Green Cotton

We found sometime to catch up with Jannae Knopse, the winner of our Green Cotton Earth Day Contest, for an interview to hear more about what she is doing to make the earth a greener place. We are so pleased to learn more about her ethics, goals, dreams, and just exactly what she did for Earth Day! Jannae turns out to be a fascinating artist, true to her morals and sure in her goals.

Read our interview to find out more about Jannae:

Green Cotton (GC): What motivated you to become a designer?

Jannae (J): “I think of myself as less of a designer and more of an artist (granted one who mostly does design work…).

“In any case I had this really amazing art history teacher at a young age that convinced me that I had a future in the arts if I wanted it. Through his class I learned about the power art had in the cultural, historical, and political realms I was particularly inspired by the connection through propaganda and from there on out all I wanted to do was be a part of the arts.”

“I was so fascinated by the relationship that when I got to college (RISD), I majored in printmaking because of its use in propaganda and distribution.

“Printmaking led me to screen printing which led me to shirts which led me to think about cultural and political implications of production. Shirts became my way to affect the world around me.”

GC: Tell us about Slug of the Sea. What inspired you to create designs of insects, bugs and other creatures?

J: “Propaganda and political art often use animals to show an intended meaning. These meanings come from both cultural identities we assign the animals and how the animal is portrayed in the design.

“I started with ants.

“Ants tend to have a military identity and at the time that was the type of propaganda I was most interested in. I wanted to make the way I displayed the ants more honest to their actual behaviors. I realized that it was the relationship of reality to decorative identities which I found most interesting.

“The rest of the insect line followed as an exercise in trying to attract people to things they have aversions to as a way (hopefully) to make them think about what they truly have a problem with… the insect or the way we culturally identify it. Though I’m more then okay with people just thinking they’re funny or cute!”

“Cockroaches hiding out of sight” Unisex sweatshirt from Jannae’s Slug of the Sea line

Photosource: http://shop.slugofthesea.com/

J: “And lucky for me my name ended up fitting into my new aesthetic.

“My first name, Jannae (JUH-nay), is generally considered a pretty name (at least I think so). It turns out that it is also the species name of a sea slug found in Northern California and the west coast of Canada. A pretty name with an adverse secondary meaning! I couldn’t be more meant to be!”

GC: What is your goal with Slug of the Sea (SOS)?

J: “Oh my, what isn’t my goal? I really would like to figure out how to make Slug of the Sea my full-time job, but not just by selling clothes. Over the last year or so I’ve gotten to experience ways I would love to expand it:

“I love doing freelance designing for companies whose mission statements I really respect like the Wildlife Conservation Society, Edun Live, and Malaria No More. This work allows me access to the cultural and political missions I’m interested in. I couldn’t think of a better full time job for me. Anyone with a good mission statement and the need for some design work let me know!

“I also really enjoyed giving a speech at my old college about green washing and fairly made goods in the imprinted apparel industry. The more artists/designers make informed and responsible decisions, the better for all of us. The only way to make things better is to have the most people possible working towards and spending their money on it. That is what will make a difference.

“I also love selling my shirts. The more successful they are the happier I will be. Not only are they a great way to create art, but it allows me to produced clothes the way I preach it should be done. I’ve worked in the imprinted apparel industry as an eco and fairly made consultant for my customers at my day job at a print shop for about two years, so I have the inside scoop on the production policies for many blank apparel companies.

“I only use clothes made by American Apparel (I know all the drama but they are USA made in good conditions and they have an eco line, and I judge the company based on their production standards not their sex lives) or Edun-Live.

“For those who don’t know, Edun-Live is a company created by Bono of U2 and his wife Ali Hewson. The idea of the line is to create sustainable economies in sub-Saharan Africa through fair production. They also have a 100% organic line and they work with the Wildlife Conservation Society to create the Cotton Conservation Society, which is dedicated to insuring the growth of their cotton is as environmentally friendly as possible.

I’m classically trained in Fine Art print making so that will always be my first love so my goal is to sell as much as I can so I can keep producing them.”

GC: Is SOS an eco-line? (and if so how so)?

J: “I wouldn’t call it an eco-line. I’m dedicated to making as many eco choices as possible, but to call it an eco line would imply that everything about it is ecologically friendly. As much as I try, it isn’t totally possible yet (I don’t want what to be a green-washer!). I do have to admit that my main concern is social justice. To me insuring as many eco choices as possible is a part of that. The chemicals and pesticides in question not only harm the earth but the people who come in contact with them. Farmers touch and breath it etc. the ginners, weavers, and sewers touch their fair share too I’m sure depending on the processing of the cotton. Those of us in print shops are breathing some fun stuff from the inks too…

I am eco because: When I can afford it, I use organic cotton tees (though I always buy as fairly made as possible). I will be posting a new organic style shortly– keep your eye out! My packaging for the tees are all printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper and made in the USA. For the prints, I back all of them with the old cardboard boxes from shirt shipments. The inks that I choose to use produce minimal waste.

I am not eco because: Not all of my shirts are organic, I still have to have the blanks shipped to and from me, I have to use plastic to protect the prints, though there is very little waste my inks are not water-based inks (water-based textile inks create a lot of waste so they aren’t really that eco friendly either…)”

GC: Green Cotton awarded you our Earth Day award for your Eco-work in the month of April with Edun-Live. Can you tell us about a little more about your experience working for Edun-live?

J: “Edun-Live quickly became a favorite vendor of mine at my day job in the print shop. They had both fairly made shirts and even some organic styles. Then last summer I started to do some freelance designing for them during which I developed an even bigger crush on Edun. This crush has lead me to want to dedicate more time to such a great cause/company, hence the work I did with them for earth day and throughout the month of April. This opportunity combined my passion and talent for art with my love and desire to make the world a better place!

While there I was able to build up my portfolio while doing things to support a company I respect. Throughout the month I worked on marketing materials, some web design, and designs to be reproduced on tee-shirts. The stuff I was most excited about working on was the printed marketing materials.”

“Year of the Gorilla” T-shirt designed by Jannae while at Edun-Live

Photosource: http://slugofthesea.com/scrapbook.jpg

J: “I also designed posters, hand outs and an earth-day newsletter while I was there. Design and advertising is the best way to inform others about what you are doing and inspiring them to help too; not doing so is the downfall of many a good mission. Maybe it’s just my love of propaganda talking but helping a company create an advertising campaign that informs the public and potential customers of what they are doing right is one of the best things I could do with my time and talent.”

GC: If you had any recommendations for the apparel industry what would they be?

J: “Be honest: this green-washing crap isn’t really going to help anything or anyone in the end.

“It’s great that the public is pressuring big companies to consider what they are doing but the companies turning around and tricking the public isn’t going to change what people want. Maybe you’ll make more money in the short term, but I’ve got to believe (even if it is just to make myself feel better) that this isn’t going away and eventually you’ll have to actually do what you say. And how about while you’re at it be a little preemptive and see that fairly made goods are coming up as the next big thing. Maybe you can be the first to coin the great catch phrase for it, too.”

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We loved becoming more familiar with Jannae’s devotion to her ethics, and honesty. Green washing can certainly be a step backwards. So once again, congratulations Jannae! Keep up the good work. We also hope more and more people will see the value in saving our environment everyday.

Please check out her own line, Slug of the Sea, at http://slugofthesea.com/index.html.