Another company, ColorZen, invented a cotton pretreatment step that increases the attraction between dye and fiber, using 90 percent less water, 75 percent less energy and 90 percent fewer auxiliary chemicals. Huntsman, one of the world's largest suppliers of textile dyes and chemicals, has developed a line of dyes that bond more readily to cotton fabric, requiring less water and energy. Intech Digital, a firm with headquarters in Hong Kong, is using inkjet printers to color textiles with pigments rather than dyes, a process that uses very little water and produces much less waste than traditional methods.
The resulting chemical shortage, as well as the desire for greener processes, has prompted textile manufacturers to seek alternatives to traditional ways of coloring clothes.Īpproaches vary widely. These substances can turn rivers startling colors and may also affect human health, which recently prompted the Chinese government to shut down many dye factories until they could undergo environmental inspections. In addition to being resource-intensive, textile dyeing often dumps large quantities of chemicals into wastewater from mills and dye houses in places like China, India and Bangladesh, writes Senior Editor Melody Bomgardner.
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