Under Pressure is the brain child of Michael Fuchs and Sam Ladach-Bark, whose goal of bringing screen printing to the masses created an idea for a store where you take control of what you wear. Come visit us and bring in a photo or that drawing you made in art class, and we will help you create a one-of-a kind screen. Pick your garment (shirt, bag, hoodie, dog sweater). Pick your colors. Rock your new personalized art. It's simple; just bring your imagination. Under Pressure is a unique environment that lets your style be in control.

We offer globally friendly material and practices and challenge many of the set standards of screen printing by minimizing environmental impact. We don't support sweat shops, neither should you. Whether you are creating your own or browsing our retail area, you should drop by. Turn your design concept into a one-of-a kind screen, and rock it wherever you go.

Our moral stance on Sweatshop free apparel and environmentally friendly printing practices

Why do we use guaranteed sweatshop free shirts, bags and poster paper?

This question might seem like a silly one, but for most people ignorance is bliss. For us, we take the extra time to research our apparel, poster and bag providers to ensure that their products are made with fair labor practices in place. This means that the workers are paid at least minimum wage, provided with health benefits, given paid time off and not over worked. The most important fact in providing guaranteed sweatshop free printables is that no children were exploited for the production of our items.

Hanes and Gildan, the largest providers of wholesale shirts in the US, are notorious for paying their workers pennies an hour to sew garments for 12-15 hours a day. They have also been reported as using child labor, employing children as young as 8 years old to sew their clothing.

Other clothing companies use major label providers because the cost is considerably cheaper than a product made in the US or in a fair labor practice. In my experience you get what you pay for also. The quality of an American Apparel soft combed 100% cotton shirt is far superior to that of anything Hanes or Gildan can provide. Even though you are getting a higher quality product you really can't put a price tag on the peace of mind that humans were not exploited for your t shirt.

Why Water Base inks are better over Plastisol?

What most people do not know about the screen printing industry is that many harmful chemicals are released from the use of plastisol inks. Plastisol ink is liquefied polyvinyl chloride, which resides as the most environmentally damaging plastic. The production, use, and disposal results in the release of toxic, chlorine-based chemicals that react with other chemicals to create by-products such as dioxin, PCBs, hexachlorobenzene, acidic gases, and others. These products build up in our air and water, and as a result animals, including humans, are harmed because of the build up in our systems. The making of plasitsol ink involves the use of non-renewable fossil fuels and also uses poisonous chlorine gas. Toxic waste is also created in the process of making plasitsol ink. What people don't know is that plastisol ink also continues to release harmful toxins even after printing due to exposure of heat sources such as a dryers and even sun light.

At Under Pressure we put our foot down and said no to plastisol. We use 100% water based inks with plant based chemicals that biodegrade in a short time. In addition the feel to water based printing on apparel is a much softer invisible touch, which most people prefer to a thick plastic texture that plastisol inks leave behind. Most printers who use plastisol use petroleum based solvents for cleaning which can be harmful to our water supply. Our process is so clean that plants grow under the table where we reclaim our screens because we use nature as a cleaner.

The question is would you rather pay a little more for a high quality environmental friendly product or harm the environment because you want a cheaper product. The reason why screen printers use plastisol is because it saves them time and money. At Under Pressure we are devoted to putting in the extra time and effort to find a balance with providing a high quality product and protecting our planet at the same time.