How well do you vent your shop? It’s an important question which can immediately be followed by another important question . . . even if you have a fancy venting system, how well are you maintaining it to ensure optimum performance?
Venting is raised from time to time in discussions about the alleged toxicity of t-shirts. This kind of discussion is not going away, instead, it’s going to gain momentum as the debates about the environment, climate change and sustainability rage on. In all of these discussions, garments and the materials and chemicals used to decorate them, seem to come up frequently. As major handlers and decorators of garments, screen printers can’t ignore this issue.
In articles with titles such as “Your cotton T-shirt might be poisoning you”, “Is your T-shirt toxic?”, and “Could your sportswear be toxic?”, to name just a few, the writers allude to formaldehyde, antimony, PVC, chlorine, and other chemicals and materials known to be hazardous to human health.
So what is a responsible, caring textile screen printer to do? Well, you can be careful about the sourcing of your materials but, admittedly, you are pretty much at the mercy of the manufacturers. Relying on their assurances and labels is about all you can do when it comes to the toxicity of garments and other materials but you can also vent really well. It’s in the dryer where a lot of the toxic stuff burns off so for the sake of everyone in your shop . . . vent properly.