Taking a major leap in using sustainable dyes and moving away from synthetic dyes, outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia has taken the world by surprise with its new Clean Color clothing collection. The varied colour in the collection is due to natural dyes sourced from 96 per cent renewable resources.
Colours such as green, brown, pink, gravy, cream, or a combination outlines the colour theme of the collection. These colours are achieved by palmetto and mulberry leaves, pomegranate rinds, citrus peels, cochineal beetles, silkworm excrement, and leftover fruit. However, these restricts the colour palette but produces beautiful soft hues that are cleaner and safer than their synthetic counterparts.
It may be mentioned here that the sportswear retailer with the help of Swisstex California dyes its fabrics with a special process that uses half as much water as an average dye house in the US and treats all wastewater fully before releasing it.
Also Read – Patagonia’s board shorts, bikinis are now Fair Trade Certified
Patagonia has always been one to push the limits of innovative and environmentally responsible manufacturing. Yvon Chouinard, Founder, Patagonia said, “The textile industry is one of the most chemically intensive industries on earth, second only to agriculture, and the world’s largest polluter of increasingly scarce freshwater. The World Bank estimates nearly 20 per cent of industrial water pollution comes from textile dyeing and treatment. Wastewater that goes – often illegally – untreated or partially treated returns to a river, where it heats the water, increases its pH, and saturates it with dyes, finishes, and fixatives, which in turn leave a residue of salts and metals that leach into farmland or settle into the viscera of fish.”
