Originally founded in Bath in the late 1980's by brothers Jonathan and Andrew Andy, today T Shirt and Sons remains a family-run business with the emphasis as much on customer service as it is on the environment.

Its status as the UK's only Soil Association certified organic printer means it is the only company able to offer certified organic printed garments in Europe to global organic textile standards (GOTS). This has attracted custom from the likes of Katharine Hamnett (it prints the famous slogan T-shirts); the Eden Project; Glastonbury and Cancer Research - to name but a few. T Shirt and Sons also printed the T-shirts for celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recent Chicken Out campaign as well as printing 2,000 environmentally friendly cotton shoppers for Modbury - Europe's first plastic bag-free town.

It is also currently in the favourable position of not needing to actively seek business, as md Andy Andy explains: "We don't go out and get the high profile clients, they come to us." In fact, demand for its services is so high it has had to buy and extend into a neighbouring Westbury factory to accommodate a much-needed fourth production line.

Most of the organic garments and bags it prints go into retail, which might include charities, staff uniforms or festivals, says Andy. But as prices come down he expects the company will start doing more for the promotions market. "We've just done some record company stuff that's all being used for marketing purposes, so organic is becoming an element of marketing campaigns," he says. "But I doubt we'll ever do the Natwests of the world."

T Shirt and Sons' 18-strong team works with its customers in all aspects of printing: from concept, design, artwork, proofing, packaging and distribution logistics; through to garment sourcing and the manufacture of bespoke items of workwear, uniforms and promotional clothing.

It uses T-shirts and bags made from Fairtrade and organic certified cotton and specialises in water-based print, which makes up around 90% of its annual work. About 60% of this is discharge printing - a method of printing onto dark garments to give a durable and bold print that is soft to the touch, as Andy exlains: "Normally, to get a strong colour on a dark garment you have to print with a plastisol to get it to work and eventually this will come off the garment. But we do discharge printing, which removes the dye in the shirt first. This way you get really bright, sharp colours, which never come off, never crack and you can just wash them and wash them."

He adds: "The pigments are synthetic but we're not contaminating and polluting rivers and there are no carcinogens used."

The company also prints with PVC-free, spirit-based and special effects inks including reflective, glitter and high build.

T Shirt and Sons runs a fully automated factory capable of producing over 50,000 prints a week since doubling the floor space with the newly acquired neighbouring factory. There are four autos and a large format printer for t-towels and panel printing - all of which can produce over 15,000 prints a day if needs be, although runs of 1,000 are more typical, says Andy. There is also a folding and bagging machine, which can do 1,500 pieces an hour - a must for the larger runs. "All the bags are printed by us to say they are biodegradable," adds Andy. It is also currently looking at new dryers in a bid to reduce its carbon footprint.

As a Soil Association licensed printer, one of the main requirements is waste management, explains Andy, so the company has stringent procedures regarding the disposal of inks. "We are very careful about what we use and don't chuck it all down the drain, we hold on to it and filter it, so what goes into the drain is pH neutral and non-partical. This process is monitored carefully by the water companies, who monitor and test our effluent."

Similarly, any excess ink that is wiped off the screens goes into barrels, as do the rags, for processing by licensed contractors. "We also re-use all our packaging and use biodegradable packaging and discourage customers from using individual poly bags," adds Andy. "And all our staff are trained to separate waste for recycling, encouraged to reuse materials where possible and made to understand the full value of resources.

"It's all about complete traceability. If someone asks the Soil Association about one of our garments, we can tell them everything about that garment and it can be traced right back to harvest, and any input and waste can also be traced."

Although the process and requirements to achieve a Soil Association licence are tough, it wasn't a huge jump for T Shirt and Sons, which has always been considered an environmentally-friendly printer, says Andy. "We weren't a plastisol printer anyway so we didn't have to change our processes much," he explains. "But it's quite scary being inspected and you never really ‘pass' - you always have a list of recommendations so you're always on your toes. It goes down to extraordinary levels, for instance, the sort of pest control you use. If they could they'd make us run like the food industry does."

This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing suggests Andy, who agrees with the high standards. "The Soil Association is very vigorous and the accreditation process has made us look at absolutely everything," he says. "If even a tiny piece of normal cotton gets into a T-shirt then it's not organic, as with food. But I'm glad they are this strict, otherwise it would be a halfhearted effort."

He also hopes that eventually the organic textile industry will go the same way as the organic food industry has, quoting the Soil Association's statistic relating to baby food - 60% of which is organic. "The food movement is great for the textile industry," he adds.

Andy is confident that the organic market will continue to grow and become more affordable, and even suggests the possibility of an entirely organic market in a few years time. "More and more customers, such as record labels, are demanding organic and ethical products now; it's really developing at the moment. In a couple of years everything could be organic."

The organic cotton itself is also more available now than ever, says Andy, with at least 10 GOTS certified suppliers now, compared to only one two years ago, so he doesn't envisage any problems meeting the demand for organic cotton. Andy also stresses the importance of GOTS in the development of the organic market. "GOTS is an agreement that means we are all working and inspecting to the same standards," he explains. "It was a long time coming. The first version launched last year and a new one is on its way. GOTS is massively important - it had to happen or we would never have had licensed printed product."

Andy believes that understanding is key to the growth of the market and says people need to learn the message that a non-organic T-shirt doesn't make a huge difference to the wearer, but it does make a difference to the grower and the environment. "It's the fact that everybody has been looked after and treated properly; it's about looking after the environment and the processes," he says. "The point is that it's transparent from harvest to high street. This way, everybody does well out of it, there is not a nasty imbalance. It's about giving a fair deal where everybody will benefit from this change and shift."

This is a far cry from the other end of the scale then - the 50p T-shirt, where "someone has got to have suffered somewhere along the line", says Andy.

Organic, as we know, is also a massive marketing tool. It seems ironic then that there aren't more printers offering the same services as T Shirt and Sons, although strangely, Andy wishes there were.

"I don't think there is anybody out there like us at the moment, but the doors are there to be opened if anyone wants to," he says. "We can't wait for there to be another printer doing organic printing because it will open up the market and competition is healthy. We believe in what we're doing and are looking forward to others doing the same, because not many people understand it - we often get asked if the print washes off!"

Currently, however, Andy reckons most printers aren't managing their waste properly. "It's all just half measures," he claims. "It took us years to get where we are in terms of our environmental credentials and to get tested - we know where every can of ink goes and are extremely efficient at quality control."

He adds: "I want more printers to be doing the same as us - I want competition. I can't print everybody's T-shirts and if there's no-one out there to print them the market will collapse."

T Shirt and Sons can be contacted on: 01373 301645. For more information go to: http://www.tshirtandsons.co.uk/

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