Pier 32

This blog has moved

2010-04-14T11:12:00.001+01:00

This blog is now located at http://blog.pier32.co.uk/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://blog.pier32.co.uk/feeds/posts/default.

Ethical clothing from strength to strength

2010-02-26T10:48:00.005Z

As we head into the teenies (and the decade hopefully will not turn out to be known by that name!) it's useful to look around the market place to see further sign of the market for ethical clothing developing, and for pointers on whether abuses in the clothing industry are on the way out.

The promotional clothing market itself is likely to follow trends rather than set them. To see where the future heading it's the likes of independent fashion clothing brands that are likely to be setting the pace.

For example, Fashion United reports the trade fair for independent brands, Margin, in London attracting major international retailers alongside the leading independents you would expect to see. Major stores attending Margin included House of Fraser, Harvey Nichols, Liberty, Top Shop, Next and Fenwick, as well as online retailers such as ASOS and Coggles. The article particularly highlights an increase in these visiting stores interested in fair-trade and organic clothing with correspondingly more ethical fashion labels such as Frank & Faith showcasing their products.

In fact Frank & Faith said "we may be an Eco fashion brand but we want our ethics to be the norm not the exception.... .....we were opened up to great boutiques, buyers and press who just loved us because we are a great indie fashion brand with soul".

We think that's a great quote because there's a danger with ethical stances that it's just the marketing man speaking. Pier 32 likes people with soul....

The main London fair specialising in ethical clothing is Pure, that's some way off yet but their main sponsor, the Ethical fashion Forum is busy around the year and on Twitter they provide a constant steam of titbits (my preferred name for tweets) highlighting the progress being made in the industry.

Something that caught my eye was the reference to a blog article by Jamie Burdett reporting on the DEFRA Sustainable Clothing Roadmap conference and shown there, a new machine in production soon to new machine to separate waste textile and create new thread even from short fibre denim, apparently prompting "the man from Tesco to say, 'we'll buy that from you tomorrow!'".

Unfortunately there are some who do not seem to get the point with the minister from Defra quoted as saying, 'lovely to see so many brands here today, although one is clearly missing, Primark'.

Yesterday's news alert from Business Trading Ethically unfortunately finds it necessary to highlight the other end of the spectrum, referring a new report by the Environmental Justice Foundation labelling Uzbekistan a "Slave Nation" - the government there "continues to lie to the international community while routinely compelling hundreds of thousands of children as labourers in the country's annual cotton harvest". We reported on the situation in Uzbekistan two years ago - it seems that little has changed.

On the theme that every News Alert should have a silver lining, BTE also reported that Ben & Jerry's would be 100% sourced from fair trade certified products by the end of 2013. Can't wait!

T-shirt printing for music festivals

2010-01-29T08:51:00.009Z

We've been pushing forward with our contacts in the music industry recently - the conciousness over ethical t-shirt printing decisions is as big here as anywhere and we want to be at the forefront of people's thoughts when it comes to purchasing decisions because, putting it simply, we think that our t-shirt printing provides the best combination of value with ethics in the business.

This is the new look of our sister site tshirtprinters.uk.com - aimed squarely at this market.

Already, in the middle of this wet winter, the music airwaves are buzzing with news of who's going to be appearing at which music festival this summer. One thing you can be sure of is that Pier 32 are going to be there in the mix. For example, last year our client Hotbox Events ran volunteer teams of people of between 450-500 at the Reading and Leeds festivals, and 250 at the Latitude festival in Suffolk. Every volunteer was given a Pier 32 crew t-shirt, and each member of staff a Pier 32 t-shirt and fleece.

Hotbox Events works with Festival Republic recruiting and managing staff and volunteers for festivals pulling together Campsite Assistance Teams (CATs) and Helpful Arena Teams (HATs) at the Reading, Leeds and Latitude Music Festivals since 2003.

The CATs and HATs work in the campsites and arena, helping the festival goers to get the best out of their weekend by providing directions, helping to carry belongings and putting up tents, reporting back regarding any problems and working with fire safety, medical and security teams as required.

In 2009 Hotbox was looking for a new supplier to print the t-shirts and embroider the fleeces. Hotbox wanted to go ethical with both material and production, although they also needed to stick as close to the 2008 budget as possible. This was not on the face of it an easy task but they made the right decision in contacting Pier 32 and our broad range of ethical t-shirt options fitted the bill precisely.

Mark Hatchard from Hotbox Events said:

"Pier 32 worked tirelessly with us in 2009 - it wasn't an easy task for them as we needed numerous logos in specific colours and shirts and fleeces in batches of very specific sizes. Pier 32 managed to produce the orders to budget, and the shirts and fleeces arrived on time and looked great! We really appreciate the effort and will be back for more in 2010!"

You can find out more about Hotbox Events (including how to apply to work at a festival!) through their website: www.HotboxEvents.com. Here's an image of the teams in action...

Hotbox Events is a trading name of Hotbox Studios Ltd.

All the best for the Christmas season and the New Year!

2009-12-24T16:36:00.004Z

Not to mention new decade.....

There's not a lovingly printed t-shirt in sight in this image but we like it, captured earlier this year in our village base of Thames Ditton by yours truly!

Envision - The Truth about Youth

2009-12-16T15:01:00.006Z

Envision is a national education charity that provides hands on support to young people in schools and colleges in the Uk on issues such as citizenship, sustainable development and help for their local communities. They do this through organising practical projects that will have a positive impact on these young people, their schools and communities.

We were asked by Envision to produce t-shirts for the launch event of their Truth About Youth campaign, itself entitled The Kick Off because it was held at Villa Park, the home of Aston Villa in Birmingham.

Over 300 volunteers attended the event, representing a larger network of 800 young people in Birmingham who are giving up an hour a week for the nine months to develop their own youth-led community action projects. These will tackle issues ranging from youth stereotypes to climate change - the former issue giving rise to the Truth About Youth title.

There was an important networking element to the event - all about encouraging young people and adults to actively engage with each other on important issues such as sustainability, community cohesion, social justice and climate change. The Kick Off was just the first of many other events, activities and programmes that will give a voice to the views and opinions of the young people of Birmingham. Over the course of the 2 year campaign the Truth About Youth will aim to support over 700 young people to deal positively with the challenge of growing up in an environment where there is all too often a mistrust of youth.

In the photo participants had just received our t-shirts and look well pleased with what they've got (we did not set this shot up, honest!). The ethics that go into out t-shirt printing from source to the environmentally friendly printing processes mean that the t-shirts match the principles of the campaign.

Find out more about Envision at their website.

Great Gorillas! 2009 update....

2009-11-26T10:02:00.003Z

It was about a year ago when we first featured one of our more quirky clients, the Gorilla Organization who promote the annual Great Gorilla Run through the streets of London.

No client buys as many oversized T-shirts as the Gorilla Organisation does. This is where the XXL size comes into its own, having to fit over a gorilla costume worn by a participant who is often lean - and definitely fit - to complete a 7km run and entertain bemused and amused passers by on the streets of the City of London.

Last year we focussed on the race itself, but the race itself has to be promoted throughout the year to ensure that as many participants as possible run to raise sponsorship. This means that gorilla volunteers are out in their gorilla suits and our Great Gorilla Run T-shirts earlier in the year signing up new runners.

The most successful promotion of the run centred on the 4th plinth at Trafalgar Square. Yes, a supporter of the Gorilla Organisation commandeered the fourth plinth for an hour as part of Anthony Gormley's 100 day living monument "One and Other". The race participant Martin Payne took to the plinth in gorilla costume and Tshirt while dozens of gorilla suited supporters did a silent disco around the plinth, all wearing the Great Gorilla Run T. The organisers not only raised the profile of the event through the video coverage (see here) but also sold many Tshirts on the day to onlookers at Trafalgar Square, many of whom joined in the disco.

This year over 600 participants turned out for the Great Gorilla Run on 26 September. Many had been inspired by Martin's performance and the silent gorilla disco dancers of Trafalgar Square.

A new look at TShirtPrinters.UK.com

2009-11-26T09:27:00.004Z

Many familiar with the Pier 32 site will not necessarily be aware of our separate TShirt printing site at TShirtPrinters.UK.com. That site gets a mention in our blog because it has just undergone a design revamp aimed at bringing our ethical options on promotional clothing to the attention of a generally younger audience involved in the music and events industries, and the student audience in general.

Whether involved in the promotion of bands, organisation of an event or festival, running a campaign or simply promoting a student society, young people are acutely aware of ethical issues in the clothing industry but also face financial constraints. The new site will communicate with these people and present the options that Pier32 has available in a punchy youth targetted design.

The site will carry some youth oriented lines not available at the Pier 32 site. So if you are looking to promote your band or event, check out the new TShirtPrinters.UK.com.

Looking forward to Autumn

2009-09-01T09:24:00.003+01:00

It's been a while since our last blog update - the summer holiday period and other diversions (related to this business I should add!) have meant that the blog had taken second place to these other activities. But here we are at the keyboard again and what we want to do now is update you of some exciting developments that are around the corner....

We've been looking at new ranges of clothing to offer to expand our offerings to more specific industries and groups. In particular we have been impressed with the new customisable clothing that Kustom Kit have in their new ranges and we will shortly be presenting three new collections aimed at:

The Hospitality Industry - a range of clothing aimed at bars, restaurants, hotels and the catering sector. Christened 'Bargear', comfortable and stylish tailoring to ensure that your staff remain presentable, looking smart and cool in the hot house atmoshere that can often arise in these industries.

Sports Clubs - here Kustom Kit bring 'Gamegear'. Whether you run a health club or a sports team this is a new range of clothing in 'Cooltex' which looks to bring style, comfort and value into this market.

Corporate Wear - from more formal shirts to 'smart casual' the new Corporate wear collection is aimed at teams operating in public facing roles in a host of industries, with 'non-iron' cotton among the options on offer.

As you might expect from a company whose range Pier 32 chooses to promote, Kustom Kit operate under a comprehensive Ethical Code.

We are also looking forward to putting on line the new catalogue of clothing from Starworld, our Egyptian based supplier of ethical promotional clothing with WRAP certification and a great value organic range too. Starworld continues to be the best value out there for organisations whose buying considerations include price, quality and the welfare of the worker along the supply chain.

Finally, we are looking to carry out a revamp of our website. We've been listening to comments that, for example, t-shirts can be found under no less than 3 headings in our drop down menus. What we aim to do is have easy links for t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, kids wear, Hi Viz gear and many other items as well as the new kustom Kit ranges. Behind these links you will find our most popular lines of promotional clothing, whether the source is Starworld, the Continental fashion range or the many other options in our 'Clothing Catalogue'. There will also be Ethical pen pictures of the suppliers to hand with further links to our Ethical Brand Profiles in this blog. The aim, together with our fast, responsive "Quick Quote" service, always backed up with our friendly telephone advice, is to make the whole process of buying custom promotional clothing - ethically - as easy as possible for our customers.

Tomorrow is Earth Day - and a great idea from WRAP

2009-04-21T13:54:00.004+01:00

WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production) - a very important organisation to Pier 32 in our efforts to make sure that we bring our customers ethically produced clothing - announced its support for Earth Day (tomorrow, 22nd April) by offering all its staff members a half-day leave to work on the environmental project of their choice.

"In our constant communication with facility owners, buyers, trade associations, governments, labour leaders, relevant NGOs and consumers, it is clear that the term 'sustainability' for the environment and the planet means action by us all", WRAP's President and CEO, Steve Jesseph said. "To support Earth Day, our offices will close at noon, April 22, to allow all staff members to work on the environmental project of their choice. We encourage all WRAP-certified facilities, and all those with a concern for the environment, to actively support Earth Day 2009."

By the way, "The Green Generation" is the theme for Earth Day 2009, campaigning on three fronts:

1. A carbon-free future based on renewable energy that will end our common dependency on fossil fuels, including coal.
2. An individual's commitment to responsible, sustainable consumption.
3. Creation of a new green economy that lifts people out of poverty by creating millions of quality green jobs and transforms the global education system into a green one.

Want to know more about Earth Day?

Meanwhile, in looking at this news on the WRAP website we also noted that WRAP is developing an enhanced environmental program called "WRAPe" scheduled to launch this year. We look forward to being able to report more.

Our client - Quad Safari

2009-04-06T16:01:00.004+01:00

We've featured many of our clients that use our clothing to promote events, but here's something a little different in that Quad Safari not only kit out their own people with Hoodies and T-Shirts supplied by Pier 32 but also sell them on to the public as fashion clothing.

Quad Safari sell their clothing on their site and through their online shop. Visit the shop to see the huge importance placed on the fact that these garments are manufactured by Starworld in Egypt to the exacting WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production) standards. The clothing's environmental credentials with Oeko-Tex 100 certification are also very important.

Charles Barry of Quad Safari told us:

"Pier 32 has been great to work with; everything from the help in designing the artwork, to delivering on time, they have been professional from start to finish. Quad Safari chose Pier 32 above the rest, because we demand high quality garments that are hard wearing, affordable and ethically sourced. The Starworld clothing is considerably better quality than other personalised clothing that you see."

If you, like Quad Safari, want people to go on wearing the clothing because of the promotional benefit it brings then we think that our design service is just what you need helping to turn a potential promotional throwaway into something that you'd want to wear again and again. With the WRAP and Oeko-Tex certifications, and their hard wearing characteristics, Starworld garments also provide that all important "keep me, I'm special" feeling that you get when you are given or buy something with a little more value than the crowd.

Quad Safari are happy that they are getting clothing that will be of long term promotional benefit to them; contact us at Pier 32 to find out how we can help you.

Met nicked! (our idea)

2009-04-01T14:32:00.006+01:00

With our background supplying a range of charities and groups such as Stop the War Coalition, Global Justice and Student Action for Refugees, it was no surprise when we were approached by the Met Police for advice on the best clothing to wear to police today's demonstrations in the City of London to coincide with the G20 global summit.

The brief was simple - to come up with clothing that would minimise the risk of violence so that the whole day would go off as peacefully as possible.

We sent our design team to New Scotland Yard and there, in consultation with some of the front line officers, we came up with our masterplan. The police we argued, were as impacted by global warming and the collapse of the banks as many protesters. By avoiding wearing riot gear and dressing in our simple fluorescent t-shirts - and their regular hats of course - they would be able to stand out from the crowd and demonstrate their intent to avoid any nastiness. Further, we suggested that the t-shirts should carry slogans to demonstrate their affinity with many of the views of the protesters - slogans such as:

Bring peace to the streets - hug a masked hoodie
My patrol car's a Prius, my other car is a police horse
I bank with RBS, and
It's a fair cop - Fair Trade Now!

We also suggested that as many of the protesters would be carrying flowers, the police should carry daffodils rather than truncheons.

Those of you looking at the scenes today can see our disappointment that our idea did not get carried through. But they did nick some of our ideas! At the time of writing there is no sign of riot gear and all the police are wearing fluorescent yellow!

But we don't mind, right now things are relatively peaceful - and let's hope it stays that way.

High tech meets fair trade

2009-03-27T17:32:00.003Z

We could not help but notice this article "Ethical Sourcing - Securing Values as well as Value in the Supply Chain" in our travels around the web. It seems that the revolution in the clothing industry, with fair trade, eco friendly and organic products taking up more and more shelf space, has been spotted by those outside the industry in the consulting speak worlds of ERP and PDM.

For those not in the know, that's Enterprise Resource Planning and Product Development Management. Wiser now? Maybe. Let's put it another way. The writer of the article would have you think that the romantic vision of the buyer from a fashion store getting on a tiny single prop plane to some remote Indonesian island to sign a contact to supply garments to the UK high street on the verandah of a colonial style 19th century home is well and truly dead. This vision is replaced, yes, by a computer which at one end measures what's shifting off the shelves and at the other end evaluates the supplier options in terms of ethical credentials and price to automatically order just the right amount of clothing from the right supplier at the best price and move those garments to hit the shelves in teh High Street just before they become empty.

"User configurable fields allow you to input information regarding aspects such as a supplier's child labour avoidance, management accountability, wages and working hours. From this data Syscom PDM calculates a colour-coded ethical trading rating for each supplier".

It goes further in trying to make sure that big companies are not cought out my the odd rogue supplier:

"Having software in place that provides.... traceability is crucial. Choose a system that offers multi-dimensional item coding.... allows goods and materials to be traced through variable sourcing, manufacturing and finishing processes, creating transparency across the supply chain".

It will be some time before Pier 32 installs an ERP system. We'll be using good old human contact for a while yet. But we're fascinated to see how changes in the clothing industry have been noticed outside that industry and the importance of ethical issues spreads to suppliers not normally associated with high ethical awareness.

Ethical production spreading in Asia

2009-03-20T13:45:00.005Z

With much of the globe's clothing production being concentrated in Asia it's good to see signs that many ethical and environmental values are being focussed on by many producers in Asia. And this, it seems, is a reaction to the general trend in the USA and Europe towards a more ethical outlook rather than as the direct result of Western companies intervening to force production. It's in anticipation of the market moving that way.

We particularly noted this trend in an AFP article "Eco Concerns Slowly Turning Asia's Textiles Green" which to note a few points:

At the Paris Texworld textile trade fair it was noted how in China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, South Korea and Taiwan the production of natural fibres and organic yarns under fair trade practices and clean processing had been subject to a sharp increase
Eco-Friendly is the buzz word - it apparently adds 15% to production costs but this is more and more seen to be a price worth paying
Companies are gearing up towards increased production of organic cotton and hemp
Even in China the message is hitting home

Producers accept the increased cost of eco-friendly production - but a worry is the additional cost of accreditation without which eco-friendly claims are viewed with submission.

Here at Pier 32, aside from the even more stringent organic certifications, it is the Oeko-Tex environmental standard you will find on much of the clothing we sell. Look out for it when ordering your next printed t-shirts.

Gospel with no limits

2009-03-18T11:55:00.008Z

Every year the King's College London University, Gospel Music Society put on an end of year concert to showcase all the songs that the choir has learnt and all the dances that their dance troupe has practiced. They also invite the local
schools that have participated on a volunteering project to perform all in the aid of raising money for a charity.

The aim of the society is to spread the good news of the Jesus Christ on Campus through Gospel music and this event is the centrepiece of their year.

When they were looking for a company to print T-shirts for their concert, they found Pier 32. They were very excited at the prospect of using us - not only were we extremely competitive in our prices but also they liked our environmentally friendly and ethical credentials. They were thrilled even more when they found out that we could sponsor them!

They were pleased that while we were volunteering and raising money for our charity this year in purchasing our concert T-shirts we were also choosing an environmentally friendly company.

But it went further - they worked with our design team to get the T-shirts, bearing the "No Limits" slogan and artwork, right and felt that Pier 32 really brought their design to life - they were exceptionally pleased with our end product.

Judging by the photo from the performance itself, they and their audience had a great night!

Recycle your plastic, wear an EcoCap!

2009-03-09T10:26:00.006Z

Yes it's a baseball cap, but a short time ago, the material from which it is constructed might have been helping refresh you when you needed a cool drink.....

It's our newest line in eco-friendly clothing, the EcoCap is constructed from recycled PET plastic bottles, the sort that contains bottled water or fizzy drinks and which would take thousands of years to decompose if sent to landfill. You may imagine that it is simply recycled into more plastic bottles but, no, it can undergo a metamorphosis into something you wear on your head!

To the right is a great illustration of what goes into the recycling process. You might imagine that labels etc are carefully removed before the plastic is processed but in fact the bottles are shredded whole and then processed to separate undesirable elements and produce pure 'PET flakes'. From this point the PET flakes are used as the raw material for a range of products that would otherwise be made of polyester, and that includes clothing.

About three-quarters of the PET flakes are used to make polyester fabric products. Much of the remainder is extruded into plastic sheet to construct containers, or be compounded for moulding applications. For clothing, the PET flakes are spun into yarn which is then woven into cloth before becoming a baseball cap to carry your printed or embroidered custom logo.

Go to our regular site to see more examples of this new recycled eco-friendly baseball cap which is available in two styles and a huge range of colours.

London Fashion Week goes all eco....

2009-02-25T15:47:00.004Z

My attention was grabbed by an article in the Guardian (reproduced here) which featured a whole slew of names showing their latest eco-friendly and/or fair trade designs on the catwalk this week. You could be excused for getting the impression that the whole British fashion scene has gone ethical (it hasn't) but nevertheless the breadth of designers showing their ethical fashions is truly encouraging.

Whether in a "eco-collective" such as the Conscious Designers Collective (it would be rude to suggest that London Fashion Week designers by nature spend most of their time unconscious) or Esthetica (a London based sustainable fashion initiative) or a snazzy underwear producer "Pants to Poverty" or ultimate recycled fashion in the shape of Junky Styling, there's clearly a lot going on.

In amidst all this, Defra (no not a fashion label, it stands for Deparment For Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, but you knew that didn't you?) launched its new Sustainable Clothing Action Plan.

"The Sustainable Clothing Roadmap has brought together over 300 organisations, from high street retailers, to designers and textile manufacturers to battle the environmental impacts of 'throw away fashion'. Companies and some of the biggest names in fashion have signed up to take actions to make a significant difference to the environmental footprint and social inequalities which blight some of the production and retail processes of consumer fashion."

It's good to see Continental Clothing (our supplier of organic t-shirts) and featuring prominently in a separate Guardian article on this initiative. Of course there's a slew of other bigger names in there, like M&S, Tesco and Sainsbury - they'll no doubt not be stopping selling throwaway clothing but at least will be featuring more prominently lines which are ethically produced and will last more than two washes.....

Ethical brands - getting the word out, or keeping things close to the chest?

2009-02-17T12:42:00.004Z

We've been contacted by a UK University student union anxious to make sure that their student societies are armed with the information they need to make ethical choices on tshirt printing and other promotional clothing.

They already read the ethical profiles in our blog and find them useful in the decision making process, with different societies having differing needs. However they've made us aware that some of the unanswered questions that we raise leave them a little nervous about certain suppliers and they have even done a little investigating themselves to try and get to answers.

In the case of Fruit of the Loom, they contacted the company to ask about getting a copy of their Ethical Policy and were told that they don't hand it out to customers. With Fruit of the Loom exercising their right to silence, and the unanswered question against them in our original article further investigation was thought appropriate. What has become clear is that their new giant production plant (based at Skhirat, Morocco) is still under construction. When it is complete the facility (producing fabric from raw cotton) should be the biggest of its kind in Africa. The issue for the University Union is whether the company can now be trusted to be ethical or not.

To recap, Fruit of the Loom got bad publicity because of its dismissal of union officials in Morocco in 2000/2001. That was before the company was taken over by Berkshire Hathaway. Since then there has been apparently no similar bad publicity connected with its operations. The vertically integrated company means that Fruit of the Loom should be able to keep control over working conditions all along the supply chain - with the exception of the raw cotton production which is out of their hands.

Even if Fruit of the Loom keep their cards close to their chest, one thing we thought one could expect from a Berkshire Hathaway company would be close adherence to the laws of the countries in which they operate and their own "Code of Business Conduct and Ethics". An issue in 2001 was that local government was strongly anti union and may have permitted Fruit of the Loom to act in contravention of Moroccan law and their requirement to comply with International Labour Conventions that it had ratified.

The new plant is in a different location, and Fruit of the Loom should be expected to act to different standards now. Even if we are not sure explicitly what those standards are, the lack of bad publicity is good news. At the same time, unions in Morocco are actively pressurising the government to enforce a new labour code put in place in 2005 - however, it seems from this article from 2007, local governments are often flouting the code. But at least there is a new code and the signs are (although I can't be sure) that the 2000/2001 issues would not have arisen under this new code.

One has to contrast the lack of communication of Fruit of the Loom with the relative openness of Gildan. Both these vertically integrated compies have had union problems in overseas countries in the past. However Gildan have worked quite publicly with outside groups to move on. Under the skin there may be little difference in how individual employees are treated, but we just don't know.

Platform2 to Ghana, Peru, India... and Aberdeen

2009-02-09T17:24:00.006Z

We continue to trace Pier32 printed tshirts to far flung parts of the planet and here we see them being worn by volunteers from the UK charity Platform2 which as best illustrated through its website MyPlatform2.com is responsible for sending adventurous volunteers to Ghana, South Africa, Peru, India or Malawi to help aid or relief operation.

Unlike some other aid programmes, it's aimed at people who wouldn't otherwise get the chance to volunteer abroad, so it's fully-funded and free for the volunteer. Platform2 is fully funded by the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID) and is run by a consortium of charities, Christian Aid, Islamic Relief and BUNAC.

One of the important features of Platform2 is that the volunteers are asked to relate the benefits and experiences of their trip in their community - through music, art, film, photography - whatever the volunteer may be into.

Here is a video of Platform2 volunteers sporting their Pier 32 tshirts going from Glasgow to Aberdeen to promote Platform 2 to young people in another part of Scotland.

The tshirts, which carry the simple but cutting slogan "Some people wait for change to happen", often get worn by volunteers in the field but are especially intended to help promote Platform2 in the UK. One is given to every volunteer at their initial briefing day and they take them to the country they travel to. When they come back, they attend a 3-day residential course where they discuss and are given ideas on how they're going to express their experiences of working in countries where poverty is so widespread and what they're going to do to promote Platform2. When they promote the scheme, they always wear their t-shirts.

We think it's all in all a great concept and are proud that we can supply ethically sound products that work so well to support Platform2 both in the UK and abroad.

I "heart" Y "heart" Pier32

2009-02-03T08:40:00.003Z

The city of York has a thriving art scene - our client Special Day Films had the excellent idea that it needs something of a collective badge for this talent to wear and promote both art and York (and especially art in York!) to inspire more people from all backgrounds to get involved in exercising their creative side.

The I "heart" York t-shirt, printed on fair trade clothing supplied by Starworld of Africa, was perfect for their needs. The pricing hit the spot, yes, but very importantly for the artistic community, the fact that the t-shirts are fairly traded, Starworld being accredited by WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production), means that the artists wearing the shirts can make a bigger statement that extends beyond the boundaries of York.

In the image above the artist Ian Parkin makes his statement. While the concept is in its infancy, a website is already there to show off some of the talent and allow the people of York to grab a t-shirt and be part of the action.

Kids' City

2009-01-14T17:50:00.007Z

Kids' City is a children's charity providing out of school play, activities and childcare in disadvantaged areas in South London. It was started by a bunch of parents and school staff in 1995 and now it works in 16 primary schools before school, after-school and during school holidays.

The organisation is a social enterprise so it operates like a business but looks to make a social change, not a financial gain. It makes a charge to parents who can afford to pay and has a range of ways for families to get involved, for example by exchanging their time as volunteers so their kids come along for free. Kids' City has a wide volunteering programme and runs its own training centre and through this it assists unemployed people, particularly mums wanting to get into work, to get play or sports qualifications.

Kids' City is a community effort with young people from 14 up to 70 offering their help in all sorts of ways. Even the children in the schemes help out with giving ideas, deciding what toys to buy and designing activities programmes.

Many adults forget that in a relatively short time, the sorts of places they used to play in as children have disappeared through heavy traffic, housing developments and general fear of crime. The streets of London are much tougher places for today's children but organisations like Kids' City offer alternatives to computer games, tv and the anti-social activities that can follow through boredom and perceived disconnection from society. The work that Kids' City does builds individual's self esteem and perhaps most importantly, good communications skills, sense of purpose and promotes a real sense of belonging.

The positive impact as judged by the local community can be measured in that over 220 local volunteers have come forward to help the full and part time workers employed by Kids' City in the running of their centres.

There are several things that Kids' City like about Pier 32. One is that we've been able to deliver the clothes they need for their staff without compromising on their ethos to do good in every way they can. There's no point in helping children today and harming children of tomorrow or children in other countries!

Secondly, over the years they've gone from ordering relatively small amounts of our cheaper lines to today's comprehensive staff uniform of t-shirts, fleeces and outdoor coats. They feel they've always received excellent service including advice about robustness, the 'right' colour yellow, and we've been very happy to liaise directly with their designers (also volunteers) in non-standard ways. They feel that their staff look good and the clothes meet their needs for functionality and practicality. And as a busy medium sized charity, they often need things in a hurry and despite this they note that "there has never been a hint of frustration in Gerry's voice" when they ring!

Of course, Kids' City are price conscious and annually review costs. This tells us that Pier 32's clothing is very competitively priced despite the benefit they get from the added value of the ethical sourcing and the excellent service. Kids' City continue to be glad to do business with Pier 32 and you can see examples of our successful partnership in their annual report on the home page at www.kidscity.org.uk.

Why 2009 can be better!

2008-12-31T11:51:00.005Z

Here we are in the dying hours of 2008, many people will be look back thinking that this was not a great year, how times were so much better earlier in the decade and how 2009 will simply be worse on all fronts.

But 2008 could also be looked at as being the great cleanser - the year that people behind the easy money got found out and the rest of us got educated about the fact that if there is a fast buck to be made then almost inevitably, in the long term, there is some cost. Unfortunately the cost has been borne by many people, not necessarily those who made the fast buck in the first place.

2009 will be a year in which those who believe in ethical ways of conducting life - and business - can come forward with confidence and make a stand against those who present the more enticing, exciting options. Of course many businesses need to innovative and take risks - and there the risk takers will get their way but the new ethic of risk taking should be that the risk taker sees the losses when it goes wrong and there is little or no 'collateral damage'. The age of banks taking risks in such a way that every one of us sees the after effect when the quest for the fast buck goes wrong must be behind us.

While Gordon Brown might not turn out to be the person who saves the world, in 2009 there will be the great new hope for the planet - in the shape of Barack Obama. His ethics and idealism seem to be just what we need - the issue is whether he will be strong enough to overcome the entrenched interests of those who got us into this mess. For those who might otherwise look forward to 2009 with nothing but pessimism, Obama presents the potential for a new ethical outlook from the top and exciting changes that could touch us all.

Things might be tough along the way but 2009 will be the year of the new clean slate, a year of opportunity for us all to bring the excesses under control and put in place firm foundations for future growth.

A very merry Christmas!

2008-12-22T18:11:00.005Z

We're about to print our last t-shirts for this year and we do so with the feeling of quiet contentment that goes with completing a job well done - and also a feeling of relief and exhilaration at being able to forget about it all for a few days spent with families and friends.

Fortunately the team here do not have far to go. No long drives across the width or height of the UK in order to be with those closest to us - we're able to pop out to the local and have a final drink together before saying our farewells and meeting up again in the new year.

At the pub we might chat about our achievements this year, not just in terms of our growth but also in terms of being able to do so on the back of continuing to promote the ethical and environmental causes in which we believe. We might chat about how the recession might affect the promotional clothing industry and the steps that we can take so that next year we do as well as this year. We might consider what new technologies might come along to help us meet these challenges.

On the other hand, in the quiet knowledge that we've been dealing with these all issues in the workplace, what we'll probably do is what we normally do when we get to the pub - talk complete and utter bo!!ocks about music, football and anything else that comes to mind except Strictly Come Dancing!

With that profound thought we pass our readers - whether customers past or future - or simply readers - our very best wishes that the festive season brings joy and happiness to you and your loved ones!

The smartest young scientists wear Pier 32!!

2008-12-15T14:51:00.003Z

It's too easy to think that Pier 32 is just about custom promotional t-shirts. But that's far from the full truth - we supply all sorts of promotional clothing, from outerwear to vests. You can also have us customise accessories such as tote bags and, in the case of children, bibs. Which is where another of our customers, the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development comes in.

The Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development (CBCD) was founded at Birkbeck College, University of London, in 1998. It has grown steadily and is now internationally recognised as one of the leading centres of its kind. Its mission is to investigate relations between postnatal brain development and changes in perceptual, cognitive, and linguistic abilities from birth through childhood and late adulthood.

For adult volunteers, behavioural studies usually take up to 30 minutes and involve watching sequences of pictures or listening to sounds and making judgments about them. With such experiments the Centre study the response time and accuracy of participants to clarify the thought processes (such as attention or working memory) involved in the task.

Many studies at the Centre use EEG (electroencephalography). This is a safe and non-invasive method of studying brain electrical activity through a net of sensors placed on a participant's head. The sensors pick up tiny electrical signals that can then be processed to learn more about the pattern of brain activity during the experimental task, (for example judging the similarity of 2 pictures, or detecting previously unseen faces). This technique can be used to answer many different questions. How does the brain extract different bits of information about a face? What happens in the brain when you see a novel image? Do left and right hemispheres process different kinds of information?

The Centre also incorporates the Babylab - which is where our bibs come in! The Babylab studies how babies learn and develop, particularly during the first 2 years of life. Some of the areas investigated include how babies recognise faces, how they learn to pay attention to some things and not others, how they learn to understand what other people do and think, and how their language and understanding of the world develops.

Generally studies take the form of simple games in which babies are presented with various interesting things to look at and listen to. Like short video clips or cartoons on a computer screen or more interactive studies involving showing the babies different toys or objects. A researcher might play a game with a baby to understand more about how they think and learn different skills. In addition to studies where they simply observe babies behaviour they also use various methods for measuring brain activity including the EEG 'hairnet' of sensors and the following of eye movements.

As well as studying typical brain development in infancy, the Babylab is one of the only laboratories in Europe that studies brain functioning in very young children with autism and William’s Syndrome.

We have supplied T-Shirts & Bibs sized for babies of 3 - 24 months to the babylab - and on the front is printed the motto: "I'm a young scientist" - never too young to start!

The centre is continuously looking for adult volunteers between 18 and 35 years old to take part in behavioural studies as well as in studies on brain activity, and babies in their first two years. Visit their website to sign up.

Sadly most of us here at Pier 32 are far too old to have the Centre delve into our psyche...

The Great Gorilla Run 2008

2008-12-11T12:56:00.008Z

During the early hours of 27 September a blanket of mist settled over London and the city was at peace. But not for long... as the sun's rays began to break through, hundreds of gorillas emerged from London's streets and a gorilla gathering started to form in the city. This was the 2008 Great Gorilla Run and it was set to be amazing.

By 10:30am over 732 dedicated Gorilla Organization supporters, dressed in their customised gorilla costumes had gathered at the start of the run in central London. This was the first time in history that this number of people dressed as gorillas had gathered in one place making the 2008 Great Gorilla Run a record breaking event! Wildlife conservationist and television presenter Bill Oddie was in great spirits and after an exciting build up, set the gorilla runners off along the 7km route.

As the gorillas spread through the streets of London thousands of onlookers gathered and TV crews from around the world captured the moment on film.

To date over £250,000 has been raised by gorilla runners for the endangered gorillas of central Africa - a fantastic achievement. Elizabeth Roberts, who raised over £4000 was this year's top fundraiser and as a big thank you for her efforts, adventure travel company Explore, who sponsored this year's Great Gorilla Run, has offered Elizabeth a once in a lifetime trip to see mountain gorillas in the wild in Uganda.

No, Pier 32 did not supply the Gorilla costumes! Pier32 supplied ethically produced t-shirts from our African supplier Starworld.

To see more pictures from the event, for more information and to sign up for the next Great Gorilla Run on 26 September 2009 visit www.greatgorillas.org. Our congratulations go out to everyone who took part!

Living Streets - reducing the impact of the car

2008-12-01T16:45:00.006Z

We have just heard how another of our customers has been using our services to project themselves - not just in the UK but again in Europe.

The charity Living Streets campaigns for creating better streets and public spaces to be enjoyed by everyone on foot, with their needs prioritised over traffic. Living Streets also campaigns for more walking on everyday journeys, reducing congestion, pollution and our carbon footprint.

The charity runs various campaigns, a notable one being the Walk to School campaign funded by the Department for Transport and the BIG Lottery Fund. That campaign was recently joined by the Walking Works campaign, encouraging commuters to reduce the number of short car journeys they do (20% of journeys being less than a mile!) and walk to the station or all the way to work, with benefits for fitness and the environment.

While most of our customers order our personalised t-shirts or hoodies, Living Streets wanted customised rucksacks to be taken by a group of students from Darlington (with funding from Darlington Borough Council and Northern Film and Media) to visit the Walk21 conference on walking and public space in Barcelona. They presented their own ideas to delegates about their ideal walks to school, and grilled the experts at the conference. They are currently editing their experiences into a video.

The 5 day experience included travelling to Barcelona and back by sleeper train - quite an experience in itself and rather more beneficial to the environment than flying! As well as attending the conference, they engaged in a range of local activities.

This was all part of the Step Up Debate - a national discussion about what changes students would like to see made to encourage them to walk more of their school journeys.

Our ethical and environmental credentials at Pier 32 was an important part of Living Streets choosing us as a supplier of promotional products. We are pleased to have played our part in helping them achieve their aims.

As well as the Living Streets website at http://www.livingstreets.org.uk/ the Step Up campaign site is at www.stepup.org.uk. At these sites you can not only find out rather more about the charity and its campaigning, but also about the students' experiences on the Barcelona trip.