Fashion for Good Pilot Project Turns Waste Materials to Black Pigments for Dope Dyeing
Today, Fashion for Good launches the Black Pigment Pilot project together with partners BESTSELLER, Birla Cellulose, Kering and PVH Corp., in collaboration with Paradise Textiles, and innovators Graviky Labs, Living Ink and Nature Coatings. The pilot aims to validate and scale black pigments derived from waste feedstocks such as industrial carbon, algae and wood that could replace synthetic dyes offering a more sustainable means of textile production with a lower carbon impact. The colour black has a long history in the fashion industry and is one of the most commonly used colours to dye apparel. Modern synthetic dyes are often derived from petro-chemical compounds, which are non renewable and contribute to water pollution when not treated correctly.
What is Dope Dying ?
In traditional dyeing processes, garments are first created and then dyed, by dipping them in different solutions of water and chemicals that are kept at various temperatures. Whereas, in dope dyeing, yarns are dyed before they're made into garments.
Moreover, Dope dying is environmentally friendly as instead of the usual piece dyeing, in which the yarn is knitted or weaved first into a fabric, which is then dyed as a whole, dope dyed yarn is the opposite. As the name suggests, the yarn itself is dyed to a pre-selected amount of colours, which are then used to create the desired fabric.
The project aims to develop and scale black pigment for the dope dying of man-made cellulosics (MMCs) fibres and recycled polyester (rPet) yarns, evaluating the technologies of the participating innovators; Graviky Labs, Nature Coatings and Living Ink, who produce black pigment from industrial carbon emissions, wood waste and waste algae, respectively.
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Thus far, their technologies have only been used in printing applications. To develop formulations for dope dyeing, the innovators will be supported by Fashion for Good partner Birla Cellulose and Paradise Textiles, the dedicated material science and innovation hub of the Alpine Group. Birla Cellulose brings technical know-how and insights into the production of dope dyed MMC fibres and Paradise Textiles is known for its consciously crafted collection of sustainable and performance fabrics as well as integrated, advanced manufacturing processes.
Dr. Aspi Patel, Chief Technology Officer, Aditya Birla Group said -
Dope dyeing viscose with black pigments that come from a sustainable feedstock can revolutionise the industry by eliminating chemically intensive textile dyeing, the associated wastewater effluents of this process and help reduce GHG emissions of the overall process.
The first phase of the pilot will run until mid 2022, with Birla Cellulose and Paradise Textiles producing the first dope dyed MMCs fibres and rPet yarns respectively, using the black pigments. Participating Fashion for Good partners will have the opportunity to evaluate the performance, colour fastness, wearability and impact of all solutions. Successful formulations will then go on to trial larger production runs with fabrics dyed using the innovations.
Katrin Ley, Managing Director at Fashion for Good, said -
Collaboration is key to making a step change in replacing the abundantly used harmful dyes in the industry, of which black is dominating. We are very excited to be able to support this first-of-its-kind collaborative pilot aiming to validate three technologies that will enable the industry to switch to more sustainable (black) dye chemistry.To assess the performance of dope dyeing with the innovative black pigment formulations, test variables such as affinity, colour and light fastness, and tensile strength of the fibres and yarns, will be measured against dope dyeing with the standard synthetic dyes currently used in the industry. Successes in the initial trials, will be developed towards scaling the project beyond fibre and yarn dyeing to textile production with the long-term goal to integrate these technologies at commercial scale in the value chain. More information about these pigment innovations, as well as dope dyeing, can be found in Fashion for Good’s Textile Processing Guide.
THE INNOVATORS
Graviky Labs is a tech start-up with a focus on solving the carbon emissions problem through upcycling solutions. AIR-INK®, its first product, is a portfolio of inks and dyes made by end-of-use carbon emissions. The black pigment can be used for different printing processes such as screen, sublimation and digital. Graviky has tested AIR-INK on different surfaces such as paper, polyester, and textiles.
Living Ink is a biotechnology company transforming waste-algae material into a bio-based black pigment. The pigment is jet black, UV stable, cost competitive and has the potential to be carbon negative. Living Ink has integrated the pigments into a variety of ink formulations and has tested the pigment in a variety of other materials ranging from plastics to polyurethane foams.
Nature Coatings transforms wood waste into high performing and cost competitive black pigments. They are a direct replacement for petroleum-based carbon black pigments. Their pigments do not contain toxic substances, known as PAHs, and are manufactured in a closed loop system that emits negligible amounts of CO2 or other GHGs.
ABOUT FASHION FOR GOOD
Fashion for Good is a global platform for innovation, made possible through collaboration and community.At the core of Fashion for Good is their innovation platform. Based in Amsterdam with a satellite programme in Asia, the global accelerator programmes gives promising start-up innovators the expertise and access to funding they need to grow. The platform also supports innovators through its scaling programme and foundational projects, driving pilots and supply chain implementation with partner organisations. The Good Fashion Fund catalyses access to finance to shift at scale to more sustainable production processes.
As a convener for change, Fashion for Good houses the world’s first interactive museum dedicated to sustainable fashion and innovation, a Circular Apparel Community co-working space, and creates open-source resources and reports.
Fashion for Good’s programmes are supported by founding partner Laudes Foundation, co-founder William McDonough and corporate partners adidas, C&A, CHANEL, BESTSELLER, Kering, Levi Strauss & Co., Otto Group, PVH Corp., Stella McCartney, Target and Zalando, and affiliate and regional partners Arvind, Birla Cellulose, HSBC, Norrøna, Pangaia, Teijin Frontier, vivobarefoot, Welspun and W. L. Gore & Associates.
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