ImagesMagUK_December_2020

www.images-magazine.com DECEMBER 2020 images 35 IS DECORATOR PROFILE S ustainability and the environment have underpinned everything at I Dress Myself since the business launched. From the fabrics and embroidery threads used, to the choice of printing equipment and inks, founders Pete and Hannah Conway have pioneered ways to reflect their ethical values in every garment that leaves the shop. “ Sustainability was a big part of our lives so it seemed natural,” Hannah explains. “We lived in a housing co-op, we generally avoid supermarkets, we shop ethically when we can, we re-use things where we can, buy secondhand where we can. If it’s important to you in your everyday life, then it is equally important in your business practice.” Water-based inks are more of a challenge… but it’s worth the effort Sustainable to the core Images finds out how Pete and Hannah Conway of I Dress Myself integrate sustainability into every aspect of their business Pete and Hannah founded the business in their home in Nottingham in 2005, starting with a manual carousel. “We had screen printing equipment in the bedroom and were washing out screens in the shower and exposing them in the cellar,” Hannah recalls. They moved into their first workshop in 2006, scaled up again after they relocated to Frome in Somerset 10 years ago, moving to their current premises in two units of Vallis Mills Industrial Estate two-and-a-half years ago. They started out screen printing on garments and tote bags and expanded into DTG and embroidery, focusing on business-to-business and supplying fashion retailers of all sizes as well as outlets such as museums and galleries. Environmental policy The pair published their first environmental policy in 2006, which caught the attention of Permaset, the Australian-based manufacturer of eco-friendly water-based inks. I Dress Myself became the UK’s first decorator to use the new generation of water- based inks exclusively in all of its printing. “We love using the Permaset inks because they’re such good quality,” Hannah adds. “They are extremely durable and generally the print will last longer than the garment itself. The Supercover inks are very opaque so it’s easy to print white onto black or colour onto colour without requiring an underbase, and the Permaset Permatone inks are really vibrant, with a very soft handle. They’re 100% solvent-free and we don’t have to use solvents to clean the ink off the screens at the end of the run. It makes for a much nicer environment to work in.” As well as using Permaset inks for their own printing, I Dress Myself formed a partnership with the inks manufacturer which has seen Pete and Hannah providing assistance to other printers in Europe and the US who were making the move to water-based ink printing. As Hannah concedes, there are challenges for decorators wanting to go down the water-based route: “You can’t leave a print on a hot day for very long without printing, whereas plastisol inks you can stop mid-print run on a Friday, go home for the weekend and come back and carry on, as they don’t set and dry unless you cure them. It’s more challenging to use water-based inks on dark colours for multi-colour print runs. You have to keep the inks moving, you don’t want anything to dry out. But it’s worth the T-shirts for Design Haven for Heroes, designed by Francesca Rowan-Plowden and Frank Newbold