The days of web designers are numbered. Better technology leads to better technology and this is why technology is such a wonderful thing.  Yola is an example of the evolution of technology which allows one to build a website without having programming experience.

One thing that we’ve learnt from being an online company is that businesses that utilize the internet as their main marketing tool and make a living from it, are more likely to use other businesses that are internet based.It is probably because as an online company you know that other internet businesses are the same as you are (ethically) and therefore you are more trusting towards them. So if you are still advertising in the Yellow Pages your days are numbered as well because in this fast-paced world of business, nobody has the time (or the muscle) to pick up a heavy book to look for a company,product or service and ….it requires the turning of pages. The www is growing, so that means that there will be more people wanting to use internet based businesses, which means if you don’t have an optimised website, you are not going to be found. The internet is filled will young, time-strapped “internetters” with loads of cash who need to do business quickly.

About Yola

Yola brings website building to the rest of us. Small businesses. Groups and organizations. Non-profits. Your Aunt Martha. The guy in the next cube. Everyone.

Our website builder lets you easily take what’s in your head and turn it into webpages in front of your eyes. Yola lets you make great-looking sites with webpages that work beautifully together.  We do it without imposing banner ads or throwing up pop-up ad windows everywhere.

taken from yola.com

Thank you Yola for trusting Lava Ink with your t shirts.

yola t shirts

Ampere Technical Staging, based in Cape Town, South Africa, provides technical support and equipment for the events and exhibitions industries.

Lava Ink supplied these 50% polyester/ 50% cotton golf shirts which offers durability with its polyester component and comfortability with its cotton component. The garments are branded with the ampere logo using embroidery.

Question

Which software does one use to prepare artwork for screen printing?

Answer

Different designers will have different opinions but it all comes down to the artwork that you are working with and what kind of results you wish to achieve. This is my black and white version of which software one needs to use when preparing artwork for screen printing.

Shaded/ overlapping colours

Clearly defined lines and colour

Clearly defined lines and colour : Use vector software like Illustrator/ Coreldraw / Freehand to trace/draw images. Follow tutorials on how to trace/ draw using these programs. Vector images can be scaled up or down without any distortion. So you can use the same vector image to print a business card as well as a billboard.

Colours of vector images are easily seperated -eg. the different shades of red and the white flame. Each colour becomes a positive. The print result is crisp and the colours are very accurate

Shaded /Overlapping colours : Use software like Photoshop. Scan/import/open your image in photoshop, convert it to CMYK, check the sizing and send to your printer.

Colours of shaded images/ photos/ scans are divided into process or CMYK positives. You have 4 positives (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black). The print and colour results may vary with manual printing. The image and colour forms as a result of printing CMYK, one colour on top of the other.

It is possible to use both vector and photo images in your design. You will learn from your bureau how to set up your artwork and some of you will learn the hard way. Advice……… work with a bureau or printer that is willing to guide you and also always ask if you are unsure.

Next post: Advice for those who want to single run t shirts from home.

This post is dedicated to Gerhard Pieterse who is currently locked in a cell at the Canal Walk Shopping Centre. No, he didn’t commit a crime, on the contrary, he is jailed for an inspiring purpose, to raise 1 million Rand for the awareness of Autism. Through the use of freely available online tools, Rafiq, our notorious Web AddiCT, shows how social media can be socially uplifting.

Here’s how you can help:

SMS the word VUKA to 38010. SMS COSTS R10 AND THERE IS NO MONTHLY SUBSCIPTION FEES. That 10 Rand will be going straight to the #jail4bail charity campaign and Autism Western Cape and you will be able to win a Vuka Scuta, R3000 or R2000.

Since the beginning of the year Lava Ink has been on a mission to create a reliable supply chain for locally produced organic products and fabrics. The result……. mens and ladies fitted t shirts in a natural colour only, which I personally think is pathetic.

This is an indication of the mode and of thinking that the South African Clothing Industry and its consumers are in. Here is a real opportunity for us to compete against imports by offering ethical clothing as apposed to cheaper, environmentally damaging clothing. We need to create a substantial demand for ethical clothing and production processes because at the moment the task to supply organic, requires the manufacturer to be involved in primary manufacturing stages such as dying. This is because the demand for organic fabrics is not enough to motivate stock production in various colours and types of fabrics.

How does clothing production influence our envrironment?

The following was taken from EcoSpace and highlights the effects clothing and fabric production have on the environment.

When was the last time you checked the tag of your t-shirt to look for more than just a size or price? Do you know what your clothes are made of or who made them? The answers to these questions may surprise you, as inputs of clothing production have significant effects on the physical and social environment.

Take a look at the cotton industry. Insecticides used in conventional cotton production are the most hazardous pesticide to human health, causing behavioral changes, increased cancer risk, and even death. Cotton’s second best selling insecticide, Aldicarb, can kill a man with just one drop absorbed through the skin! Who knew wearing cotton could be so dangerous!

Not only do clothing choices impact human health, but they also affect the environment. Fertilizers used in conventional cotton production harm the environment. Nitrogen synthetic fertilizers cause leaching and runoff and emit gases that contribute 300 times more to global warming than CO2. It takes about 1/3 pound of synthetic fertilizers to grow one pound of raw cotton, and it takes that pound of cotton to make one t-shirt. That’s a lot of fertilizer, a lot of greenhouse gases, and a major detriment to the environment!

read more

The SA Blog Award Winners for the best green blog, Urban Sprout, is giving some good advice on how to green our clothing.

I responded by making the comment that large retailers should stop treating organic as a marketing strategy  but rather as an environmental and industrial one.  If large retailers start investing in our local Industries for ethical reasons, with the intention of greening their supply chains, real change is possible.

All aspiring designers and entrepreneurs take note because the LavaLab has officially opened.  We are starting off with LavaLab tees but we are very flexible and will assist anyone who wants to enter the clothing industry.

No longer do you have to settle for standard basic wholesale clothing. In our LavaLab you can turn your imagination into reality.  It is like have your own clothing factory but without all the hassles.

Lava Ink has 12 years experience in the clothing field and 6 years in garment branding. We are directly linked to a range of carefully selected suppliers who strive towards quality assurance.