# Seeking Eco-friendly / Vegan ink transfer alternatives



## EvenTheOddCo (Apr 27, 2017)

Hello everyone, 

I'm very new to heat transfer apparel decoration, and have a question about inks used in transfer paper.

I have a potential client who is Vegan and insists upon using vegan friendly inks.
Does such a thing exist? 

I have heard that while plastisol inks themselves may technically be vegan (albeit not necessarily environmentally) friendly, some of the chemicals used to clean the screens after do contain animal byproducts. That's an issue still.

I'm aware of Permaset inks that can be used for screen printing, but I don't know if they can be used for heat transfers. Even if they can, I have no idea where I could get them in Canada...

I know this is a bit of a long shot at the moment, but does anyone know if it's even possible to produce heat transfers with a vegan friendly ink?

Thanks for your time!


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## proworlded (Oct 3, 2006)

I have heard of vegan friendly tattoo inks but not for transfers.


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## gardenhillemb (Oct 29, 2015)

One Stroke Inks makes a Soy based plastisol that may get you closer to what you're looking for. Good Luck.


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## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

I donate to charities concerned with making farming more humane. I grew up on a farm and have seen how chickens are treated and it's sickening (not by us, we were old school). I don't know if it's a realistic goal but I doubt it.


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## EvenTheOddCo (Apr 27, 2017)

Thanks for the responses so far.

I spoke with One Stroke Inks and their soy based ink does indeed seem to be vegan. They even said it is heat pressable (requires a cover sheet) so that's good. The only issue now is how to get someone nearby to use it. They only sell the ink itself, and I don't do screen printing... so I can't actually use it at the moment. 

I have asked Stahls to check their products and they are reviewing them for me now. I'm expecting that something in their process won't be vegan friendly, but I really appreciate how seriously they've taken my questions so far. Hopefully I'm proven wrong and they end up being vegan friendly already!


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

I'm ignorant about vegan friendly ink. Like, what is that? Nobody eats ink and once it cures it won't come off on your skin. If someone is such a strict vegan that they can't come in contact with anything synthetic, how do they drive their car?

What are the animal products that are in regular ink, screen wash, etc.? I did not know that there were any...


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## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

Ripcord said:


> ...What are the animal products that are in regular ink, screen wash, etc.? I did not know that there were any...


^ Yes, I would be curious to know that as well. Unless one is counting dinosaurs, it seems unlikely that animal products would play a role ...


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## EvenTheOddCo (Apr 27, 2017)

Vegan is often used as a term for not eating anything that includes ingredients that come from animals. In this case, it is obvious that people aren't meant to eat ink. That said, vegan also means things that aren't tested on animals, and in most cases, are environmentally sustainable too.

From a site that the client linked me, it notes this:

The hidden thing in screen printing that is often NOT vegan is the emulsion used on the screens to create the stencil itself. Many emulsions contain gelatin.

That info is from this site: Vegan T-shirt printing - I Dress Myself
I am not affiliated with them but they have a nice write up and are trusted by the client at least.

If this is true, then the ink itself may technically be vegan friendly, but the cleaning process is not.There is also then the whole thing that the ink cleaning procedures are harmful to the environment and whatnot, since they are made in part from oil. 

As another example, technically vinyl is Vegan friendly, but it is definitely not environmentally friendly.

These are the things I have learned lately while trying to find a source of ink I could use...


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## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

Ha! I almost mentioned gelatin as the animal-based ingredient most likely to turn up in unexpected places 

I understand the customer's desire not to contribute to the exploitation of animals. But there are practical limits to the possibility of so doing.

Unless you yourself are a vegan, then your labor on this project is being fueled, at least in part, by animals--and as a customer he would be paying for your groceries. The guy who drove the forklift in the aluminum mill may have worn leather gloves and boots.

At a more direct level, there probably is gelatin in the coating on the films you print on. Of course, some gelatin is from vegetable sources, but outside of things intended for human consumption, I doubt any distinction is made.

Vegans need to come up with the equivalent of rabbis, so as to access practical "kosher" means of working around the unkosherness of the modern world.


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

NoXid said:


> I understand the customer's desire not to contribute to the exploitation of animals. But there are practical limits to the possibility of so doing.


I agree with this. If someone wants to be 100% certain that nobody he has any interaction with uses animal products of any kind for any reason, that person would need to live in the wilderness.

At any rate if a potential customer called me with this kind of request I'd most likely refer him to another company. This is a major PITA alert and I'd much rather spend my time printing than researching emulsion ingredients.

(I apologize to the OP, because I realize this doesn't help answer your question....It's Sunday and I'm just musing...)


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## EvenTheOddCo (Apr 27, 2017)

I wouldn't normally put this much effort into finding a new source of specialty inks, but this is a person I know. She has an online blog with a large following online, so it likely would lead to further business for others as well.

She is rightfully aware that if she can offer clothing that is Vegan friendly and also environmentally friendly, that she'll be able to sell much more of it. She'll also avoid the "vegan police" in the sense that people can't call her out for it. That said, she is aware that I am not vegan already and that doesn't bother her.. she's not that stringent.

No one in the GTA offers vegan and eco friendly prints that I'm aware of, so it would be a very good niche to get into, and I'd have a strong and popular advocate for it right from the start if it worked out. That said, it doesn't sound like it is going to work out in the end unfortunately. Not unless I want to start screen printing anyway.


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## EvenTheOddCo (Apr 27, 2017)

I wouldn't normally put this much effort into finding a new source of specialty inks, but this is a person I know. She has an online blog with a large following online, so it likely would lead to further business for others as well.

She is rightfully aware that if she can offer clothing that is Vegan friendly and also environmentally friendly, that she'll be able to sell much more of it. She'll also avoid the "vegan police" in the sense that people can't call her out for it. That said, she is aware that I am not vegan already and that doesn't bother her.. she's not that stringent.

No one in the GTA offers vegan and eco friendly prints that I'm aware of, so it would be a very good niche to get into, and I'd have a strong and popular advocate for it right from the start if it worked out. That said, it doesn't sound like it is going to work out in the end unfortunately. Not unless I want to start screen printing anyway.


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

Why not just advertise the shirts as being organic cotton (or bamboo, that seems to be a big one with the eco crowd,) and state that the ink contains no animal derived products and that the shop they're printed in uses only green products, etc. etc. I don't think any potential customers know what emulsion is and I'd be surprised if that became a selling issue.

A lot of the "green product" movement is symbolic. Years ago when I worked in offset printing a customer asked if we used vegetable based ink. As a joke I said our Denver plant doesn't but we had it at our plant in Tucson. She told me let's print it there then because it was that important to her. Apparently burning diesel fuel to truck it back to Colorado would be better for the environment than the petroleum ink.


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## JoanneLauthier (Nov 2, 2017)

Ripcord said:


> I'm ignorant about vegan friendly ink. Like, what is that? Nobody eats ink and once it cures it won't come off on your skin. If someone is such a strict vegan that they can't come in contact with anything synthetic, how do they drive their car?
> 
> What are the animal products that are in regular ink, screen wash, etc.? I did not know that there were any...


Hi, in an effort to answer your question re vegan friendly ink 
Vegan means not using any animal products or products tested on animals. If you are referring to food only, it's called plant-based. So, in other words, vegan friendly anything means that the person is not contributing to animal cruelty in any way, including using products that include animal ingredients or test on animals


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## TomatoKnifer (Mar 11, 2018)

Hi there  thought I'd try give some clarity as to the why...the reason vegans don't want to use animal products in anything including clothing etc is because it is not just a diet - it's a lifestyle choice, based on a value system against using animals in any way. So for example if there are crushed bugs used as a colour agent in an ink, where did those bugs come from? Are they being bred for this purpose? Are they being harvested from the wild? Either way, ethically that is exploitation, environmentally, that affects delicate natural balance of an ecosystem. It may seem silly to some, but it's really about thinking beyond ourselves and considering other lives around us that may seem inconsequential, but add up to a lot


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## TomatoKnifer (Mar 11, 2018)

It's not about being 100% but about harm minimisation - I mean, you step outside your door and probably step on a few hundred ants, let's be realistic  so trying to find the best possible solution is the key - can I get inks that don't contain animal ingredients, and cleaning solutions, etc...surely we can find that, and if not, surely we can aspire to that, and how we do that is letting producers know what we want. It's like how did anything change? Coeliacs also wanted to eat a burger so they asked or gluten free options and hey, presto, there are suddenly lots. There's no harm in trying to spread a little love and less harm


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## VeronikaH (Mar 12, 2019)

Hi, just to give some answers on why vegans seek ALL products vegan-friendly where possible and if alternatives are not possible, then trying to avoid using such products at all.
You surely understand that vegans are against animal exploitation, it's not only about what vegans eat, it's the fact that every purchase - leather shoes or sofa, clothing dyed using colours derived from animals, etc. even going to amusement parks such as aquariums where large wild animals like orcas are kept in captivity unsuitable to their needs... All of that can be avoided and seek cruelty-free alternatives so vegans do that and care about it.
If an alternative isn't possible, for example when new "plastic" banknotes were introduced in the UK that are actually containing animal fat (it's really sickening - imagine it would contain something you'd find repulsive to even imagine to use in any way, like human baby fat for example), yet there isn't any other alternative, well, I know no vegan that would stop using bank notes as that's not really possible to avoid completely.
But to decide what T-shirt a vegan would buy? Surely just a matter of quick research which T-shirt is vegan-friendly, so alternative - plant-based or synthetic - products are purchased and production of cruelty-free alternatives was supported while no animals were harmed - it's a win-win for vegans (and animals and actually for the environment too)!
I think that's fairly easy to understand once you get the idea how vegans think.
I hope it helped.


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## webtrekker (Jan 28, 2018)

So how do you know, 100%, that plants don't have emotions or feel pain and distress?


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## gulfsidebill (Feb 28, 2019)

The heat transfer manufacturer I am most familiar screen prints their transfers with phthalate-free plastisol inks. Plastisol inks are composed primarily of 2 ingredients PVC resin and Plasticizer. Plastisol is used to make hundreds of products. FYI - Plastisol is a liquid form of vinyl. Phthalate-free plastisols are approved for use on infant clothing. Mantis Graphics (413) 344-0410 prints with soy based inks, they may be able to help you out. I would also contact the One Stroke Ink Company they manufacture soy based plastisol - perhaps they can point you in the right direction Speaking from 45+ years of experience Good Luck and Keep on Pressing!


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## dyesub101 (Jan 3, 2021)

webtrekker said:


> So how do you know, 100%, that plants don't have emotions or feel pain and distress?


Weird question to put in response to a question about ink, but if you genuinely wanted an answer, here you go:

For a start, plants don't have a brain, pain receptors, or nerves, which is how humans and animals feel pain. Maybe they have a unique experience of pain, but it wouldn't really make sense. We feel pain so that we know not to touch fire, get stabbed or jump off of buildings. Most plants have no reason to experience pain - it's not like it can be used to teach them to run away from fire or go to the doctor if they become diseased. Feeling pain would not make plants more likely to survive/reproduce, therefore it is unlikely that they have evolved to feel any form of pain.

But, if we assume that plants do feel pain and distress, many many more plants are used to feed animals in order to feed humans. It's simple conservation of energy. The animal expends energy as it moves, breathes, reproduces. We feed the animal with plants, and some of that 'plant energy' has to be used to keep the animal alive. Therefore calories that go into the animal as plants will exceed the calories that come out of the animal as meat. If we just ate plants, we would get all of the energy that the plant gives. Eating plants directly actively reduces the number of plants that need to be 'harmed' to sustain us. It also saves land area, water consumption etc.

We also know for a fact that animals do feel pain, so the hypotheticals of whether plants do is kind of secondary to that.

Hope that helps alleviate your concern regarding the pain of plants.


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## into the T (Aug 22, 2015)

vegans will find you, and they will let you know


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## MADE.IN.USA (Dec 30, 2020)

If the emulsion and screen cleanout is the only hang up then offer to vinyl stencile the block out areas under your screen so none is needed and charge accordingly.


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## into the T (Aug 22, 2015)

here is a vid based on what MADE.IN.USA is talking about 
it is more labor intensive, but it can be done


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