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Interview with Bosco Henriques

Bosco Henriques
Bosco Henriques
Director
Biodye India Pvt Ltd
Biodye India Pvt Ltd

We are working with NGOs to grow dye and fibre-yielding plants
Bosco Henriques is one of India's most famous molecular biologists. His Biodye India Pvt Ltd is a leading name in natural dyes. Henriques shares his thoughts with Meher Castelino in an interview for Fibre2Fashion.

Bosco Henriques is a Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular biology. His M.Sc. thesis was on "Redox Potential Variations in Escherichia coli B: Involvement of Oxygen and Ammonia Couples," while the Ph.D. thesis was titled "Nitrate Reductase from Chloronemal Cell Cultures of Funaria hygrometrica: An Immunochemical Investigation." He has had several publications with other renowned experts that cover various topics in his field of expertise. Henriques has five patents to his credit. His professional experience since 1976 has been varied-from heading different projects to conducting workshops and consulting. As Director of Biodye India Pvt Ltd since 2008, he is responsible for R&D mechanisation and scaling up of natural dyeing technology on cotton yarn. 

Excerpts from the interview: 

How did Biodye India come about?

Biodye was a culmination of two projects we did for the Union ministry of environment and forests. In the first project, we identified over 100 plants whose sustainable parts (leaves and fruits) could be used to dye cotton in hues that were fast to light, wash, crock and perspiration. In the second, we developed methods to grow dye-plants, make long shelf-life dye powders, dye yarn and fabric made from cotton, flax, jute, viscose, silk and wool in the entire spectrum of hues, shades and tints using only non-toxic and biodegradable inputs. The wastewater was used for irrigation, and the sludge was composted and used as manure. The project culminated in a fashion show that demonstrated the viability of natural dyes. My colleague-the late Ann Shankar-and I decided that if we wanted to make natural dyeing sustainable, we needed to go private rather than depend on grant funding and hence Biodye India Pvt Ltd was started. What are the different products that your company manufactures? How long does it take to dye the fabrics? We are a dye-house that dyes all yarn, fabrics and apparel made from natural fibres supplied by our principals (clients). They weave the yarn into fabric, rugs and tapestries, and convert the fabric into apparel, home furnishings and accessories. Scouring, bleaching and mordant dyeing take two days, and vat dyeing (indigo) takes as many days as the number of dips plus two (one for scouring and another for final washing). We can dye 1 ton of yarn/ fabric/apparel per month. 

We have a leaf shredder, pulveriser, sifter and blender that enable us to produce dyes from vegetal matter. We make dye powder for our internal use as we do not trust most suppliers of natural dyes. As previously stated, we specialise in dyeing (job-work) and link our clients to suppliers of yarn and weavers.
How did Biodye India come about?
 

Are your fabrics and dyes GOTS certified?

For GOTS certification, every link in the chain from gin to store has to be GOTS-certified. Our dye house is not GOTS-certified as most of our customers weave their fabrics on handlooms. It is nigh impossible to GOTS certify khadi spinners and handloom weavers. Our certification will only add to the cost of manufacture without providing the necessary certification to the end customer. Our clients also self-certify. Most of them hire professional photographers to document our operations and record our story which is presented to their clients.

What about your dyes that promise colourfastness and a huge shade palette? What about costs?

We can dye most of the Pantone shades and meet fastness criteria as required by GOTS. We are expensive as we maintain a large inventory to compensate for batch-to-batch variation in colour properties. The raw material itself is expensive. E.g. unadulterated natural indigo is approximately ₹3,000 per kg for 35 per cent strength. Lac is about ₹6,000 per kg. Powdered madder is around ₹500 per kg. We use expensive laboratory, food or pharma grade inputs instead of cheaper technical grade products. We dye in a month what most synthetic dye houses dye in a day. Our labour has to be retained irrespective of demand. All this adds to our cost.

What are the different products that your company manufactures? How long does it take to dye the fabrics?

We are a dye-house that dyes all yarn, fabrics and apparel made from natural fibres supplied by our principals (clients). They weave the yarn into fabric, rugs and tapestries, and convert the fabric into apparel, home furnishings and accessories. Scouring, bleaching and mordant dyeing take two days, and vat dyeing (indigo) takes as many days as the number of dips plus two (one for scouring and another for final washing). We can dye 1 ton of yarn/ fabric/apparel per month. 

We have a leaf shredder, pulveriser, sifter and blender that enable us to produce dyes from vegetal matter. We make dye powder for our internal use as we do not trust most suppliers of natural dyes. As previously stated, we specialise in dyeing (job-work) and link our clients to suppliers of yarn and weavers.

What are the different raw materials used to get the colours and how many shades are used?

We use natural indigo for blue, bottle greens and purples; regenerative vines of Indian or Naga madder for red and oranges; lac for red/pink and purples; katha and tea dust for brown; iron vinegar for black, grey, olive green and violet; leaves from 3-4 plants for yellow, earth hues, orange and bottle green.

What would be needed to make natural dyes as popular as their synthetic counterparts?

Educate the customer (which most of our foreign clients do), mechanise dyeing and grow more raw materials so as to reduce the cost of dyed product.

Do you have enough resources to produce in bulk?

There is a shortage of cultivated raw material because of the lack of sustained demand. We are working with farmer groups in Nagaland to grow madder. Only when we consume more than 1-2 tonnes/annum can we entice farmer interest and afford to support this activity. Similarly, approximately 1-2 tonnes of unadulterated natural indigo is produced per annum. The rest of it is often adulterated and therefore cheap. We need to improve the agro-technology of indigo cultivation (better varieties) and extraction (mechanisation) to improve yields and reduce cost. Iron-vinegar fermentation needs to be scaled up. We have chosen leaves of shrubs for yellow and earth colours. These can be easily and quickly cultivated when demand rises.

How do you keep the colours environment-friendly?

We use enzymes (not caustic) for scouring; peroxide (not hypochlorite) for bleaching; alum and iron vinegar as mordants (chromium, copper and tin are not used); sustainable parts of plants (not bark, wood, roots and wild flowers) and lac as dye source; are the only synthetic carbonaceous compounds used and are non-toxic and biodegradable) are employed; all other inputs are natural ingredients and non-toxic inorganic compounds (at concentrations used). As previously stated, they precipitate in our wastewater tanks, the sludge is composted and used as manure, and the water is used to irrigate coconut and cashew trees.

Please tell us a little about the fabrics from Nagaland, and how you decided to work with them.

Naga weavers use the loin-loom (back-strap loom) to weave fabrics for their use and such a loom was commonly used by all tribes in Northeast India. While the tribes in the other states have, by and large, switched over to using flying shuttle-frame looms, the Nagas, proud of their tradition, continue to use the loin-loom. The production is slow; however, the designs obtainable on a loin-loom cannot be normally woven on a shuttle-loom. I am now associated with a Tata Trusts-funded programme to preserve this tradition and expand the markets for their products. At present, the Nagas use acrylic to weave their products. I am working with a group to reintroduce cotton spinning, dyeing and loin-loom weaving. It will take a few years to have sufficient amounts of tree cotton and natural dye plants to ensure the production of a 100 per cent green fabric.

Do you think Indian consumers, designers and brands are aware of green fashion?

The youth of India are aware of green fashion and what it can do for the environment, but they are not sensitised sufficiently to act upon the awareness and pay more for the product. Indian designers use our services mostly for the ramp and exhibits, and not to stock their stores.

Please share your thoughts about pollution.

Synthetic dyes are designed to be recalcitrant. Nearly all of them are non-biodegradable. Many could be allergenic and toxic, if tested. The synthetic auxiliaries used are non-biodegradable and often toxic. Hence, the sludge from a synthetic dye manufacturing factory and synthetic dye-house are classified as hazardous and have to be disposed of in lined pits. 

Different solutions are needed for the smallscale dyer and large dye-houses. Solutions currently available will require discipline by the dyers to separate the biodegradable (soap and detergents) streams, the non-biodegradable streams (dyes and most auxiliaries), and the rinse water streams. Biodegradable streams can be treated in anaerobic chambers and disposed of in soak pits, whereas the non-biodegradable streams need proper treatment. Treating the non-biodegradable streams using easy-to-use, low-tech methods is challenging. If precipitation, absorption or oxidation methods are employed, bulky sludge is produced which needs to be properly dried and disposed of, either by burial in sites that accept hazardous waste or in high temperature incinerators (the ash has to be buried). Reverse osmosis is technically too challenging to operate at the artisan level (even here, solid waste needs to be properly disposed of). The temptation to improperly bury the sludge or dispose it off for other use (concrete) has to be resisted. 

Textile industry effluent is a notch below the most difficult effluents to treat and that can be done if sufficient capital is available to install the complete treatment plant, and if margins are available to absorb the operating costs. Besides being capital and operationally expensive, it is also energy intensive and technically demanding to operate. The concentrated effluents are very corrosive, and the equipment has to be made from titanium or an expensive moly-steel. The treatment process converts polluting liquids into solid pollutants (that have to be buried in secure waterproof lined landfills) or gaseous pollutants (carbon dioxide, NOx and SOx); the first would add to global warming and the latter two would need to be scrubbed out from the flue gases. As the market for fast fashion is changing, dye houses are cautious to make such large new investments. 

Artisans are located in villages that are scattered across the country. They dye locally, to obtain shades that maintain their product identity, hence shifting them to parks or getting them to use mill dyed yarn would make them loose their identity and succumb to competition by the mechanised sector.

Which are the companies, designers, brands who use your products/fabrics? What is your turnover?

Oyyo (Sweden), Botanica Tinctoria and Maiwa (Canada), Seek Collective and Industry of All Nations (the US), Women Weave, Lady Bamford Foundation, GoodEarth, Bodice, Amba, Wendell Rodricks (India), etc. Our turnover is approximately ₹1 crore.

Why and how did you pick the site for your company?

Ann Shankar nee Glyn, a keen student of textiles history, visited the libraries in Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi and many more in England to compile a list of over 500 plants that had been recorded by British botanists, whose parts were used as textile dyes. During this study, she was aghast to learn that her direct ancestor, the first governor-general of India, had ordered this study in order to transfer the intellectual property of Indian dyers to England. In our first project, we worked with Blatter Herbarium of St Xavier's College, Mumbai whose director had studied the flora in the Western Ghats around Amboli in Sawantwadi taluka. Over 300 plants recorded by Ann were found in this region. Most importantly, they knew the location of the plants, and this enabled us to quickly collect over 200 specimens and identify more than 100 of them as sustainable sources of dyes. We set up our dye house at the base of the Ghats as Mumbai and Goa were easily reachable.

What are the steps that Biodye takes on the environment front?

We have shown that natural dyes can compete with synthetic dyes in range and performance. By shifting to natural dyeing, the pollution wrought by the use of synthetics dyes can slowly be reduced. We also encourage those around us to cultivate trees and adopt organic farm practices. However, in our backyard, economic factors push farmers towards conventional farming practices as the soil is of poor quality. We are therefore working with NGOs in Assam and Nagaland to grow dye and fibre-yielding plants. 

Sustainability is very important to us. We will be moving towards greater sustainability in our use of energy. We cater to clients who subscribe to green and slow fashion. 

Published on: 29/11/2018

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.