Another Big Name Enters Organic Blanks
San Mar announced yesterday the arrival of 25 new “earth-friendly” styles to their spring/summer 2008 line-up. The distribution giant, which also manufactures several of its own brands unveiled new items ranging from organic cotton T’s under their District Threads (no relation to DC) label to recycled polyester fleece and bamboo items under the Port Authority brand. Additionally, San Mar also announced some organic cotton baby-wear and polos under the Precious Cargo and Red House labels respectively. While none of these products on their own are particularly earth-shattering or revolutionary, it is always worth noting when such a major player invests this heavily in environmentally friendly styles. Even though San Mar is not necessarily a household name to consumers, the company is pretty gigantic in the imprintables industry.
Pricing is not yet available for all the products, but can be expected to be on the lower end of the eco-fashion spectrum. Interestingly, the company chose only to offer its blank t-shirts in undyed “natural” color, which is obviously more environmentally friendly, but hugely less marketable. It will be interesting to see if District Threads sticks with the one color option, or adds more next season. Also of note is the use of R-tek polyesther fleece, which boasts 40% recycled content (and 60% fresh light-sweet crude).
Look for the items this spring, the complete catalogue is due out sometime in early March.
P.S. (from the greenwash desk) The San Mar earth-friendly collection also includes some Modal items, which as far as I know, gains its only green-cred from the fact that it once originated from a plant before some heavy chemical processing.
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