What's next in innovation ? Part 2
Building on Part 1, our What’s Next in Innovation series turns from fibre and recycling to color and finishes, key steps still tied to fossil chemistry today. We examine novel dyeing and pigment technologies, from botanical colorants and recycled pigments to biofabricated dyes and waterless processes, that reduce water, energy and CO₂ footprints. The path to decarbonisation and defossilisation of textile coloration goes in pair with more invisible features, such as renewable energy powered plants or low impact pre-treatment technologies. As we gear up for Première Vision Paris in September, here are the cutting-edge routes to “virtuous”or lower-impact colorants and embellishments alternatives.
Natural and plant-based coloration
Let’s start with one of the most ancient techniques existing: natural dyes. While it would be impossible to respond to the (excessive) demand of colorants for textiles in the global industry with natural dyes, as these resources are indeed renewable but not at the speed and scale of the massive demand—not speaking of the risks competing with food crops for land and resources—it is nevertheless more than urgent to find alternatives that are addressing the toxic issues around conventional synthetic dyeing. And it is as urgent too, to bring a little nuance into radical/unilateral ideas on natural dyes and their advantages as much as their limits.
Natural does not automatically mean benign. Plants may contain allergenic or toxic compounds that must be screened under REACH regulations. While mordanting can be problematic, there exist natural mordants (aloe, tannins) and ultrasound or enzyme-assisted methods that are emerging to fix natural dyes more efficiently.
©Colorifix | In the same way, the pre-supposed limits of natural dyes in terms of their ability to respond to the standards of the industry is also one of those more than complex and debated topics. But today, it is shown that they can be as replicable, repeatable, vibrant, and as resistant to light, heat and washing as conventional dyes. In practice, a blended strategy often wins: using bio-based colorants where feasible and cleaning up synthetics elsewhere. Lower-temperature or enzyme-assisted dyeing can save considerable energy, and even indigo can yield new shades by tweaking temperature or pH. And it's exactly in this know-how on careful processing (e.g. mordants or enzymatic pretreatments) where lies the crucial expertise of dyers—it's a long debate we could have, but not the topic of this article. |
What is sure, is that plants and minerals have long yielded textile dyes, and interest is resurging. Roots, bark, flowers and even food waste can furnish vibrant hues. For example, UK’s AO Textiles partners with Gainsborough Silk Weaving, established in 1903, to create jacquard fabrics dyed only with botanical extracts (weld, chestnut, madder, logwood, etc.). All dyeing and weaving happens in-house, yielding luxury silks that use “naturally derived colours that are scalable, repeatable, and of the quality demanded by industry”. Likewise, Anatolian Colors from Turkey, a new Smart Material exhibitor this edition, sources plant-based dyes from regenerative farms and powers extraction with renewable energy: their mills run on solar panels and geothermal heat for dye baths and steam.
Read also: Innovations in color chemistry – A detailed perspective on low-impact color in fashion / Part 1
Recycling waste into colorThe value of waste as a resource is fully expressed with developments like that of Recycrom or Dyerecycle, who are both upcycling textile waste into color pigments. Italian chemists at Officina+39 invented Recycrom™, a way to grind discarded fabrics into ultrafine pigment powders. Scraps and old garments (cotton, wool, polyamide and blends) are mechanically processed into pigment dyes, incorporates a minimum of 65% pre and post-consumer materials. The powders, in a “ready-to-dye” palette (15 shades) can be applied by dye bath, spraying, screen or coating. Because Recycrom is a suspension (not a water-soluble dye), it sharply reduces wastewater and processing chemicals. | ©Recycrom |
Dyereycle (UK, Imperial College spin-out) takes another route: it chemically strips existing dyes out of used textiles. Its DyeRecycle Synthetics process dissolves dyes from polyester waste into a reusable color bath, leaving the fabrics white for reprocessing. Its DyeRecycle Cellulosics, closer to the Recycrom technology, breaks down cotton into a powder that itself acts as a pigment. They also work on cotton-synthetic blends, recovering the cellulosic powder while separating the synthetic fibers for recycling. All three approaches close the loop: recovered dyes and fibres re-enter new fabrics, eliminating the need for many new colorants.1
| Both Officina and Dyerecycle work with Positive Materials, a long time exhibitor at Première Vision, a pioneer in the use of innovative fibres in their collections, and one of the most proactive in R&D for virtuous and innovative solutions, working from the inside of the industry. The Portuguese mill recently collaborated with Cambridge startup Sparxell, who uses cellulose nanocrystals (from wood pulp or agri-waste) as iridescent pigments for 100% plant-based structural colors. Their first product, a signature “blue” pigment, is now available as a fully biodegradable ink, on a cotton jersey through Positive Materials. This nature-inspired ink eliminates all petrochemicals, plastics and mined metals from the dye mix. |
British designer Patrick McDowell used Sparxell pigments to embellish a couture gown: the sequins and glitter on his dress are now “100% plant-based and plastic-free”, giving “exceptionally vibrant yet completely non-toxic and biodegradable” sparkle.
We will have the pleasure having both of these innovators on stage at the different PV talks in September.
Biofabricated microbial dyes
An article from the Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice published a research on the new approaches for textile coloration and surface pattern using enzyme-based biotechnology, which “demonstrates the potential offered by processes with biological systems, which offer important advantages of simpler processing using milder conditions that eliminate additional chemical use and reduce energy consumption. The adoption of enzyme-based biotechnologies could help the textile industry transition towards a sustainable future.“ - Chetna D. Prajapati , Edward Smith, Faith Kane and Jinsong Shen.
Some of the best-known companies working with engineered microorganisms to produce dyes and creating precise, lab-grown colors without toxic chemicals, are Octarine, Colorifix, Post Carbon Lab or Chloris, just to name a few. In terms of implementation inside the industry, Danish company Octarine offers a drop-in palette called PurePalette™: dozens of bio-inks that match conventional dyes on strength and fastness, but require no toxic chemicals and far less water or energy. Octarine reports life-cycle CO₂, water and toxicity footprints roughly 60–70% lower than petrochemical dyes.
| Colorifix (working too with Positive Materials) send the freeze dried color producing microbes to dye houses where they are cultivated on-site, through precise fermentation using renewable feedstocks such as agricultural waste. Another British innovator, Post Carbon Lab, uses photosynthetic microbes to capture CO₂ from air and convert it into textile dyes and coatings. Their “climate-positive” process yields petrochemical-free colorants while sequestering carbon. Similarly, Chloris Biochem has launched CLAESSEN BLUE™: the first USDA- and TÜV-certified blue dye made by fermentation of an amino acid. It needs no aniline or formaldehyde, yields superior light-fastness (Grade 4/5), and even cuts laundry alkali needs by 50%. |
A final word to conclude, on low-water coloration technologies, with a London-based materials innovator, Amphico. Their 'Amphicolor' coloration approach combines dope-dyeing with color theory and Al-driven formulation. Using a core palette of recycled dope-dyed yarns, colors are generated through optical mixing at the yarn and woven textile stages. Supported through Innovate UK's Resource Efficiency for Materials and Manufacturing programme, Amphicolor is now a scalable, industry-ready innovation, reducing CO2 emissions by 50% and water use by 55% in the textile coloration process. Crucially for small brands, Amphicolor slashes minimum-order barriers: designers can order fabrics in any of 700+ shades from stock low-quantity runs, opening up fast color variety for SMEs.
Innovation isn’t just academic, investors are doubling down. Despite some policy backpedaling, funding is pouring into sustainable materials. UK startup Carbon Cell raised £1.2M (preseed) for its CO₂-derived carbon foam. Solena Materials closed a $6.7M seed round to scale its biomaterials plant. Even the Material Innovation Initiative (which had announced a wind-down) has relaunched with renewed purpose and funding, promising a fresh push for new textiles.2 All this momentum suggests the fashion industry won’t retreat. On the contrary, we can expect accelerating shifts in the dye lab and mill.
Read also: Innovations in color chemistry – A detailed perspective on low-impact color in fashion / Part 2
See you in September to meet the innovators !
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