Fashion would not be fashion without the impact that colors have the power to exert on people at the crucial moment of choosing a product. Color is therefore the driving force of fashion, design, consumer products in general and expresses deep reactions, not only aesthetic but above all emotional.
It is the expression of a state of mind, of a feeling linked to the environment and to the events, dreams and desires of each person. Color and matter are closely connected, interpreters of opacity or gloss, highlights of reliefs and volumes, of naturalness and artificiality, of real and virtual.
Technological research has opened new opportunities for color. Sensitive fabrics that change color at the simple touch, reflective materials that enhance brightness and brilliance. However, a new ecological sensitivity increasingly directs young consumers to approach and appreciate dyeing processes in the name of sustainability, with a control of water and energy consumption, with the use of less aggressive dyes, with the search for virtuous dyeing solutions which use dyeing plants, powders and earths and much more to color yarns and fabrics.
After more than a century of neglect, dyeing plants are once again protagonists and their use on an industrial level is already a reality, to the benefit of health and the environment. The dyes, the yellow of the reseda, the green of the nettle, the blue of the guado, all the shades of red from madder and so on are extracted and filtered from barks, rhizomes, lichens, leaves, fruits and flowers.
In a perfect balance between Nature and Technology, yarns and knits are subjected to the 100% natural dyeing process, from dried herbs, without chemicals or additives. A virtuous process that contrasts climate change by reducing CO2 emissions, limiting waste with the recycling of production waste such as fertilizers in agriculture or biomass for the production of renewable energy.
Many of the collections for summer 2023 offer yarns that are beautiful by nature and with botanical dyes.
The ECOLLECTION of Industria Italiana Filati is projected towards a system of circular and eco-sustainable economy, using pure natural fibers, customized by a selection of botanical dyes. Delicate, watercolor tones, with a mottled, sprayed or dégradé effect that can vary gently in tune with time and use.
The 100% organic cotton yarns of FILPUCCI are of great impact, printed using oxide dyes, obtained from the recycling of waste from the automotive industry. A revolutionary dyeing system that fixes the OXY pigments on the yarn thanks to a bio-polymer called VISIONSUGAR ECO-CZ produced 50% from materials of renewable origin.
Filmar’s ECOLOOP project is based on the quality, durability, low environmental impact of a product made thanks to circular “closed loop” processes, controlling the consumption of energy, water and dyes. The yarn is made from a cotton blend consisting of 50% colored fibers from internal upcycling activities and 50% virgin fibers. The intimate blend and spinning technique produce a high quality mélange yarn that achieves significant savings in virgin cotton, energy and chemicals. According to the color recipe, water savings reach up to 80%.
Dyeing today means always experimenting with new paths. IAFIL has chosen the path of dyeing earths. Ocher, Pompeian red, Verona yellow, Cassel brown, amber, have ancient origins, from rock paintings to Renaissance paintings, to the productions of great artists such as Caravaggio. A selection of tones applied to organic Pima cotton, capable of transferring the traceability of the production chain, highlighting the origin and properties as well as the history of the products.
The ECOLOURS used by Zegna Baruffa, for example, are not vegetable dyes but chemical dyes that have less impact on the environment and extremely respectful on the skin, because they are derived from the cosmetic and food sphere.
The research does not stop here and the future will provide many surprises and always new beautiful and sustainable COLORS.
Concept by Elementi Moda
