Let me tell you about the shirt we regret. (And why we switched to water-based printing.)

In the early days of Earth Medicine Apparel Co., we did what many new apparel companies do: found a print shop, handed over my artwork, and trusted the process. 

What came back was Kambô Maestro v1 — printed in plastisol, the industry standard, the ink that's been dominant in screen printing for decades.

It was thick. It was stiff. It sat on top of the fabric like a rubber appliqué rather than becoming part of the garment. 

Our founder wore it to an ecstatic dance event and spent the whole night aware of it... hot, heavy, peeling, and cracking slightly at the edges after a single wash. 

The print had gone on smooshed, and the details we'd spent over 100 hours drawing and refining were lost in the application.

We pulled it from the site. Found a new print shop (plus one closer to home). Had the whole design reprinted. This became our first expensive lesson as a new brand.

The Kambô Maestro you can buy today is a completely different shirt: same artwork, water-based inks, the fine lines intact, the colors alive. 

We wear it in ceremonies and on the dance floor, and love how it softened after the first wash.

That experience settled something for us. 

We don't touch plastisol. Not now, not ever again.

Here's why:

Plastisol ink is PVC-based (polyvinyl chloride, a petroleum plastic). It cures by melting the plastic particles into each other on top of the fabric, which is why it sits on the surface rather than bonding with the fiber. It's durable in the short term. 

At the end of life, it doesn't break down, it just becomes microplastic. And while you're wearing it, there's a layer of plastic film against your skin.

Water-based ink works differently. 

It carries pigment into the fiber itself, dyeing the garment rather than coating it.

The hand feel is completely different: softer, more breathable, like the print is part of the shirt rather than attached to it. It moves with the fabric instead of cracking away from it. And it doesn't put PVC or phthalates between you and your clothes. You'll feel the difference the moment you put it on.

The catch — and this is important — is that water-based printing is significantly harder to execute well.

Plastisol is forgiving. You can push it, pull it, adjust it, and print for hours before the screen dries out. 

Water-based ink is more demanding: it requires precise screen exposure, careful ink mixing, and technical expertise that most print shops claiming to offer it don't actually have at the level our designs require. 

Fine lines, intricate layering, juicy Pantone color across multiple passes — that's not beginner territory.

Our print shop partner has it. That relationship is one of the most important ones in our value chain, and it didn't happen by accident.

Now, about DTG (Direct-to-Garment)...

We'll be honest: I've seen some genuinely beautiful DTG prints. The technology has come a long way. 

But in our experience, they fade after two or three washes. 

The pretreatment chemicals required for dark garments add another layer of complexity. And beyond the quality question, DTG is the engine behind print-on-demand, the model that says, "anyone can have a graphic apparel brand without holding inventory, without a supply chain, without a relationship with a printer, fabric mill, or conservation organization."

It's tempting. Genuinely. 

No cash tied up in stock, no risk, infinite SKUs. We seriously considered it after we first registered the brand in 2024.

But it's also churning out low-quality garments at scale, printed on demand with inks that don't last, on shirts that won't either. 

It's the infrastructure of disposability dressed up as creativity.

We're going in a different direction, and honoring the incredible quality we get with screen-printing. Plus, if we're sourcing the most premium and ethically-made shirts we can source, it better have the best quality and longest-lasting prints we can get!

Earth Medicine Apparel Co. now sources exclusively from factories in the Americas — currently USA-made — on natural fiber garments chosen for their longevity and their supply chain integrity. 

Printed close to home by artists and technical experts who care about the craft. 

Designed by hand, one layer at a time, with water-based Pantone inks that become part of the fabric.

We hold inventory because we believe in what we made. 

That's the long game.

This is the hill we'll die on. Water-based screen-printing only, natural fibers, made close to home, built to last.

CLOUDSONG