Dive Brief:
- Fashion for Good, a Dutch nonprofit, launched a digital tool this month that will allow clients to choose dyestuff based on its performance and how its commercial use affects the environment.
- The Dyestuff Library will help “accelerate the shift from harmful chemistry” used to make synthetic dyes by highlighting dyestuff innovations, according to the announcement. Over the next year, the nonprofit lab will pilot 15 dyestuff innovations and test the products to ensure they’re safe for commercial use.
- The library is supported by Fashion for Good’s corporate partners, including Adidas, Patagonia, Target and Zara parent Inditex. It comes as more brands are interested in using natural dyes over synthetic ones to curb environmental harms.
Dive Insight:
Fashion companies tend to prefer synthetic dyes to natural colorings because they are cheaper and give more consistent results. Yet synthetic dyes come with serious trade-offs, including water-intensive processes that use chemicals that harm human health and the environment.
While many brands and scientists have been exploring natural dyes, they are difficult to scale. Often, the dyestuff needed to produce the dyes comes in short supply or create inconsistent results.
For instance, in 2019, Iowa State University researchers developed a method for creating brown dyes from coffee grounds, though differences in the types of beans used could impact the final color. That makes it challenging to create exact matches for manufacturers, though the researchers noted that consumers may accept color inconsistencies as demand for natural dyes grows.
“We need dyeing innovation that focuses on less wasteful practices, reduces water usage and is less energy consuming,” Camilla Skjonning Jorgensen, innovation manager at Denmark-based clothing company Bestseller, said in a statement. “To reach this, it is essential that the fashion industry supports initiatives with an upscaling perspective so new solutions can reach a commercial level.”
The Dyestuff Library is partnering with Paradise Textiles and RDD Textiles, both of which aim to develop sustainable textile practices, to test the initiative’s dyes and pigments on various fabrics. NimkarTek, Institute of Chemical Technology and Unicamp will also be involved in the testing.
Once the project is completed, Fashion for Good will continue to develop the library by bringing in new dyestuff innovations and experimenting with testing methods and coloration machineries.
“The shift towards a more sustainable industry happens when we share existing knowledge and give access to innovations with one another,” Katrin Ley, managing director at Fashion for Good, said in a statement. “Collaboration, not competition, will allow the industry to truly transform.”
Brands have been increasingly interested in testing out natural dyes in their products. In 2021, H&M released an earth-tone collection called Colour Story that used biotechnology and plant-based pigments to dye the clothing.
And Los Angeles-based denim brand AG released a collection of biodegradable jeans in 2022, five of which are made with natural dyes. The jeans — which come in light brown, pink and off-white tones — were colored with dyes made from madder root and myrobalan nuts.