ETHICAL FASHION

Natural Dyeing in Continuous Production

For thousands of years, the art and craft of natural dyeing has been created and continued. When human beings dyed fibers and then turned them into textiles widely, they transferred color from the plant, insects and mineral into human material culture. The dye processes evolving through the centuries are an outcome of both human error and conscious creation.

The approaching of the Industrial Age rapidly resulted in the rise of chemical dyes that altered how color was created. In 1856, William Perkins announces synthetic dyes, but the process relied on heavy resource inputs. Nevertheless, because of appropriation and ease of application, the chemical dyes quickly became favorite by the textile industries. By now, most of consumers purchase a mass-produced garment which belongs to chemical dyed products. Suddenly, natural dyed houses disappeared from the landscape, and the natural dyeing traditions were kept alive only for a scattered network of artisans and individuals.

Although the Industrial Revolution enhanced the efficiency and speed of production, it has dramatically polluted our air, soil, and water resources for over 50 years. Because of producing lots of carbon oxide, the global warming has resulted the change of weather system, and human beings must face more natural diameters and loss of lives. For the next generation, the environmental movement is not only born but begins to respond to the effects and dangers of the synthetic chemical culture.

To contribute our efforts in the protection of this green plant, natural dyeing in continuous production becomes our major mission for BEBE Cotton. Mass production of natural dyed fabrics has been rare which limits its application to the general public. BEBE Cotton has been developing natural dyed fabrics since 2008 as one type of eco-friendly and healthy fabrics for underwear. With the advance of modern extraction and purification technologies, natural dyes are now more assessable and easier to quantify and control when applying to the dyeing process. Four different natural dyes from Couleurs de Plantes, France, have been used: madder, logwood, cochineal, and cutch. Different fabrics have been used including cotton, wool, silk, and nylon. The development processes initiated from a small scale of 10 g, to a medium scale of 1 kg, and then finally to a large scale of 20 kg. Contrast to the synthetic dyes, the natural dyes are most weakly bonded to the mordant on the fabric and are thus very sensitive to the operating condition in the dyeing machine. In addition, majority of the natural dyes contain multi-components with different affinity to the fabric. The dyeing processes strongly affect the final color on the fabric. Various controlling factors have been identified in order to achieve a dyed fabric with good uniformity and wash fastness. These factors including but not limiting to water quality, temperature ramping and cooling speed, water and fabric circulation speed, pH, and contamination. With careful control of the dyeing processes, it is possible to obtain a natural dyed fabric with acceptable specification.

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