customers reduce the footprint they leave behind. When you offer green merchandise and shoppers buy it, everyone benefits. Now, top fashion designers and retailers are offering more choices for organic apparel with no company more involved than IMAGINE GreenWear, an all-American organization that is justifiably proud of its designs, its ecological direction and its part in helping the world to be a better, greener place. To them, green IS the future of textiles.

Screen-printed tee shirts, sweat shirts and other imprinted sportswear are staples of the modern world’s wardrobe. New technologies have transformed the industry through decoration processes and one of the leaders in the field, IMAGINE GreenWear, is moving forward by looking back to when fabric prints were made entirely organically.

Mark Fishbein, the CEO of IMAGINE, proudly points out that his father was one of the pioneers of modern screen printing — back shortly after World War II. Gradually, the screen printing business, like its apparel cousin, moved off shore and by 1998 the family business was sold. Mark spent the next few years in Central America and Pakistan as a screen-print consultant, always wanting to bring the business back to the U.S.

Ultimately, he met veteran textile guru Cas Shiver and a partnership was struck between the men with the addition of Mark’s wife, Elaine, a talented graphic designer. However, it took the trio years and a tremendous amount of trial and effort to develop a seaweed-based dye process that works brilliantly on cotton, offering super-soft, vibrantly-colored garments that are colorfast, non-toxic and environmentally friendly. The team named their company IMAGINE after hearing the song on the radio, adding GreenWear to signal that they produce totally green garments, both in the fabrication and manufacturing process.

For fall 2012, IMAGINE GreenWear offers sassy styles, including stylish rompers for the littlest ones. 100% ring-spun organic cotton and seaweed-based dyes make this item — and all others from this brand –– the softest graphic print garments in the industry.

For little girls, The Moon Fairy Romper comes in sizes newborn to 18 months in a teal, blue and purple colorway, while Heart Owl delights in red and purple with hearts and owls on the chest. Lilac and black yoga pants for the newborn to twenty-four-month-old set can be paired with soft, colorful one-pieces that give babies a cheerful look that is comfortable on the tenderest of skins.

For older girls aged two to eight, the Fairyland Hoodie comes in up-to-the-minute orange and purple with a black printed design; the multi-colored Unicorn Hoodie features a rearing, one-horned horse on the front. Many of the same prints are also available as classic long-sleeve, crew-necked dresses that wash easily and keep their fresh colors.

Delight shoppers looking for boys’ clothes with cool, modern graphics of maps, sports and pirate ships. Long-sleeved 2fers are decorated with wildlife, jazzy racing cars, baseball and biker motifs, enhanced by a solid color from the elbow to the wrist. Hoodies with airplanes and daring parachutists are long on boy appeal and make it easy to dress kids in earth-friendly clothes that don’t skimp on style.

Take a look at incredibly cool Yoga Pants for boys, available in solid black or turquoise with a black stripe, the perfect partner for a one-piece or tee shirt. The Truckin’ long-sleeved tee sports a round-up of road signs on the back so kids look sharp coming or going, while the Dawn of the Dinosaur pattern keys into kids’ love of Jurassic Park with all its thrills.

By offering an alternative to screen-printing inks, IMAGINE GreenWear is putting its stamp on the textile industry Their dye printing process is versatile and leads to the manufacture of creative garments that appeal both to kids and shoppers. As Mark says, “There are no eco-slogans; the product is the message. If the fashion look is right, people will feel good about buying our domestic, organic garments.”

Retailers also feel good when they offer fashion from IMAGINE GreenWear, pleased with the looks, the manufacturing process and that this merchandise is pre-washed and shrunk and made with care in the U.S.A. IMAGINE GreenWear knits its fabric in South Carolina using 100% certified organic yarn, and cut/sews and decorates in Fairfax, VA. Their building uses hot water produced by solar panels and a cooling system based on a geo-thermal approach, making the facility one of the greenest textile printing and dyeing factories in the country, if not the world.

IMAGINE GreenWear is a company that lives up to its mission of creating totally green garments with an eco-friendly, domestic manufacturing system: www.imaginegreenwear.com