An interview with Syracuse Cultural Workers exploring their intersectional printing practice and their work with Everywhere Apparel
Syracuse Cultural Workers (SCW) was founded in 1982 in Syracuse, New York, where it continues to operate. SCW creates, publishes, and distributes visual materials with inspiring, progressive messaging centered on social movements, sustainability, and peace.
Their large range of products include items like calendars, posters, cards, and apparel. SCW is committed to eco-friendly practices, which is why they chose Everywhere to be one of their wholesale partners. We provide blank t shirts to SCW, which have been transformed into apparel for social change.
We spoke with Andy Mager, Coordinator and Social Movements Liaison at Syracuse Cultural Workers, who gave us insight into SCW’s business practices, principles, and work with Everywhere.
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All images provided by Syracuse Cultural Workers
How would you best describe the ethos of Syracuse Cultural Workers, and how do you interweave SCW’s principles into the work you do?
Syracuse Cultural Workers is a "movement" business, meaning that we emerged from and remain closely connected to a variety of social movements - people and organizations working for peace, social justice, protecting the Earth, supporting Indigenous sovereignty, defending Black Lives, protecting rights of women, LGBTQ+ folks, people with disabilities and other marginalized groups.
Our products speak to those commitments through the artwork and messaging we put out into the world. And we seek to embody them in the way we work together, and in how we produce our products. That means 100% recycled or organic cotton T-shirts, limiting packaging and using biodegradable packaging whenever possible. Most of our products are printed by union shops and we're sure to avoid any sweatshops.
What does sustainability mean to you, and why is it important to your work?
Since many of our products center sustainability in our messaging, we think it's critical to be consistent with those values. We take very seriously the Haudenosaunee wisdom that we need to think about the consequences of our actions for the seventh generation to come. We operate on the territory of the Onondaga Nation and have worked closer with Onondaga leaders and citizens for decades, seeking to support their work for justice and redress for the illegal taking of their land and efforts to destroy their culture.
Why did you choose to work with Everywhere Apparel, and what types of projects do you use our products for?
We have used organic cotton T-shirts for many years. But we're always looking for additional ways to lessen our impact on the Earth and fellow creatures. That search led us to find Everywhere Apparel and begin using your T-shirts for some of our designs.
We're convinced that 100% recycled cotton is more eco-friendly than new organic cotton (given that cotton is a difficult crop to grow). We still use organic cotton Ts for designs for which we really want more colorful shirts, but we're delighted to use Everywhere Apparel Ts for all our designs on Black Ts.
These include our Stop Hatred shirt, which is sold in the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC and our Deep Roots of Democracy T which honors the contributions to democracy of our Haudenosaunee neighbors.
“We've found Everywhere easy to work with. You've sought to make your products affordable for us and collaborate to deal with any challenges which come up in the process. We'd definitely recommend that others use Everywhere Apparel for your projects.”