DANVERS, Mass.—Inkcups Now Corporation has obtained additional certification from Bureau Veritas for Sapphire SB printing ink for tagless neck labels, certifying that the SB ink is free of heavy metals, restricted phthalates, PVC, azo dyes and other restricted substrates.  -Read more-

GREENFIELD, Mass.—According to the online database of companies certified to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), approximately 1,500 companies with a total of 2,811 facilities in 55 countries around the world were certified to the organic apparel and textile standard in 2009, an almost 40 percent increase from 2008.

SHARON, Mass.—Charles River Apparel will partner with Circle of Hope to aid the Haiti relief efforts. Circle of Hope is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving people in need. It currently houses two individual philanthropic programs: The Greater Boston Community Exchange and the International Medical Team. Circle of Hope’s International Medical Team is preparing to send members to Haiti to provide medical support, and Charles River comes to its aid by allowing it to use the company’s warehouse space as a staging/storage area.

Print Architect Mike Beckman displays his award winning "Zeugma" print, the faithful reproduction of a Byzantine mosaic from a region of Turkey that may soon be flooded by the da

The Burton care label (see top inset) is so real looking it is irresistable not to try and peel it off the shirt: while the Burton run stitch (below) so closely simulate

In previous installments, we’ve focused on designing T-shirt art that is both printable and good looking. Many artists and designers can create art that looks good printed on paper or on a computer monitor, but they simply don’t know the realities of printing on T-shirts. A few mouse clicks and what looks interesting or even beautiful on the monitor becomes a nightmare for the printer, may waste hundreds of dollars in set-up time on press, and may end up a revolting mess when it finally hits the garment.

As this series is dedicated to a new sort of designer with the ability to engineer T-shirt art through a knowledge of printing on garments based on hands-on experience, we focus this month on Print Architect Brian Lessard.

Charles River Apparel (Sharon, Mass.) continues its nation-wide expansion, hiring Tom Schlegel to exclusively represent the company in the N.J. area. Schlegel previously worked as an account manager for Ferguson Enterprises, a large wholesaler of HVAC equipment.

TREVOSE, Pa.—BroderBros. Co. adds several fleeceⁱ styles to its Total Team Guarantee (TTG) selection of Gildan and Jerzees products and adds Hanes and Outer Banks styles to the TTG selection. The three-prong TTG program includes a price match guarantee, order fulfillment and packing guarantee and in-stock guarantee for its Alpha, Broder and NES divisions. New styles will be added to the in-stock guarantee, which previously applied to only the top three Gildan products in select colors. The in-stock guarantee states that if the company is out of stock on any applicable items, the customer will receive a five percent off coupon that can be used on any order. Visit www.broderbros.com/guarantee.

Charles River Apparel (Sharon, Mass.) hires Thomas Graham Lovelace as account executive for the company. Lovelace will be the exclusive company representative covering Ga., N.C. and S.C. He brings more than 13 years of apparel sales experience working for Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta and Broder Bros. Co.