How it all started, the beginnings of Liberty Organics

How it all started, the beginnings of Liberty Organics

 Liberty Organics began as the in-house organic T-shirt procurement and manufacturing provider for Liberty Graphics, which was America’s original water-based, environmentally friendly screen printer, founded by Tom Opper and Beverly Kocenko in 1978.

(incidentally, this was also the first noted screen printer in the country to offer continuing royalties to its artists for the use of their work)

    Not content to offer the most environmentally responsible solutions in screen printing, Tom sought shirts that reflected this same commitment to the earth. That’s when Tom met Chipper Bro Bell, who was representing Patagonia‘s new line (in the mid-90s) of organic T-shirts. 

Tom and Bev‘s screen-printing company was content to buy American-grown organic shirts until Patagonia moved its production out of the country.

Conventional businesses would have continued to buy the now-imported, organic shirts at reduced prices. Still, unconventional as he is, Tom valued supporting American organic farmers and American skilled labor practices too much to abandon them.

So, with the help of Chipperbro Bell, Tom was able to adopt, maintain, and support this line of organic American production. For many years, these shirts were exclusively produced for Liberty Graphics Screen Printing Company's use.

Eventually, Tom decided it was time to retire and sold the screen printing company to its own workers under a cooperative structure. Still, the screen Printers agreed that they should focus on their mission, which was printing. Not manufacturing.

Once again, Tom decided that American organic farmers and skilled labor were too important to abandon.

That’s when the rest of us joined the team to help bring you the finest quality organic shirts, grown and sewn in the USA, as well as to everyone else who values high-quality T-shirts and environmental stewardship. 

 

 

 

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