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  • Writer's pictureAlex Eaves
    • Jul 23
    • 1 min read

This Is What 20 Years of a Sustainable Clothing Brand Looks Like


A man with a large selection of eco friendly reuse T-Shirts and other items behind him.
Most of the STAY VOCAL archives behind me.

I recently made the time (and had a lot of space) to organize the archives for the 20 years of STAY VOCAL. And while I started my reuse apparel brand as a skateboard company, one thing that was evident was that reuse was there since the beginning. I also realized that I had some doubles of items and I certainly don't need to hold on to everything that I have. So, I created an Archives Collection in the STAY VOCAL Shop that features Shirts, Bags, Stickers, Patches, Pins and Wall Hangings that range from 2005 through 2018. And as most of these items are from the "Pre-Reuse" era, they will not be made again. Below is a video and photo look at the archives and you'll see what I mean about reuse always being there. This is just a sampling too, as I have so many stories and could go on and on and on. Well, enjoy the archives and leave a comment if you have questions!




Reuse T-Shirt Design from 2003
The first T-Shirt Design from 2003, when the name was just VOCAL. I needed a way to raise the money to buy the first skateboard decks, so, I bought inexpensive shirts at thrift stores and had my screenprinter friend put my logo on them. I sold the shirts at the concerts of the bands I was working for and they sold really well. Unfortunately, the light bulb didn't go off right there.

Reusable coffee mugs with a reuse slogan on them.
These are the four STAY VOCAL travel mugs that were made from 2005-2007. They were a direct result of me seeing waste in more areas of my life and wanting to create a reuse solution for myself and my customers.

Canvas reusable shopping bags with custom designs on them.
These are the various STAY VOCAL reusable shopping bags. I began making these around the same time as the mugs to bring more reuse solutions into the brand.

Collection of custom STAY VOCAL 1" Buttons / Pins
These are the STAY VOCAL pins that were made from 2003-2007. While the metal parts were all new, some of the first pin designs with the Reuse Logo (2nd and 3rd row) were printed on scrap paper. The last row are modern pins, handmade by restyling brand new / would-be discarded pins.

Punk Rock CDs and flyers from 2006
This is the one and only CD released on STAY VOCAL Records: Chotto Ghetto's, "Shootin' Devils." The Flyers are from a small run of shows that I did with the band in 2006, called "STAY VOCAL Through Art and Music." Before the band would play, I would do a short talk about reusing and I had a gallery of unique and 1 of a Kind Reuse shirts on display.

A box of eco friendly envelopes to store art
These envelopes were what I used to use to ship T-Shirts. I wanted "eco-friendly" packaging. One time, I ran out of them and needed to ship an order. I looked in the recycling bin, saw a cereal box and said to myself, "That would fit a T-Shirt perfectly." That was the beginning of the brand's truly eco-friendly packaging. Now the box is used to store some archive art.

A man wearing a T-Shirt with a large container of mailorder.
This is a batch of orders from 2010; using all food packaging. STAY VOCAL hasn't used brand new packaging to ship orders in 17 years. And that has saved thousands and thousands of dollars.

Various paper stickers with environmental slogans on them.
When I changed the brand into a reuse apparel brand in 2008, I tried all sorts of reuse ideas for merch items. Sometimes, they just didn't pan out. These were old promotional stickers that were painted and then designs were written on them in sharpie. The consensus was that they were definitely too amateur looking. I later made a design with a stamp and those looked way better.

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