Printing in a sustainable way?
The 5 steps we follow to take care of your projects
1 - Consultancy and pricing
The preliminary printing consultancy on your project is free, and it stays that way if we go to production together.
We can also support you with consultancy only if you need, and in that case a consultancy fee will be charged; you will be always informed about that in advance, before receiving the consultancy.
We try to keep our prices as low as possible, without compromising the products quality and the fair pay for who is working on their production.
We also try to keep our business expenses very low; when buying from Groovink you are not paying for ads, marketing campaigns, expensive rents, fancy photoshoots, paid partnerships on social media.
Oh, and you are also not paying for gas; Groovink is a business entirely run by bike :)
2 - Project analysis
According to the image style and to the amount of pieces you want to print, we will pick the most suitable printing technique for the project.
The chosen printing technique will be the one that uses the smallest amount of resources and materials, that produces the least waste and that is more affordable; all the printing techniques we perform guarantee optimal results in terms of printing quality and durability.
In our studio we perform screen printing with water based inks and vinyl cutting, and we can also provide you with DTF, DTG and embroidery through our local partners.
With these printing techniques we can cover a very wide amount of projects, but in some specific cases some other techniques are necessary, like discharge printing, solvent based ink printing, bleaching, puff ink printing; these printing techniques use strong chemicals so we don't perform them and neither outsource them.
3 - Design optimisation
We can optimise your design to adjust it to the printing technique we picked, in order to minimise production waste and to make your project more affordable; sometimes just a little resizing or some colour retouch can have such a significant impact.
4 - Printing studio and printing process
Our studio is powered by renewable energies (hydropower).
To further reduce the electricity consumption, we air dry the tools and the prints, rather than using electric dryers. An heat press is then used to cure the prints.
Since we only print with water based inks we don't need to use any solvents; the only product we use to clean our tools is pine soap.
During printing most of the drying ink on the frame is collected on masking tape; once dried, it is disposed in mixed waste (rather than in the sink).
The final washing at this point needs up to 90% less water than without using masking tapes; the little waste water goes through a two stages gravity tank, and then through a 20 micron water filter, capturing most of the impurities left.
5 - Garments sourcing
We will always offer you garments from vendors whose production methods are certified and that use certified recycled and organic raw materials, with no compromises on the garments quality and durability. We test the products we offer you to make sure they can last in time.
You can learn more about our printing process by visiting our studio on appointment or by taking part to one of our workshops.
For more info you can write to info@groovink.com, call +358 44 08 22 953 or fill up the message form here.