Fashioning Ethical Art: The ​​Sustainability of Screen Printing

Even if you’ve never heard the term ‘screenprinting’, it’s likely that a majority of your closet utilizes this method to make your favorite t-shirts or jackets. If you’re involved in fashion by any means, you know that screenprinting is, arguably, a quick dollar to be made, a new streetwear brand emerging fresh off the flash dryer, or in rare cases, a true craft and art form. 

What once started as katagami, an ancient Chinese craft of paper stencils and silk screens used to dye textiles in 960 AD, has become the commercialized, quickest way to put designs or logos onto clothes and consumer products.

Fast forward to 2025 –– not only do we all wear screen printed garments, but we grew up wearing these mass-manufactured garments (think: Lisa Frank, Bobby Jack, Paul Frank, Ecko, DC, Thrasher, etc.). Whether it’s direct to garment or traditional plastisol inks, it’s ingrained into our culture; It’s nonstop and somehow still slipping under the radar that we choose to be walking billboards. But, how are these prints made and how does it impact our planet?

There are a few different mainstream methods of printing onto clothing: screenprinting, direct-to-garment, direct-to-film, heat transfer, and sublimation. This is just the tip of the iceberg. With each method, there are various inks, products, machines and methods to bring these prints to life that will vary the outcome or environmental impact. Screenprinting is one of the most popular (with 53% of shirts printed this way) and unfortunately, the most detrimental. 

Screenprinting consists of a mesh screen tightly wrapped around a wooden or metal canvas frame, layered with emulsion, cured and rinsed to reveal the design to be printed. The ink used to push through the screen and onto the garment is typically an oil-based ink like plastisol, known for vibrant, opaque colors. The issue? Plastisol doesn’t disintegrate. 

This ink contains PVC resin and plasticizers, contributing to non-renewable waste. It also requires high temperatures for curing, leading to higher energy consumption. Water used to rinse away emulsion creates waste and chemical runoff, making an already non-eco-conscious T-shirt, even worse.  

The list goes on. Screenprinting and the instruments involved can emit VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which can be harmful to air quality. All of these conflicts not only impact the environment, but the workers in the printing industry themselves. 

Although a single shirt doesn’t use a ton of ink, the larger picture begins to unfold an environmental issue, with the custom printing t-shirt market being valued at $4.9 billion in 2024.  

From ruination comes beauty –– despite all of its sustainable impacts, silkscreen printing is just one way of making distinct, intricate art and garments. 

“Printmaking is overwhelming, but in a good way. There’s so many methods and processes to learn, with intricate and important steps. Yet every time you perform them you get something a little bit different and can freely play with and explore the process,” said Sarah Quanci, artist and printmaker. 

Quanci has a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Fine Arts with a minor in Art History and Printmaking from Columbus College of Art and Design. According to her, there really is no right or wrong way to use the art form, making it an addicting, hands-on experience. 

“No two prints will ever be the same, and in some processes, you get one shot at it. There’s something beautiful to me about the imperfections of art, it reflects how humans are. You know a human touched it, thought about it, and put care into it,” Quanci said. 

Quanci’s expertise and favorite printmaking methods fall more on the sustainable side, including: linocut (or relief printing) from battleship grey biodegradable materials; woodblock carving, using any kind of wood and can be complemented any sort of natural inks; and intaglio, or tetrapak intaglio, an etching process that can be done on copper or other up-cycled materials, like a milk carton. 

“Simply create your marks with a pencil/pen while using masking tape and an exacto knife to create depth, and you can use water-soluble ink, which is great for cleanup and the environment,” Quanci explained. “Now as you use and print the plate it is degrading in real time, however it’s nice knowing the plate won’t exist forever, and I can recycle it whenever I feel like it.”

Luckily, there are people involved in the printmaking industry that care to push sustainable options. Quanci described herself and her peers naturally opting to work with reused or natural materials, as well as her print professor, Kathy McGhee being a sustainable advocate and utilizing materials on their second life. CCAD also organized a scrap room accessible to the whole school. 

“Spray bottles were old windex bottles, our plastic mixing cups were old yogurt cups, and every sponge, spoon, and squeegee was only recycled and replaced when it really couldn’t be used anymore,” Quanci said. “We were taught to be cautious of what we put down the sink, and encouraged to not be wasteful with chemicals and products like rubber gloves.” 

As far as the mass-commercialized screen printing, there are still sustainable options and resources to help both printers and consumers. 

“At the end of the day, printmaking can be sustainable and done in an environmentally friendly way in all sorts of manners. There are many companies out there that make oil-based inks with vegetable oils rather than petroleum-based oils,” Quanci said. “Within most print labs you are using vegetable oil or water to clean up the ink. There are so many brands out there exploring silkscreen inks that are both permanent but also safe for the environment.”

Other solutions include printing on recycled fabrics, using seaweed-based inks, creating water filtration systems, using an enclosed emulsion removal system, and in general, continuing to learn about the processes and supplies used in printing. 

Photo courtesy of Silk Road Printing

Education is key –– a major misconception is that all water-soluble inks are better than oil-based inks, but screen printer sources and Reddit users explain that, “It’s less environmentally friendly than plastisol because the production cycle requires washing off ink from the screen after a print run. Sure you can card off and save a lot of the excess but I don’t wash off any plastisol on screens I plan to reuse. Plastisol never dries so I can keep my screens loaded. Waterbased ink needs to be cleaned off so the screen doesn’t clog.”

The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Design for the Environment (DfE) Certifications also provides case studies of successful sustainable printing methods, as well as certified eco-friendly printers or manufacturers for consumers looking to be conscious.

Like everything else, it all comes down to intention. Is the process being used for art and creative inspiration, or creating unnecessary waste? Is it supporting a local business, or feeding a corporate machine? How can we tell the difference? 

According to Quanci, it’s important to ask questions, network with artists in various mediums, and find free workshops or conferences to continue learning and showing up in spaces where you can ask questions. 

“I believe that any method that has its roots in ancient times 100% has the ability to be done safely and sustainably. Most people are now just focused on the most perfect method and clean outcome that will last in perfect condition for centuries,” Quanci said.  “As fine artists we always think about how our pieces communicate what is happening in our current moment and life, but I don’t think my art should be forever. We have so many methods of documentation now that it even takes away the novelty that an artwork isn’t and shouldn’t be forever.”

Depending on your needs, smaller teams such as Lady Killer Press, Silk Road Printing and Sarah Quanci herself can be a few guiding lights and resources. Still, the bigger question remains: Is it something that even absolutely needs to be made or bought, when there’s already so many usable garments in circulation?

“It’s like we all always have to have an answer or a label to call to, but at the end of the day it’s just capitalism calling us to consume, consume, consume, give, give, give, all to feel like we belong. I want my art to make people stop and think, but to do it while laughing, or subsequently being offended,” Quanci said.