We just took delivery of our first batch of t-shirts, and we are really quite chuffed with how they've turned out!

The shirts are vibrantly coloured, and the screen print is crisp and clear (they are much nicer in real life than they are on a computer screen!). They are soft to the touch and fit the human body nicely.... click any of the images above for a closer peek...

Female S/M/L shirts in hawaii blue, kelly green, ice blue, hot pink.
Male S/M/L shirts in kelly green, ice blue, red.

The shirts are £9... a bit more expensive than originally intended, but that's because we've used the most ethical and environmentally friendly shirts we could find and afford (Continental Clothing). I'm sure you all know about sweat shops and child labour, but in doing our research we found out so much more fucked up stuff that related to the cotton industry.

CC is certified by the Oeko-Tex 100 Standard, Class I. The Oeko-Tex 100 Standard is a guarantee of the safety of textiles and dyestuffs to human health, and also means CC take care in adopting environmentally friendly production methods throughout manufacturing. Industrial greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced through low-impact (low emission) agriculture and carbon neutral industrial manufacturing, achieved through use of clean renewable energy from wind turbines and solar power.

The carbon footprint of one black t-shirt can be up to 8kg of CO2, but a shirt can way only 173g and a hooded sweatshirt can weigh only 696g - the weight of the greenhouse gas released can be up to sixty times heavier than the weight of the mercandise itself! In the UK alone, over 20 million tour shirts are sold every year, which equates to roughly 180,000 ton of CO2 emissions. According to the UK Music Industry Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report of 2007, CO2 emissions from t-shirts alone contribute more than the total emissions from music venues, generators, trucking, tour busses and offices put together!

It can take more than 20,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton, equivalent to a single T-shirt and pair of jeans. CC work in a region that receives up to 95% of its water from monsoon rains. This reduces the need for large-scale irrigation projects normally associated with conventional cotton farming, which often deprive local villages of scarce water resources by draining lakes and rivers. The processing of dye effluent takes place in a controlled closed-loop purification system that uses treatment ponds, sand filtration and reverse osmosis to convert the wastewater into clean water.

CC have a transparent manufacturing supply chain, audited by the independent Fair Wear Foundation. This ensures no sweatshops, no child labour, and good workers rights (above minimum wage, legal overtime hours at 1 1/2 pay, implemented health and safety regulations, rights to open association and collective bargaining, free transport to/from the workplace, etc). Farmers, agricultural and factory workers are protected by stringent social criteria, total traceability across the entire supply chain, and also by the ban on the use of poisonous pesticides and defoliants which can severely damage the health of farmers and families. CC guarantee that they do not use cotton from Uzbekistan (one of the major cotton producers of the world) while the use of forced child labour is endemic. This follows the recommendations of the Environmental Justice Foundation 'Clean Cotton Campaign'. The complete traceability of their cotton allows CC to make this guarantee.

You might be interested to know that companies such as American Apparel advertise themselves as 'sweatshop free', but fail to mention their somewhat aggressive anti-union activities (or that their owner has been taken to court numerous times for sexual harrassment).

CC do not transport goods by air. Goods are packaged in biodegradable PVC-free packaging, and in 100% recycled cardboard boxes.

Visit continentalclothing.com for more information