Padma Shree Vankar - New Trends in Natural Dyes for Textiles

Natural dyes; Dye extraction; Sappanwood; Mordanting; K / S value; Dyeing textiles

Natural dyes and their use in dyeing is probably the most ancient art of all times. People started using natural dyes as their first intellectual tool to portray their surroundings and themselves by this art. No important or specified information was with them to use the natural colors available near to them. From that period on, this art and its important component, that is, natural dye, has improved itself in terms of stability, shades, and its working archetype until the invention of natural dye's strongest rival synthetic dye. Since then, natural dyes haven't seen any silver lining until again slowly but steadily the new age customers started to realize the importance of natural dye as revival of new optimism in terms of acknowledgment of new and earthy shades provided by colors of nature.

One of the most amazing things about natural dye is its source from various plant parts. It can come from wood, fruit, roots, flowers, and even insects. Nature is unique. Such variety of color can be seen is flowers and fruits. Every color of the rainbow can be produced. One of the favorite hot pink dye comes from the wood lumen of sappanwood ( Caesalpinia sappan ); other source is the exoskeleton of a little bug living exclusively and thriving on the beaver tail cactus in Oaxaca, Mexico. The shells are harvested and traditionally mixed with lime juice to create a vibrant hot pink or red dye. Dyeing with plants and animals is a craft with its roots in early times. Although it is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and challenging to do on a large scale, as a result, the art of natural dyeing is slowly becoming obsolete in the industrialized world; however, its smooth color can give tranquilizing effect.

The choice to use all natural dyes sources for many reasons. The most obvious reason is the low impact that they have on people and the environment. In using dye materials that come only from nature, our environment and us can be protected by reducing exposure to toxic chemicals.

The revival of natural dyes has kept the ancient knowledge alive. By using natural dyes, a demand for these products can be created, providing income and incentive for people to maintain practices of local sustainability, remaining close to family and tradition. It is rewarding to know that by using natural dyes, the indigenous communities are gaining support in doing what they and their families have done for thousands of years. However, commercial utility of natural dyes on a large scale for export and domestic market has not been explored much with newer sources. The term natural dye covers all the dyes derived from natural resources such as plants, insects, and animals.

Natural dye applications to industrial products release their medicinal properties of the goods and improve the esthetic value of the product. Natural dyes are unique in that they are eco-friendly and noncarcinogenic. There is a growing demand for eco-friendly/nontoxic colorants, specifically for health-sensitive applications such as coloration of food and dyeing of child textile/leather garments. Recently, dyes derived from natural sources for these applications have emerged as an important alternative to potentially harmful synthetic dyes and pose need for suitable effective extraction methodologies.

Dyeing is the most important part in the production of fabric. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution and may require a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber. Since the process of adding dyes takes place in the last stage of the process, even the smallest error in the dye application can render the entire batch useless. So, it is vital that the fabric dyeing process is controlled in a cost-efficient manner. Handling of natural dye and its dyeing process needs scientific interventions at four main steps: