Earthcolors make use of agriculture waste products that would otherwise be sent to landfill. They can be used to provide rich red, brown and green colors to denim and casualwear.
Archroma will put all the information about individual batches of color on hang tags to be attached to each item of clothing. Each hang tag incorporates a chip with all the information on it, and that information can be accessed by the prospective buyer in the shop using Near Field Communications (NFC) technology incorporated into their phone. Archroma believes that this is the first time that NFC is being used in this way.
“Our aim is to give consumers a choice”, says Alan Cunningham, Head of Textiles Dyes Marketing at Archroma. “We all should have the possibility to choose the fashion option with the least environmental impact and to be safe in the knowledge that there is substance behind what is claimed on the label. With Earthcolors, we allow just that.”
The chip can contain information such as the mill which dyed the fabric and where the garment was laundered, as well as the source of bio-based raw material.
The new dyes, which Archroma describes as biosynthetic sulfur dyes, have been four years in the making. They have the overall performance of the company’s existing range of sulfur dyes made from conventional raw materials. Archroma describes this new development as a step-change in dyes manufacturing and coloration technology.
