PAPER IN NUMBERS
TURNING THE PAGE ON PRODUCTION WASTE WITH SECOND THREAD™
When you walk through our production floor, you’ll see colour, creativity, and craftsmanship. But behind every vivid fabric print lies something less visible — paper. Lots of it.
Over the past year, we’ve used thousands of square metres of paper to create the high-quality graphics our customers expect. From the transfer sheets that bring our dye-sublimation prints to life, to the protection paper that shields our machines during heat pressing—paper is a silent but essential part of the process.
But here's the thing: every roll, once used, was once destined for the bin.
10.8 TONNES IN ONE YEAR
That’s how much paper waste we generated over the last 12 months. It’s a big number. Still hard to picture? Think of it this way – 10.8 million tons of paper waste is the Same as 2.2 million paper coffee cups.
Let’s do the math:
A standard single-use paper coffee cup weighs approximately 4.8 grams
Total paper waste = 10,800 kg = 10,800,000 grams
Calculation: 10,800,000 ÷ 4.8 = 2,250,000 cups
How does that equate?
2,200,000 takeaway cups — used once and thrown away.
That’s enough for every New Zealander to have a coffee — twice.
Or one person buying a coffee every day… for 6,000 years.
Stack them up and you’d reach higher than Mount Everest — 10 times over.
That’s the scale of our paper waste — and why we knew we had to do better.
FROM WASTE TO WORMS: A CIRCULAR SOLUTION
Rather than sending it to the landfill, we decided to take a different route. Every sheet of used transfer and protection paper is now collected and sent to Mynoke, New Zealand’s largest commercial worm farming operation. There, it’s transformed into nutrient-rich worm feed, used in regenerative farming across the country.
This is more than recycling—it’s part of our broader Second Thread™ program, which is all about giving materials a second life. From fabric offcuts to packaging, we’re looking at everything we use and asking: how can we do this better?
WHY IT MATTERS
We believe in solutions that are good for people and the planet. Diverting over 10 tonnes of paper from landfill might seem like a behind-the-scenes detail—but for us, it’s a symbol of what’s possible when sustainability becomes part of everyday business.
It’s proof that small changes, scaled consistently, can add up to something powerful.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
This isn’t just about paper. It’s about values. Responsibility. Innovation. And choosing to act—today—for a better tomorrow.
So the next time you see one of our fabric prints lighting up a retail store, exhibition, or interior space, know that the story behind it doesn’t end with the design. It continues in the soil, in the farms, and in our commitment to a circular future.
