Printing with ink made from coffee grounds has a number of advantages. The first one is cost because quality screen inks are expensive, whereas vinegar is cheap and coffee grounds are usually free. The coffee inks are also sustainable, no chemicals are used in the process and the grounds are a waste product that gets reused and thereby becomes part of the circular economy.
The process only uses a modest amount of coffee grounds so there is no need for large-scale donations by coffee chains yet. But Domestic Stencilworks has developed a special offer for coffee shops and coffee chains. “We offer custom dye creation at no additional charge which means that a individual or shop or roaster or brand can send us their spent grounds and we will use them to create the dye their print run is completed with. This allows folks the opportunity to build on their own story and let their supporters know that the garments they are purchasing were created from their product after it had already been enjoyed in liquid form”, says White.