Cotton Inc & Archroma develop dye from cotton plant residues

Cotton Incorporated in partnership with Archroma has developed the first ever dye derived from cotton plant residues. These sulfur-based dyes named EarthColors are designed for use on cellulosic fibres and are a biosynthetic alternative that utilise natural waste from the agricultural or herbal industry, as against using petrochemicals or oil as a base.

According to Cotton Inc, the patented technology addresses two key concerns of the textile industry: sustainability and traceability.

Each batch of EarthColors dye offers a high level of traceability in the form of a hangtag with a ‘Near Field Communication’ chip. The data on the chip can be accessed by Archroma customers and even consumers through a smart phone, explaining the manufacturing process of the dye and where the natural materials were sourced.

"As soon as we heard about the EarthColors technology, we wanted to explore the possibilities of cotton as a natural dye source," says Mary Ankeny, senior director textile chemistry research at Cotton Incorporated.

"Byproducts of cotton harvesting and ginning have been utilised within the food and construction industries for decades, but we were intrigued by the idea of using cotton biomass to dye cotton fibre," she added.

Cotton Incorporated will be presenting fabric samples dyed with the EarthColors cotton-derived dye at the Premiere Vision trade fair taking place in Paris.