The 2008 finalists are listed below. The six category winners will be determined by the final number of votes cast, coupled with the ranking as established by the judges at the judging session.

For full voting rules and to have your say in who should win one of these prestigious awards, just click here.

The RSK NetShirt™ by RSK Tech
RSK NetShirt^TM  is a completely new and innovative way of selling online.  This product has been specifically developed for the garment decoration industry by RSK Tech. It is not only the first off-the-shelf online storefront solution, but also includes modules such as RSK Print Ready Material and Melco Stitch Engine which can drastically reduce the time the garment decorator needs to invest in producing the order.

WoW 7.1 Transfer Paper by The Magic Touch
The newly developed WoW transfer paper enables full colour images to be printed onto a host of textiles and fabrics including cotton, polyester, denim, canvas, neoprene, nylon, leather etc. regardless of colour or composition.  The product is compatible with almost every toner based laser printer for only a few hundred pounds, making this new technology affordable for all.  The process involves no cutting or weeding, enables complex and detailed designs to be produced, has outstanding soft feel and washing durability.

DTG Digital Inkjet Printing Machines by Your Embroidery Services
DTG’s ingenuity has transformed the standard ink jet printer into a machine that can print directly onto a wide range of textiles including flags, banners, garments and even rolls of fabric.  The development of these machines finally makes the production of small units of four-colour process prints an economic viability.  Ground breaking technology such as double head and moving head printers make DTG printing machines the most flexible available.

Blue Max
Blue Max Stag is a family run company that has always considered customer service to be a top priority.  It understands that its customers need to keep their clients fully satisfied and as such ensures that all its products offer supreme quality, combined with value for money for prices.  Blue Max also keeps its warehouse fully stocked operates a next day delivery service and will always go the extra mile to deliver to deadline.

BTC activewear
BTC activewear has grown from strength-to-strength over the past 20 years to become one of the major clothing distributors to the imprint industry.  Customer service is paramount, with the four award-winning regional sales teams regularly going ‘Beyond The Conventional’ to help customers solve their various garment requirements. Great brands, award-winning service, local sales offices and next-day before-noon delivery as standard - that’s the BTC activewear difference!

www.polo-shirts.co.uk
www.polo-shirts.co.uk uses its online “Satisfaction Monitoring System” (SMS) to understand its customer’s views on the service and the products it supplies.  Customers are sent a post delivery online questionnaire to complete and upon its return, SMS gives www.polo-shirts.co.uk a unique understanding of its customers feelings. It provides www.polo-shirts.co.uk with vital information and assists the company in ensuring that it is constantly offering an unbeatable product range and service.

EarthPositive™ Climate Neutral T-shirts by Continental Clothing Company
Continental’s EarthPositive Apparel has reduced the CO2 emissions of its new promotional apparel by over 89%.  EarthPositive is proud to introduce The Carbon Trust’s first carbon reduction label for textile products - the first of its kind in the world.  The purpose of EarthPositive apparel is to pass forward the competitive advantage it has gained to companies looking for ways to act on climate change using real products.

Epona
Epona has been at the forefront of the ethical movement since 2005 when it was awarded the Fairtrade cotton certification for its clothing.  Epona has enabled 1,500 disadvantaged cotton farmers to receive a fair price for their cotton and has helped these producers convert their farms to organic.  To improve the manufacturing process, a water-treatment/recycling system has been installed at the dye house and Epona has introduced safe housing, free lunches and an on-site nurse for staff.

Mantis World

Mantis World’s organic cotton is certified by international accreditation organisation Bio Inspecta ensuring chemical-free cotton and healthy & safe working conditions. Increasing production capacity has reduced its airfreight by 80% - massively reducing its carbon footprint. At the factory, it has installed energy-efficient water recycling technology and implemented carbon neutral non-fossil fuel power, using by-products of the coffee and cotton harvest.  Some of the benefits for workers at the family owned factory in Tanzania include free housing or an allowance, free standard medication and free transportation.

ecobutton™ by Bright Ideas Global
The ecobutton™ is a computer energy-saving USB device.  The illuminated button acts as a prompt to save electricity and reduce carbon footprint any time the computer is left idle. Simply press the button to activate ‘ecomode’ which sets both the computer and monitor to the lowest power mode available.  Reactivation is almost instantaneous, with the reactivation screen showing savings in both electricity cost and CO2.  Branding options are available on both the ecobutton™ itself, and the reactivation screen, with a further option to have this web-linked.

Softshell Technology Range by Result Clothing
The Result Softshell Technology range offers lightweight breathability in casual but tailored styling.  The three-layer fabric with two-way stretch extends freedom of movement in an easy care, non-creasing fabric in five styles, seven colours & thirteen sizes.  Packed with pioneering spirit, Result continues along its pinnacle of jacket design success taking your promotion to new levels of inspiration - be seen with Result.

Bio Poncho™ & GreenSeat™ by Tomato Source
Two products perfect for your next outdoor event. Bio Poncho^TM is an environmentally friendly rain poncho made from renewable, organic matter so is biodegradable and compostable, but also provides quality of base material that delivers excellent printability on the wide printable area.  The GreenSeat^TM is a unique promotional, 100% recyclable, cardboard seat which folds flat and has a carry handle. It is not only innovative and functional, but also offers oodles of space for promoting your brand or message – right in front of the eyes of your target audience.

Slick Stitch Embroidery Company
Slick Stitch is proud to be the UK’s largest embroiderers, currently decorating 55,000 logos per week.  Operating 24h a day 7 days a week, it embroiders more school, work and sports wear than any other.  With unbeatable embroidery and service quality, it houses the largest collection of new machinery in the country, operated by an experienced workforce with an average service length of more than 10 years.  2008 will see heavy investment in systems which allow its customers to have unprecedented order visibility from garment entry to production, packing, QC and finally despatch.

T Shirt and Sons
T Shirt and Sons is a UK based t-shirt printer that specialises in using water-based inks and has over twenty years experience in t-shirt printing.  T Shirt and Sons is the only certified organic t-shirt printer in Europe and with its licence, it is the only company that is able to produce a Soil Association certified 100% organic printed garment.

T Shirt Printers
The last few years have seen T Shirt Printers develop into a national supplier of decorated garments, offering print, embroidery, transfers and fulfillment, without losing their ability to deliver large quantities of promotional t-shirts very quickly.  Recent investments, supported by The Carbon Trust, in low carbon technology, combined with an increasing range of organic garments, means that TSP are one of the leading players in the emerging green economy.

B & B Leisurewear
B & B Leisurewear was formed over 20 years ago, originally established to produce bespoke t-shirts ethically in the U.K.  Now with production operations in Turkey and India, all factories are audited to the highest possible standards.  With in–house designers following the latest trends, B & B produces fashionable wear as illustrated in their Urban Times 2008 brochure.  It is also the only company to hold both the Fairtrade and Soil Association licences for its products, and is proud to use certified 100% organic cotton.

The Private Label Service by Continental Clothing Company
For over a decade, Continental Clothing has been offering a bespoke manufacturing service to the promotional garment industry.  For over a decade it has excelled, delivering retail quality in the remarkable lead-time of only 18 days from order to delivery, at a time when offshore manufacturing would normally require three months.  In 2007, it branded this bespoke service as the ‘Private Label Service’ - a powerful sourcing and presentation tool.

Mantis World

Born in London, made in Africa. From a simple bale of cotton to a finished Mantis World garment, its completely transparent and ethical manufacturing policy at its family owned factory in Tanzania is open to inspection at every stage. It has created the most instantly familiar baby and children’s ranges in the printwear industry – Babybugz and Humbugz. Its TLC organic range now features more styles and colours than ever. Picked from stock or a special bespoke order, from newborn baby to adult, Mantis World has something to suit you.

Click here to cast your vote today!