What Is Airdye®? : AirDye® technology manages the application of color to textiles without the use of water. It is todays sustainable alternative to traditional dyeing and decorating processes.
AirDye® technology from Colorep®, Inc., a California-based sustainable technology company, is a solution our planet needs today and for many tomorrows.
Key Features of AirDye® technology:
- Does not pollute water in the color application process. By using air instead of water to convey dye, no hazardous waste is emitted and no water is wasted.
- Greatly reduces energy requirements, thereby lowering costs and satisfying the strictest standards of global responsibility.
- Does not use boilers, screen printing machines, drying ovens, or cleaning and scouring chemicals, thereby eliminating major sources of pollution.
- Eliminates water in the color application step and simplifies the process, creating revolutionary possibilities of new industry and employment in unfarmable, arid regions of the world.
- Gives consumers a way to choose style and sustainability at a realistic price at the point of purchase, thereby initiating world change.
Why for Business?
Business today must achieve high quality, lower costs, be competitive, and meet customer demand for environmentally responsible products that are attractive.
Key Features of AirDye® technology:
- Is easy to specify, reduces cost, offers beauty and quality, and reduces environmental impact.
- Offers style without sacrifice. There is no dye-lot variation, no post-dye washing or treatments, and no minimum quantity.
- Offers exciting new options:
- Dye different colors on opposite sides of fabric.
- Dye fabric a solid color.
- Dye one side a solid color and the opposite side a print.
- Dye one side of fabric with a print and the opposite side with another print.
- Dye opposite sides of fabric with the same print.
How Does It Work?
Conventional dyeing, such as vat dyeing or cationic dyeing, can produce visually acceptable results. On the down side, it uses polluting chemicals, a huge amount of precious water, and does not provide permanent coloration. Sublimation printing has been used to decorate synthetic textiles, but this process has limited application.
Originally published in New Cloth Market, July 2009
