Perceptive readers may notice something unusual about our annual spring innovation issue: specifically, the prominence given to a feature story on sustainability. “That’s not innovation!” some might say. But they couldn’t be more wrong.
Indeed, changing the way you do business to lessen your company’s environmental impact is pretty much the definition of innovation. Not convinced? Just look at the growing number of technologies being developed to help those companies interested in doing so, as is evident in our 2024 Expo Report article. No matter what the decorating method, you don’t have to try very hard to find any number of materials and methods designed for the express purpose of making things easier on Mother Earth.
Environmentalism and Custom Decorated Apparel
Beyond that, sustainability is very much an integral part of the way the decorated-apparel industry does business these days, a fact that should come as no surprise to anyone who 1) knows decorators and 2) recognizes the socially responsible nature of the decorated-apparel industry as a whole.
When somebody buys a custom-decorated hat, hoodie or T-shirt, they aren’t just buying an article of clothing, they’re buying something that says something about themselves. Granted there are still plenty of knuckleheads running around out there. But for the most part, people are not only by their nature pretty decent folks, they also prefer dealing with individuals who feel the same—a good reason for even the most hardboiled free-market types to consider paying it forward environmentally. What goes around comes around. Do right by the world, and more often than not the world will do right by you.
