Phone 800-229-1164
Fax 919-755-1442
gogreen@barefootpress.com

You can’t imagine how much relief your green printer feels upon learning that global warming was actually just a hoax perpetrated by a handful of agenda-driven, mad scientists intent on ruling the planet. We’ve been following the unfolding story of emails uncovered by the intrepid, “fair-and-balanced” reporters at FOX News. It’s hard to believe these “junk” scientists managed to pull off such a large-scale deception. But I have to tell you it’s a load off our shoulders.

I think everyone here at Barefoot Press is sick of that scratchy, 100% recycled toilet paper in the staff restrooms. Not to mention those stinking recycling bins cluttering up the loading dock. The company Toyota is cramped, and I always felt intimidated on the highway. I’m really tired of tending that garden in the front.

For 23 years we’ve been laboring under the belief that green printing is important, that it was our duty to do our part. We’ve used recycled papers, pushed our suppliers to develop low-VOC chemistry and soy inks, implemented comprehensive in-house recycling programs, offset our carbon emissions by supporting green energy, donated profits to environmental groups (THAT was a waste!)… The effort has been exhausting. Happily, we now know it’s just not necessary.

I don’t feel imtimidated on the highway any more, because our new company car is a Hummer! Our increased margins allowed us to buy it new. These vinyl-based inks smell really strong, but they dry super-fast. We put a huge dumpster where the recycling bins used to be, and the scrap paper gets burned once a week in the parking lot.

But the coolest thing is that we now have a lot of awesome, cheap, virgin-fiber paper choices. Most of these sheets originate from the rampant, unregulated logging in the rainforests of Indonesia and the “developing” world, so there’s no “fair labor” or regulatory costs to pass on to you. It’s much easier to print on too, having never been through the repulping process. As our International Paper rep told us years ago, “old growth trees make a fine sheet of paper!”

Yes, happy days are here again, and our collective conscience is clear. Things are cheaper and easier now. Our profits are better than ever. And we finally have some soft toilet paper.

SPIZE Cafe in downtown Raleigh is open for business. Entrepeneur Meechai Kowae and his manager Jacq Rode have put together a menu of flavorful Thai soups, noodle dishes, wraps and baguettes. These folks are dedicated to green business practices, and it shows in every aspect of the restaurant, from the recycled aluminum chairs and repurposed salvaged marble tabletops, to the bamboo takeout containers and corn-based dinnerware, and of course the menus and business cards.

Clearly green printing is only part of this restaurant’s approach to sustainability. The menus were printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper using soy inks and water-based chemistry. The rich brown background color highlights tiny colorful thumbnail images of menu items. The menus look great, but they hardly do justice to the wonderful, authentic food.

SPIZE opened to service the lunch crowd in downtown Raleigh, NC, but now has expanded dinner hours. The cafe, located at 121 Fayetteville St., is open Mon- Fri 11am – 2.30pm, and Wed-Sat 5pm – 9.30pm. New on the menu is a selection of Asian beers and organic wines.

Check out the menu at the cafe’s website. You can check them out on facebook too.

Don’t forget to check out the Green Jamboree this weekend at TLC’s Irvin Farm. Hosted by the Triangle Land Conservancy, the Jamboree is the organization’s annual meeting and festival. The Bluegrass Experience will provide the music, and there will be food, beer, hiking and family activities. The festival starts at 3pm this Saturday, June 20. TLC’s Irvin Farm is a 269-acre haven of farmland and forest in Orange County west of Carrboro, NC. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the gate. More information on the TLC website: http://www.triangleland.org/greenjamboree/

The postcard announcing this event was printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper, processed chlorine free, using soy inks. Triangle Land Conservancy is committed to eco-friendly printing for all of their materials.

We just wrapped up the new PRINT edition of the Raleigh Quarterly. The journal, published online by Billy Warden and Greg Behr, is a collection of short stories, poetry and art. The first print edition was designed by Katie Nordt.

The first edition is a fine example of green printing from cover to cover. With a finished size of 5×7, it is saddlebound, 40 pages + cover, and printed entirely on 100% post-consumer recycled paper using soy inks. Raleigh’s original green printer is proud to support the RQ.

The print edition is available in local bookstores for $5. To view the website: www.raleighquarterly.com.

Scott Kyle, Principal at Full Scale Architecture in Richmond, VA, contacted us with an unusual idea: he wanted to print business cards in the greenest possible way. Being a letterpress printer himself, he wished to employ our antique Chandler-Price in the process. Taking the idea of recycled paper to the next level, Scott saved up chipboard packaging cartons for months and sent them to us, all neatly trimmed down to 8×10 sheets. Some of them were cereal boxes, some from toys and ice cream pops. Our personal favorite was a PBR carton!

Scott designed a two color card that was printed in cyan with a very dark blue soy ink overprint for the type. We printed them on the back of the carton paper and round-cornered them. The result, we think, is a striking marketing piece that shouts green printing in a way most projects can’t. Check out the pic below, and look for them on our portfolio page coming soon.

Thanks to Scott for helping us challenge convention and create special identity materials. This is the kind of job that makes being a green printer fun! Check out Scott’s architectural work at www.fullscalearchitecture.com.

We reached a new record for number of green printing inquiries through the website in March. The interest in recycled papers and soy inks just keeps growing. With all the attention the environment and global warming are getting in the news, it’s no wonder folks are looking for any possible way to reduce their carbon footprint at home and at work.

There are many simple things you can do to help, such as using the back side of printouts in your fax machine or cutting them up for note paper to use by the phone. But if your company prints any amount of marketing material, whether it be brochures, stationery or direct mail pieces, switching to 100% post-consumer recycled paper and printing with a company that is committed to printing green will help the most. There are so many good paper choices that make it easy to go green! And if you print with us, ask if your job qualifies for our green printing seal. There is no better way to show your customers that you’re doing all you can to help the environment.

Your green printer can help you help the planet. Call us!

The Splinter Group, a Triangle area marketing firm based in Carrboro, NC, have won more Addy awards this year. The entries that won include a Bronze award for stationery design for CKS Custom Kitchen and Design, and a Gold for agency self promotion for their own die-cut letterhead, business cards and envelopes. Both of these awards were for work that was printed at Barefoot Press, and are excellent examples of green printing on recycled papers using soy inks.

In addition, the agency collected two Golds this year in the Packaging category for work they did for Counter Culture Coffee in Durham, NC. The Splinter Group redesigned their coffee bags, which became the centerpiece of a promotion that was shipped to grocers in a wooden crate filled with coffee and marketing collateral.

The Addy Awards are sponsored annually by the AAF Raleigh-Durham, the American Advertising Federation Raleigh-Durham Chapter, to honor the finest work by agencies in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary, NC, and surrounding areas. These awards were presented at a ceremony held Feb. 29 in Durham at Bay 7 of the American Tobacco Campus in Durham, NC.

Past awards won by The Splinter Group include:
Collateral/Stationery for Barefoot Press — Gold
Collateral/Stationery for Cognito — Silver
Collateral/Stationery for York Wilson Photography — Silver
Collateral/Stationery for Lineberry & Co. — Bronze
Collateral/Stationery for The Splinter Group — Bronze
Collateral/Stationery for Scientific Properties — Gold
Direct Marketing Campaign for Barefoot Press — Gold

Each of these entries was printed at Barefoot Press on recycled papers using soy inks and water-miscible solvents. The Splinter Group is a long-standing supporter of green printing. We’re proud of them, and humbled to be a small part of their success! To see more examples of their fine work, visit www.thesplintergroup.net. For more on the Addy Awards, visit www.aaf-rdu.org.

Barefoot Press, Raleigh, NC’s original green printer, is making it easier than ever to order eco-friendly printing. We are preparing to launch the commerce section of our site as a one-stop resource for green printing. The most commonly ordered products, such as envelopes, stationery, brochures and one-sheets will soon be available for convenient online ordering. Everything on the site will carry the Green Rhino seal, and will be printed on earth-friendly papers with soy inks. You will be able to access our store directly from the products section of this website, or log on to www.greenprinteronline.biz. We hope to have this section live in the next couple of months, and welcome your input here through the blog. Please give us feedback on the things you would like to see to make it easier than ever to order green printing!