Colouring with only a hint of water
From design lab to retail store, colour is a critical component of creativity and a key purchasing trigger for shoppers. It is also a critical pain point in production – to achieve the requested colour consistently. Under such pressure to perform, it can come as a surprise that traditional wet processes used to prepare and dye fabrics have evolved so little over time. The discharge of dyes, up to 30% for reactive dyes on cotton, generates difficult-to-treat wastewater, while variations in shades can lead to wasted bolts of fabric. Tier 2 operations, which cover the processing of yarn into textiles and include dyeing, accounts for 55% of the apparel industry’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2025, reports the Apparel Impact Institute in “Taking Stock of Progress Against the Roadmap to Net Zero”.
